Man Tried to Blow Up Government Office Building's Sign Because of Misspelled Word

This morning, a man brought a pressure cooker he claimed was a bomb into the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission office in Salem, Oregon and told employees he tried to blow up their sign because it was misspelled. We are not even kidding.

Leonard Burdek, 50, of Salem, told [Executive Director Vickie Chamberlain] and the receptionist that he tried to blow up the agency’s outside sign, but the bomb didn’t work. The sign spells out the agency’s name in blue letters and sits at the end of its parking lot at 250 Division Street NE. One side is missing the letter “D” in the word “and” so it reads: “Teacher Standards an Practices Commission.” After discussing his failed attempt to detonate his bomb, the man complained that the instructions he downloaded to make the bomb also had misspellings. Burdek implied that Chamberlain and her employees should be concerned about the level of education children receive given that his instructions were rife with errors. The commission’s office is where people come to fill out their applications for a teacher’s license. [...] Chamberlain asked Burdek to leave and motioned with her hands for another employee to call the police. When he noticed her signaling for someone to dial 911, Burdek left—taking the pressure cooker with him. The staff immediately locked the doors and waited for Salem Police. “He was probably in here a minute and a half or so,” Chamberlain said. “If he had left the bomb, we certainly would have evacuated.” Police arrested Burdek in his van around 10 a.m. after employees called back to say they spotted him in a van nearby. Lt. Dave Okada said the pressure cooker did not turn out to be a bomb. He was charged with disorderly conduct.

source: StatesmanJournal

That is all.