Bomb Scare Interrupts Meeting

NORTH HOLLYWOOD — A gathering of a conservative, Tarzana-based group that featured a speech by state Sen. Don Rogers (R-Tehachapi) was briefly interrupted Saturday night by a bomb scare, authorities said.

Police did not find any explosives after evacuating the Granada Forum’s 200 attendees and searching the meeting room at the Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn, according to Sgt. John Stilo of the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Division.

The group assured audience members that extra security was being provided by the hotel, a measure they said was necessary after a Friday Los Angeles Times article detailed complaints against the group by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

The ADL has criticized the group, saying it provides a forum for anti-Semitic and racist extremists, and had written to Rogers urging him not to attend.

Forum leaders told the gathering that the brief interruption had been scheduled to give the audience an opportunity to get some fresh air. But LAPD officials later confirmed that a bomb threat had been called in to the hotel.

Saturday’s gathering, titled, “Just Say No,” railed against big government and unfunded federal regulations.

There were no reports of injuries and conference-goers were permitted to reconvene.