Harvard Exit scare that fizzled into thin air

 
Yesterday evening (for now it is the day after), I showed up to my 7:30 SIFF will call shift at the Harvard Exit to the entire theater emptied of its people. It was raining. Everybody was confused standing outside on the street chattering about the police being called. It took me fifteen minutes to understand what was going on other than the excitement and the fear.

People talked about 9-11. I told a story about my 1995 trip to Israel and being in a town that was suicide bombed the following day. And how the troops, who were relaxed, had their finger on the trigger. Many of the members of Linfield's on site Old Testament class were disturbed. The prime witness to the (Harvard Exit) event said, "reality is too real."

A man wearing green camouflage stormed into the theater with a backpack. The movie, "If a Tree Falls: A Story About ELF," the SIFF staff was seating for was about the Earth Liberation Front or eco terrorism. The man slipped in without paying. He seemed angry. He didn't stay long. One volunteer said, "that as he fled the theater, his backpack was flapping empty." However, no one seemed to notice the state of his backpack upon entry into the theater.

The squad of police arrived around eight o'clock and swept the theater. The lead officer didn't think it was necessary to bring in a bomb sniffing dog. About 8:10ish, a woman was located who know the man.

Apparently, a woman and a male friend had gotten into a fight. The woman wanted to see the film. The in man camo fatigues, wanted to do something else with her. In a jealous rage, he stormed into the film to find the woman in order to give him a piece of his heart. It is not clear as to wither he found her in that particular screen room. The Harvard Exit can show two films at a time. Wednesday they used one screen for SIFF and the other for their own bottom line.

The officers found nothing of danger in the said theater's screening room.