Tom Cruise Almost Blows up LA

In Santa Clarita, California, a newspaper promotion for Tom Cruise’s upcoming
"Mission Impossible III" got off to an explosive start when a county arson squad
blew up a news rack, thinking it contained a bomb.

The confusion, the Los Angeles Times rack was fitted with a digital musical
device designed to play the "Mission Impossible" theme song when the door was
opened. But in some cases, the red plastic boxes with protruding wires were
jarred loose and dropped onto the stack of newspapers inside, alarming
customers.

Sheriff’s officials said they rendered the news rack in this suburb 35 miles
north of downtown Los Angeles "safe" after being called to the scene Friday by a
concerned individual who thought he’d seen a bomb.

Times officials said the devices were placed in 4,500 randomly selected news
boxes in Los Angeles and Ventura counties in a venture with Paramount Pictures
designed to turn the "everyday news rack experience" into an "extraordinary
mission."

It was just that, at least for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arson
squad, which destroyed the box.

"This was the least intended outcome. We weren’t expecting anything like this,"
said John O’Loughlin, the Times’ senior vice president for planning.

The devices are to remain in the boxes until May 7, two days after the film is
scheduled to open.

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