Another anthrax letter tied to Trenton (PROBABLE TRENTON ANTHRAX SOURCE IDENTIFIED!)

(Newark) Star-Ledger ^ | Oct. 21, 2001 | ROBERT SCHWANEBERG, KATIE WANG AND MATTHEW DOWLING

[aristeides]

A letter mailed to the New York Post last month has tested positive for anthrax and bears the same Trenton postmark as anthrax-laced letters sent to NBC anchor Tom Brokaw and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, New York City police said yesterday.

[aristeides]

So the probable source of the Trenton anthrax has been identified: Woodbrook House, a big apartment house in West Trenton/Ewing which just happens to have the office for the "Jewish Family and Children Services." Not that I think anybody in that organization had anything to do with sending the anthrax letters. But they might well have been targeted by anti-Semitic Islamofascists. I am strongly inclined to believe that the Trenton letter-carrier got the cutaneous anthrax on her shoulder from mail that she delivered, rather than from mail she collected. We are told she did not collect from public boxes, only collected from residences, and delivered far more mail than she collected. We are also told that she cannot have gotten her anthrax either from the Brokaw letter (she was off on Sept. 18th) or from the Daschle letter (she already had the anthrax by Oct. 9th.) I hope they test people in that office, indeed, in the whole building, for anthrax.

By the way, here's the location of the building on a MapQuest map: http://www.mapquest.com/cgi-bin/ia_find?link=btwn/twn-map_results&event=find_select&search=[100-199]WOODBROOK+HOUSE,+TRENTON,+NJ,+US&uid=u792zdwc8endbhia:2xqwbs1fys&lat=402666&lng=-748264&country=US&level=9&style=1&width=390&height=245. In the upper right-hand corner of that map, note, is a runway at Trenton-Mercer Airport. I wonder if the FBI has checked who has been taking flying lessons there.

[aristeides]

How does a magazine sorter get cutaneous anthrax on his neck from letters?

[dalebert]

Good question.

[Common Tator]

If it is a man he likely had a small shaving cut. He got the pores on his hands and then entered the cut from touching his neck. Or he could have had a pimple he opened on his neck by pinching. That would do it.

These spores need a cut or break in the skin to infect. They can also if inhaled penitrate the soft tissues of the lungs.

[ex-snook]

Sept 18?? How long does the post office take to delivery a letter?

[Ozymandias Ghost]

In another article he was described as a "mechanic" working in the Post Office. That might make more sense; however, who can tell as to where the spores might have ended up in transit. Since cutaneous anthrax requires a break in the skin, perhaps he had a significant cut or scrape that allowed more spores to become imbedded.

[lelio]

How does a magazine sorter get cutaneous anthrax on his neck from letters?
Letters are in your hand, you rub your neck for some reason. Probably doing that all the time as they are bending over to deliver mail.

[aristeides]

You're confusing the mechanic with the magazine sorter. Three employees at that post office have been diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax: magazine sorter Daniel Patrick O'Donnell, mechanic Rich Morgano, and letter carrier Teresa Heller.

[aristeides]

But would a magazine sorter be handling letters?

[classygreeneyedblonde]

hmmmmmmm and he's a magazine sorter so he doesn't go around letters i don't think...

[lelio]

From what it sounds like the mail goes through machines and that's how the mechanic got it. Maybe it was on the mechanic and he worked on the magazine sorter machine. I wish someone would put out a clear story on this. Where is a statement from the USPS?

[classygreeneyedblonde]

Then how did the mechanic get it..

[karth]

Do you live in New Jersey? Its the pharmaceutical hub of the country; probably the person sending anthrax is a home-grown SOB with some connection to a pharmaceutical company. Its nice they located the mail box but its over a month since the first letter was mailed, so no one is going to remember seeing anyone mailing a letter. Be interesting to read the text of these letters; whoever sent them has probably said similar things to acquaintances and relatives, a la Kazinsky.

[WillaJohns]

"When the letter went to the senator's office, right away the whole building's tested and everybody's evacuated," said one who asked not to be identified. "Why wouldn't they do something for us?"

In case this person's question is not rhetorical, the answer is, you and your co-workers are "little people," your lives are of no special importance.

[anactivemind]

I read that he previously had a rash on his neck.

BTW, this is really hitting home... this is the neighborhood that I grew up in. My sister bought the house from my parents so she still lives there with her family. 3 of my cousins have homes there as well. Too close for comfort.

[Lighthouse Lady]

If it is the letter carrier who has it on the neck: do they still carry the mail in a sack off the shoulder? The strap then could come into contact... or it is like already mentioned: anyone could touch their neck or shoulder and it would get there from that touch.

[classygreeneyedblonde]

ok we have 2 sisters involved. hmmmmm linda morgan and theresa heller......

One resident said Heller customarily collected mail from those offices as well as from other occupants of the building

why did theresa customarily pick up the mail from there hmmmmmm

[gumbo]

Hmmmm, something else curious -- using the name "Mercer Counseling Services" in your article, I found its address listed:

Mercer Counseling Services
865 Lower Ferry Road
Trenton, NJ 08628

Then entered "865 Lower Ferry Rd" into the reverse address search function. As the article says, it's apparently a multiple dwelling/business building, and the FIRST NAME it turned up was....well, foreign.

(I don't want to post this person's name, as he may have nothing to do with it, but here's the link:)
list of persons with addresses at 865 Lower Ferry Rd, Trenton NJ

[muawiyah]

Assume all or most of the anthrax laden letters were in the same flat tray in a street collection box at one time. That tray could have been heavily infected, as could any tray placed into it. Those trays are used to move mail. Hundreds of other pieces could have been infected to some degree or the other.

My own thought on the matter is that no "source" for the anthrax letters will be found in the vicinity of Trenton. Rather, look to our old buddies down there in Boca Raton. First person they killed was their landlady's husband!

Undoubtedly they did all the other attacks as well.

(For those who want to know, even though single piece rate First Class Mail is the highest price product the USPS sells, it generally gets worse service than just about everything else. That's why these pieces are dribbling in - well, that and the fact that air service used to transport First Class Mail was not generally available for a couple of weeks there.)

[Exigence]

But would a magazine sorter be handling letters?

You're over thinking this. Job titles aren't exact, for one thing. In most work locations, others pitch in where needed. Or, equipment is used in common or some other such thing. This isn't a big deal to focus on.