When the police reports hit the web we were all a bit worried. A bullet hole reported in a door at Subaru Observatory. The photos circulated shortly after the reports did not help, it really looked like a bullet hole in the door.
Arriving at the summit Monday morning we took the few minute walk over to Subaru to look at the door in question.
This was not a bullet hole.
An adjustment screw protruded from the pipe in just the right spot. There was paint transfer to the screw and an impression of the lock nut in the side of the hole. It was exactly the same distance from the door hinge to the hole and the hinge to the pipe.
The shape of the screw and nut made a hole the looked just like a bullet hole, complete with the large patch of missing paint around the hole that is usually seen in the impact of a high speed object. I am not sure if I could have come up with as neat a way to simulate a bullet hole without a bullet if I tried.
Case closed.
What does amaze me is how far this went. That someone reported it, that the police who responded to the call were convinced enough to write a report and issue a press release. That the local and national media picked up the story as quickly as they did.
The fear is someone who had been radicalized by the more extreme rhetoric that surrounds the controversy. While face to face discussions tend to be civil, some of the online postings have been anything but civil. Threats have been made and we worry that someone out there may act on those threats.
Where to from here? The state supreme court has agreed to take the case, bypassing the intermediate court of appeals. Having read the lower court decisions I am optimistic that any decision will be in favor of TMT. Construction could begin immediately as the courts have refused to issue an injunction, but perhaps it would be best to wait for this final court decision. With the legal side of this resolved the road to construction would be much clearer.
Andrew- I had also heard this news (though I don’t recall where), and I’m in Chicago. So yes, bad news travels a lot farther and faster! Glad it had an innocent cause… -Dean