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News brief: Threat of bomb clears Morton lumber mill

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

A Morton lumber mill was shut down this morning by a bomb threat.

“The caller said we had messed with the wrong person,” Alta Forest Products President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Pedersen said.

Alta is on the 300 block of state Route 7, at the north end of town.

Pedersen said the plant was evacuated and a bomb squad swept the premises.

He said he believed a suspect has been arrested, but didn’t have details.

Morton Police Department Chief Dan Mortensen said he didn’t have time to talk about the incident; he expected to be busy into this evening.

Pedersen said there would have been about 60 employees on the job, but he himself was out of town.

The phone call came at about 7:45 a.m., and the caller indicated a bomb would got off in 10 minutes, he said. They immediately evacuated everyone, he said.

He said he didn’t know the specifics.

“The big thing is, everybody is safe,” Pedersen said.

The afternoon shift is scheduled to begin as usual, he said.

The mill, formerly TMI Forest Products Inc. and before that the Tubafor Mill, manufactures Western Red Cedar fence boards.