About 40 employees of Natchez Ford Lincoln Mercury were evacuated when a bomb threat was called in to its service department at about 9:20 a.m. Thursday.

An hour-long search by Natchez police found no bomb, said Police Chief Willie Huff. The identity and motive of the caller had not been determined and the case was still being investigated as of Thursday. The caller, who called the threat in to the dealership’s service department, did not give a time the bomb was supposed to explode.

&uot;They said to clear the building, and I&160;ran out,&uot;&160;said Martha McLemore, a warranty administrator in the service department. &uot;They’re not taking any chances.&uot;

When someone came into his office to tell him to evacuate, salesman Claude Rabb thought it was a bad joke. &uot;Then I&160;saw they were serious,&uot;&160;Rabb said. &uot;I was on the phone, but I&160;said, ‘We’ve got a bomb threat, I’ve got to go’ and hung up really quick.&uot;

Owner Charles Yarbrough said had no idea why someone would want to threaten his business. &uot;We try hard to get along with everybody and to do right in every situation,&uot;&160;he said. &uot;I guess they just wanted to scare us … and disrupt our business. And they did.&uot;

Thursday’s incident was the second bomb threat at a Miss-Lou business in less than one week. On Oct. 1, a threat was called in to Concordia Bank’s Ferriday, La., branch.

No bomb was found, but several businesses were evacuated and more than one block of Louisiana Avenue was blocked to traffic for three and a half hours. The Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office and the FBI have not yet identified that caller.