Mississippi EMA received a phone call that the water system in Columbus(MS) had been poisoned

http://www.wcbi.com/ ^

[honway]

ALERT.

At approximately 9:00 a.m., the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency received a phone call that the water system in Columbus had been poisoned. Local city and county officials have convened a meeting to coordinate a plan of action to inform the public concerning the situation.

The public may use bottled water until further notice. We are cooperating with the Mississippi State Department of Health. At present, we don't know if it is a credible threat, but we will be remiss is we didn't notify the public. We will keep you updated as we receive the information.

[WKB]

five trucks to arrive shortly at the K-Mart in Columbus with bottled water.

I hope the Kmart is still open when they get there with the warter.

[Newbomb Turk]

Check the phone records of all the bottled water resellers in the State.

[honway]

The effects of this likely hoax on the folks in Columbus is a story in itself.

At least as interesting is the news blackout on this story. I still have not heard from the sidebar moderator on the question about if this thread was pulled from Breaking News.

[honway]

FYI

[honway]

ping

[Mixer]

Did you find this thread on the Breaking News sidebar?

When I ifirst saw it and clicked on it, that was where it was...yes. However, it no longer seems to be in Breaking news.

[NerdDad]

Thank you for posting this article. My access to FR at work has been pulled by the network admin, I guess because I spent too much time on it. I had to wait till I got home and the crisis was over to see the thread. I live out in the county and still don't have word on the water tests out here. Luckily I had a stash of 12 cases of water. Have had to bail a few friends and family members out this evening.

I believe this was a hoax and I hope the culprit is caught and very publicly castigated for his crime. I think the reaction by officials to go public was the only real choice they had in today's world. The rumors were running about a half hour ahead of the official statement anyways so they had to behead that monster pretty quickly.

Are you a Columbus resident? FReepmail me we'll grab a burger somewhere.

[honway]

Thank you very much for responding. I am trying to understand the Freerepublic editorial policy on Breaking News. I am a little disappointed so far. The information about the personal experience of the residents in Columbus truly is News People Can Use to make important decisions about disaster preparedness in today's environment.

[honway]

My mother-in-law spent over 4 hours in a line today to buy two bottles of water and she felt like she was fortunate because when the folks at the back of the line got to the water, the store was out.

There are some lessons for us all from the experience of the Columbus residents today and the way the national media handled it, as well as Freerepublic administrators.

[honway]

FYI

[TankerKC]

Isn't there a nursing school in Colombus MS?

MIssissippi University for Women (MUW--pronounced MOOO!). Also the location of Columbus Air Force Base, a pilot training base.

[SuziQ]

Did you find this thread on the Breaking News sidebar?

Yep.

[SuziQ]

MIssissippi University for Women (MUW--pronounced MOOO!).

Actually it's called "The W". Moo U. (Miss. State) is down the road a piece.

[TankerKC]

I used to help a friend out at the University radio station...we alway called it the Mooo. Hmmmm.

[TankerKC]

..oh yeah...and, I stand corrected. ;)

[honway]

TankerKC

Is that pronounced TOAD!

[TankerKC]

MUW grad? ;)

[honway]

Takes one to know one.

[Dan(9698)]

>>>...My mother-in-law spent over 4 hours in a line today to buy two bottles of water

A good practice is when a jug of milk is empty, wrinse it out and refill it with water. Put it under your bed if you do not have storage. Cheap insurance.

[Lion's Cub]

Thanks for the ping on this--I hadn't heard a word about it.

While we've no way of knowing what actually happened or who instituted this or why, I would note that there have been several instances of suspect things along the Mississippi River--and many cities along it seem to have cells. I suspect that some cells use it to move people and materials. (I realize that Columbus is at least a hundred miles east of the river, but this seemed like a good place to mention it.)

While the phone call could have come from a run-of-the-mill prankster, I wonder if someone was assessing the response? Gathering a bunch of citizens in one place to pick up water is helpful if someone is looking for a crowd...

OTOH, if you can't penetrate a municipal water supply, you might opt for creating a scare in order to pass out poisoned water before the authentic supplies arrived--as long as you knew what authorities and and citizens were expecting.