Nine quarantined after powder found at Brooks City-Base

San Antonio Express-News ^ | 2-17-04 | Unknown

[ChuckHam]

Nine people have been quarantined after officials found a white powder in an envelope at Brooks City-Base today.

No one is complaining of sickness and no one was taken to a hospital, but the nine are being held for observation, San Antonio Fire Department officials said.

A building at 7980 Lindbergh Lane, with about 150 people inside, was evacuated when the powder was discovered, but only nine people were in the room, District Fire Chief Randy Jenkins said.

The letter was in an area where in-house mail was processed, and it was not sent through the U.S. Postal Service, Jenkins said.

The powder is being tested by firefighters with the hazardous materials team to determine what it is, Jenkins said.

[ChuckHam]

Breaking now.

[dakine]

Someone had an early afternoon Tee-time....

[Milwaukee_Guy]

It's just another completely unrelated and isolated incident.....;-)

[ravingnutter]

I was just out there when the report came in. Reports said it was a flyer attached to a paycheck that had white powder on it. I called to check with my boss out there to see if any of our employees were affected. Although, my boss was joking about how a complete subway system was shut down recently because of powder from a donut. Ya never know...

[Solamente]

Maybe it was a batch of Spanish Fly en route to Kerry.

[Sloth]

Authorities have ruled out involvement by anyone other than white male Christians.

[Milwaukee_Guy]

What took them so long? (sarcasm)

[ChuckHam]

Now being reported negative for anthrax or ricin. All appears to be ok. Please remove from breaking news.

[PhiKapMom]

When did Brooks AFB change names to Brooks city-base?

[alrea]

Authorities have ruled out involvement by anyone other than white male Christians.

Journalists consider this a serious matter that requires investigation.

[maestro]

ping. ......'unrelated'.......(profiling/ethnics?)

':-(

[SwatTeam]

Brooks AFB was closed during the last BRAC and the city now has control of it. I think it still has a military contingent out there but it is now the responsibility of San Antonio if I understand it correctly.

[PhiKapMom]

They closed Kelly AFB and the city took control of that -- that is why I am living in Norman, OK. Brooks escaped the BRAC. Just visited their site and found out that in 2002 the city took over control and renamed the Base because they knew in the next BRAC they were history.

San Antonio spent so much time saving Brooks AFB, they lost Kelly. AF still owns part of Kelly but leases to San Antonio for a $1 a year I think for 50 years. AFMC still owns the engine facility which is under control of Tinker AFB.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[SwatTeam]

I was more familiar with the Kelly situation than with Brooks. After you are retired for a while, you just kinda lose touch with some things. So far we still have Lackland, Randolph and Fort Sam. Don't know if they will all survive the next round or not.

[ravingnutter]

When did Brooks AFB change names to Brooks city-base?

In January of 2003, when the city took over control of the base...trying to avoid BRAC. It has made quite a difference, the buildings are being renovated and they are even going to build a Wal-Mart on-site, which I really don't understand, as they are building a new Super Wal-Mart at the intersection of Military and Roosevelt as well. The south side is really booming now, we just got a new Target across the street from the main gate. The road construction and subsequently the traffic, however, is really a nightmare.

[PhiKapMom]

Ended up here at Tinker AFB because of Kelly AFB so I was very familiar with that one as well.

[PhiKapMom]

There used to be nothing in the Brooks area to speak of. I said the same thing about Walmart here in Norman. They build two Superstores -- one on each side of town. I figured neither would be crowded. I was wrong! They are both busy all the time because of the surrounding area of Norman.

Sounds like Brooks is changing for the better. Good thing too because it shoulds like any location for the AF without an active runway is going to bite the dust.

Up here at Tinker they have so much work they are going to be building across a road and planes will be taken over there for depot maintenance. They are basically out of room.

[RadioAstronomer]

However, Brooks was a great research facility. I was assigned there in the late 70's for a test program. The human centrifuge was really really cool! :-)