Last weekend's bomb scare at Disneyland that locked thousands of visitors out of the park for up to three hours was unwittingly triggered by a Rohnert Park man who had placed a scroll of paper in a tree near the ticket booths.
The unidentified man went to the famed amusement park with his daughter and her Rohnert Park youth football spirit team for a national cheerleading competition there. He apparently wrote something ornately on paper, rolled it up and placed it in a tree to bless or encourage the girls.
A park employee performing an inspection Saturday spotted the object at 7:10 a.m., and Disneyland officials reported the discovery to Anaheim police.
Sgt. Bob Dunn said officers who responded couldn't make out what the item was.
"It was a bit out of the reach of the officers," he said.
Concern that it might be something hazardous led officers to summon the Orange County Sheriff's Office bomb squad. The gates to Disneyland and adjacent Disney California Adventure Park had been opened and a small crowd had entered when officials locked them down.
People in the parks did not have to leave, but no one else was allowed in while the bomb squad mustered.
Hundreds of Sonoma County girls on youth football cheer squads were at Disneyland for a national competition and some of them were headed in for the day's meet when the gates were shut.
In the midst of the rare lockdown, the Rohnert Park dad phoned police after seeing news coverage of the bomb scare "and noticing that Disneyland was not open," Dunn said.
The man met with officers and described what he had innocently placed in a tree for the benefit of the Rohnert Park Warriors cheer team.
"We were able to confirm that what we were looking at was what he was describing," Dunn said.
Disneyland's entry gates had been closed for about three hours when park officials resumed normal operations at 10:30 a.m.
Asked to describe the man's response to the shutdown and its effect on the thousands locked out, Dunn said, "What I would say is remorseful."
He said that causing a great commotion "certainly was not the intent of his action."
"At this time it does not appear we will be pursuing charges," Dunn said.
He said it was unclear why the man put the rolled-up paper in the tree.
Tracey Poueu-Guerrero, president of the Rohnert Park Warriors football and cheer team, said in an e-mail that the man "set up a scavenger hunt for the cheer team."
"It was an innocent act intended only as a game for the girls while we were down at the Nationals," Poueu-Guerrero said.
She declined to identify the man. Anaheim police also would not provide the man's name because he has not been cited or charged with any crime.
Dunn said he did not know if the man had placed the scroll as part of a scavenger hunt. If officers couldn't easily reach it, it seems it also would have been out of reach of the girls.
"To our knowledge, it was the only item" that the man placed, Dunn said. He said it appeared the scroll was created and placed "to spur team unity and spirit."
Coaches and parents with other of the Sonoma County football cheerleading teams at Disneyland said the park's closure wasn't a serious problem.
Jennifer Crum, cheer director for the Petaluma Panthers, said she and her 53 girls were walking toward the park when the gates were closed.
She said they waited an hour to get in but the girls weren't bothered by the police activity.
"It was exciting to them," Crum said. "It wasn't scary to them at all."
As consolation for the lockdown, Disney officials kept the main park and California Adventure open an hour later than usual Saturday night.
Saturday wasn't the first time Disneyland has been closed by concern over an unknown device. On Feb. 22, 2011, part of the park was closed because of a suspicious box that turned out to be a "geocaching" site - a location for high-tech scavenger hunters who use GPS devices to find objects left at specific spots.
You can reach Staff Writer Chris Smith at 521-5211 or chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.
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