Scare briefly closes Canoa rest area

Police checked out what looked something like a pipe bomb at the Canoa rest stop about 5 miles south of Green Valley about 7:45 a.m. Sunday.

But the object on the ground was covered by an Arizona state flag, which might have been a clue.

The “bomb” was part of the flag pole at the rest stop next to the southbound lanes.

The Department of Public Safety officers saw a cylindrical object connected by a wire cable to a flag pole.

State police experts on ordnance removal checked it out. said it was just part of the flagpole that had broken off overnight.

They reopened the rest stop about three hours after the initial report.

“There was no apparent tampering,” said the Department of Public Safety statement.

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