20 white powder letters addressed to politicians around the country

The Associated Press | July 15 2003

[Princeton]

Postal Worker Finds Suspicious Powder In Letters

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A postal worker found white powder in about 20 letters addressed to politicians around the country early Tuesday, leading firefighters to seal off part of the city's main post office.

The Tallahassee Fire Department said the powder was being tested by the Leon County Health Department to see if the powder was anthrax or another hazardous material was placed in the letters, which were addressed to members of Congress. Test results weren't expected for two or three days, officials said.

Postal workers immediately secured the area after discovering the powder and called 911, officials said. A hazardous materials team decontaminated the area and no postal workers are thought to have been contaminated, they said.

On Oct. 15, 2001, just a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, an anthrax-bearing letter was opened in the office of then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Traces of the toxin were found in other areas of the Capitol, apparently the result of the exposure of other letters in the mail system, and thousands of workers were treated with antibiotics as a precaution. The one million-square-foot Hart Senate Office Building where Daschle's office was located was declared safe three months later after it was decontaminated with chlorine dioxide, a toxic gas. Five people around the country, including a photo editor at a Boca Raton-based supermarket tabloid, died from the attacks, but no Capitol Hill employees were harmed. Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Coop]

Sounds like they caught the letters early in the processing cycle. Hopefully this makes it easier to backtrack to catch the terrorist and/or flake.

[mgc1122]

What a difference 20 years makes ... white powder spilling out of the envelopes back then would likely have been postmarked "Colombia".

[Dog Gone]

"Politicians around the country"? That seems odd, as if it's state or local politicians who were targeted.

[Howlin]

So.........how's it going down there??

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[Semper Paratus]

Test results weren't expected for two or three days

If I was one of the people exposed I would not be too happy about that.

[Princeton]

Idle Hands Are The Devil's Workshop

[Sabertooth]

Heads up.

[Princeton]

Ping.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I bet all of the addressees are democrats, and it's a staged occurance as an election campaign tactic... but then, I'm cynical...

[Dog Gone]

Nice tropical showers in Houston all day. Galveston was hit a little harder, as this photo shows.

Fortunately, it appears that only smaller communities were badly hit. Some houses collapsed in Surfside, and it's too early to know what happened at Matagorda Bay. In general, I'd say we got off lightly.

[Princeton]

http://www.news4jax.com/news/2334046/detail.html

[Quilla]

Kudos to the postal workers that noticed this. I too hope this helps catch those responsible. It will indeed be interesting to read the names of the politicians to whom the letters were addressed and any possible notes contained inside.

[Darksheare]

Bill Clinton came into the news conference later on, his eyes watery and red, his nose grotesquely bloated and drippy, and in a sniffly voice he said there was nothign to fear, the envelopes were his anyway that it is not sex and depends on the meaning of 'is'.
Then he wiped his finger under his nose, sniffed hard, and left the podium.

[OldFriend]

A course of anti-biotics is the answer. It is responsible for their not being other illnesses during the congressional anthrax poisonings.

[Howlin]

Since you're not screaming, I'm guessing that is NOT your place.......but watch out!

[Princeton]

"On February 5, the very day the CDC issued its report, the media reported four more incidents. Letters claiming to contain anthrax arrived at the Washington Post and a federal building in Washington , at a post office in Columbus , Georgia , and at an NBC news office in Atlanta . The Atlanta threat prompted the evacuation of a three-block area; a dozen people underwent decontamination and were taken to a hospital."

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

July/August 1999 Vol. 55, No. 4, pp. 7-13


Now, let's see.....................



1999 Washington Post


1999 Federal Building Washington


1999 Post Office
Columbus,Georgia

1999 NBC news office in Atlanta

2001 Senate Office Building
Washington

2001 New York Post

2001 Post Office in Trenton,New Jersey

2001 NBC news in New York