Package discovery
closes Gilmore Hall
at UH-Manoa
By Gordon Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com
Between 40 and 60 people were evacuated from a building at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for about two hours yesterday afternoon when professors decided to have a mysterious package checked out.
The seven-story Gilmore Hall and most of Maile Way were closed around 1:30 p.m. Gilmore houses the administrative offices of the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, science labs and classrooms, according to UH spokesman Jim Manke.
In the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, two professors called the campus' Environmental Health and Safety Office to examine a Federal Express package whose sender was not known and which contained non-English writing, according to Manke.
It was later determined by a campus language expert that the writing was Spanish for "garlic powder," Manke said.
After the building was evacuated and the road was shut down, police and hazardous-materials personnel from the Fire Department were called in.
Hazmat personnel conducted tests on the package and determined it was safe, fire Capt. Richard Soo said. The package was then turned over to police for further investigation.
