A hard-copy update:
I put the full article here, as the Dispatch seems to be on a very slow server. Timed out several times for me -- but then that might just be people accessing for the story...

State Office Tower Evacuated / "Suspicious" Man in Custody
Wednesday, September 11, 2002
(3:48 PM ET)
The Columbus Dispatch



And Wire Reports

James A. Rhodes State Office Tower, Columbus, Ohio.
Image Credit: Ohio Building Authority (larger photo).

COLUMBUS, Oh. -- CD
Three dogs detected the scent of chemicals that could be used in explosives in a van at a 41-story office tower Wednesday afternoon, forcing the evacuation of that building and other nearby buildings, the State Highway Patrol said.

Patrol spokesman Lt. John Born said a man was in custody. The patrol said at a news conference that an employee in the James A. Rhodes State Office Tower, on the 28th floor, reported the man to authorities as "suspicious." The man was being held at a Highway Patrol facility, and no charges had been filed.

No explosives were immediately found, but the scent of the chemicals was detected by three dogs, the patrol said. Officers were searching the 28th, 29th and 30th floors of the building.

The van was parked at a loading dock in the rear of the Rhodes Tower, which is across the street from the Statehouse. Broad Street was closed to traffic between High Street and 3rd Street.

Gov. Bob Taft was in his office in the 32-story Vern Riffe Center for the Government and the Arts, one block southwest of the Rhodes tower, said Joe Andrews, Taft's spokesman.

He would not say whether security was increased around the governor.

Bob Morgan, an investigator with the attorney general's office, said employees were told to leave via stairways. They were not told why.

"It was a very eerie feeling," he said of his walk from the 14th floor.

Authorities blocked off Broad Street in front of the Rhodes State Office Tower Wednesday.
Image Credit: Dispatch.com.

Police cars cordoned off the street in front of the downtown building.

Born said the evacuation that began at 2 p.m. was orderly.

About 4,000 state employees work in the building. It was not immediately clear how many were affected.

The Ohio Supreme Court, which occupies seven floors, was not in session on Wednesday. Court spokeswoman Regina Kohler said she did not know how many of the seven justices were in their offices.

The building was named after former Gov. James A. Rhodes, a Republican who served four terms. He died last year. The Riffe center is named after former House Speaker Vern Riffe.
(More: Dispatch.com News Source)
2002 © The Columbus Dispatch.

Dan