A trooper wearing a bomb suit walks on South Wolf Street in Manheim.
Manheim Borough police stand by the Pennsylvania State Police EOD unit on South Wolf Street in Manheim.
Police monitor a bomb scare situation in the square in Lititz before the scene was cleared.
Police monitor a bomb scare situation in the square in Lititz before the scene was cleared.
An officer removes police tape after nothing suspicious was found in Lititz.
The tool box that was the suspicious package at the Manheim Post Office.
Streets in Lititz and Manheim were closed for some two hours Friday morning as police investigated two suspicious packages found within about 10 minutes of each other outside government buildings in the towns.
A blue vinyl lunch bag was found just outside the borough hall in Lititz. A metal toolbox was found to the rear of the post office in Manheim.
Two hours later, police discovered that the lunch bag contained nothing more than lunch. The toolbox was empty.
Still, police in both towns felt they mounted the proper response, which included bomb squads, a bomb-sniffing dog and the evacuation of homes and businesses.
"The close proximity raised our concerns greatly, and the timing," said Manheim police Chief Joe Stauffer.
Lititz police Sgt. Kerry Good said, "It's good to be safe rather than sorry. It got to be frustrating, especially with the amount of traffic.
"Fortunately, the end result was there was nothing."
In Lititz, the lunch bag was found on the sidewalk at about 7:20 a.m. just outside Lititz Borough Hall, in the first block of South Broad Street.
The first block of South Broad and East Main streets, near the square in Lititz, were closed for about two hours.
Police called in a bomb-sniffing dog and the Pennsylvania state police ordnance disposal team to investigate, a police department spokeswoman said.
The bag contained nothing more than packages of tuna fish, peanut butter and bread, likely someone's lunch, Good said.
The streets were reopened at about 9:30 a.m.
The bag was found at a bus stop just outside borough hall and may have been accidentally left behind by a bus rider, Good said.
Police officers' concerns about the bag were raised because of the package found in Manheim about the same time, Good said.
During the incident, Lititz Elementary School, which is in the same block as borough hall, was asked to keep students off the playground. Employees at the borough office were asked to stay toward the rear of the building, the spokeswoman said.
Some nearby businesses were evacuated, including a Susquehanna Bank branch in the first block of East Main Street.
Also, Warwick Middle and High schools, which had early dismissals today, advised students to stay away from the downtown and Lititz Springs Park, which is about two blocks from borough hall, on their way home, spokeswoman Lori Zimmerman said.
Manheim's suspicious package was reported at about 7:28 a.m.
Manheim Postmaster P. Scott Cardin said a post office employee found the toolbox, which was sitting next to collection boxes to the rear of the post office, in the first block of South Main Street.
State police sent an ordnance team to investigate the toolbox.
Police closed sections of Wolf Street, from East High to Ferdinand streets, and Logan Avenue, from Main to Hazel streets, as they investigated.
Police also evacuated four nearby homes and an apartment building on South Wolf Street.
Earlier reports said the post office was closed for a time, but it actually stayed open during the investigation, via its front entrance.
"It was a short thing," Cardin said. "It was probably the best way to go, to make sure everybody errs on the side of safety."
Streets were reopened at about 9:45 a.m.
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