Wake Up Call

The media scoffing at Secretary Tom Ridge's press conference this morning began while he was still speaking. It's either seen as a rank political ploy, ass-covering in advance of an attack the Administration is too inept to prevent, or that the great unwashed masses in fly-over country are too stupid to be of any value in ferreting out terrorists in our midst, thusly a waste of media brain cells.

Is it any wonder that this story didn't rise to the top of the media heap? It sure got my attention.

Over the weekend explosives were stolen from a storage facility on the SF Peninsula. Fortunately they were recovered today, but what were the Police and Sheriff's Dept. thinking here? Those of you who know the Crystal Springs Reservoir and watershed area realize it not an appropriate venue to store munitions (SF's water supply). Local officials should be asking the responsible authorities some serious questions.

ATF finds explosives stolen from Calif. storage locker

About 200 pounds of explosives and bomb-making hardware stolen from a storage locker used by two public safety agencies have been recovered from a stolen van, authorities said Thursday.

Stolen were 75 feet of "det sheet" and 30 to 35 pounds of C4, both explosives used by the military; 114 pounds of other explosives; and approximately 800 blasting caps and 1,700 feet of detonation cord, said Marti McKee, a spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The items were stolen sometime over the July 4 weekend from storage magazines in a depot used by the San Francisco Police Department and the San Mateo County Sheriff's office.

The van was stopped near a shopping center in Union City Wednesday night, said McKee.

"It was a stolen van with stolen plates and we had information that possibly it was connected to the theft," she said. "We think we've recovered all of the explosives."

A man was detained by Hayward police but he was not arrested pending questioning by ATF agents, McKee said.