Possible Anthrax situation at BATF NFA branch...

ATF | Me

[BCR #226]

I've been trying to contact the ATF NFA branch concerning a form 4 all morning. After nearly a dozen tries, I contacted the ATF's main 800 number. A representative there told me that there is "A possible Anthrax Contamination of that floor." It is being investigated right now. The NFA branch in DC has been evacuated.

No further information at this time. If anyone wants to see if they can get more information, the main number is 1-800-800-DULL

Mike

[BCR #226]

Guess I'll be waiting for my papers a little bit longer.

[codebreaker]

Is this Dept. of Justice?

[Squantos]

Bump

[TADSLOS]

I can't call now, I'm getting ready to take a shower.

[Squantos]

FYI

[shadowman99]

Why did this get bumped up? It is (so far) unsubstantiated.

It's a friend of a friend story until an establish news source picks it up.

[ZinGirl]

Why did this get bumped up? It is (so far) unsubstantiated

it got bumped because an established news source is going to confirm that TADSLOS is, in fact, going to take a shower.

[3catsanadog]

it got bumped because an established news source is going to confirm that TADSLOS is, in fact, going to take a shower.

Has he notified Daschle and Gephardt and the Congressional Intelligence Committee?

[freeperfromnj]

Here's a bit of news from a day or two ago that never made the mainstream press. I posted it earlier under the anthrax topic. Also, we have not heard results yet on the Federal Reserve Building.

Wed, May. 15, 2002

Suspicious white powder triggers anthrax response at Presidio

Monterey Herald

By KEVIN HOWE

An envelope leaking a fine white powder triggered the evacuation of an administrative building at the Presidio of Monterey this afternoon. The sinister discovery triggered the county's emergency response plan for possible anthrax contamination in the mail, and the Seaside Fire Department's hazardous materials team responded.

Army spokeswoman Kay Rodrigues said the sealed envelope was found by a soldier at Taylor Hall, administration building for the Army's 229th Training Battalion, about 1 p.m. The envelope came from an unknown sender, and was leaking powder from a small opening, she said, adding that the envelope was placed, unopened, into another container as a precautionary measure, and the building was evacuated.

Seaside fire Capt. Roger Brown said his four-man team secured the envelope, but was unable to identify the substance inside.

Fire engines from the city of Monterey and Fort Ord Military Community also responded. No one was sent to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula for treatment, according to hospital spokeswoman Lauren Elsensohn.

"We don't have any patients, and we aren't expecting any," she said. "Our people are in contact with the emergency medical services crew there."

Emergency workers, Elsensohn added, were following protocols established by the county Office of Emergency Services for dealing with suspicious letters and packages. "We won't get anyone unless they have symptoms."

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease carried by spore-forming bacteria. It usually occurs in farm animals but can be contracted by humans through tainted meat or, more rarely, inhalation of the spores. When inhaled, it first causes cold-like symptoms and is almost always fatal within a week unless treated immediately by antibiotics.

Health officials, Elsensohn said, like to keep suspicious substances on site rather than carrying them through the community.

The envelope was taken to a laboratory for examination, said John Jennings, chief of the hazardous materials and solid waste branch of the county's Environmental Health office. An initial test will take 24 hours, he said to show results, if the material proves not to be hazardous. Otherwise, further testing could take another 48 hours to determine what it is. Military investigators and the FBI have been contacted, Jennings said.

The incident recalled the flurry of similar alarms that brought hazardous response teams out on scores of incidents in October and November, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and subsequent appearances of anthrax-tainted letters, with bacterial spores contained in powder, in post offices on the East Coast.

Among them was an alarm at Monterey Peninsula College in mid-October that emptied the campus of its 2,500 students when piles of white powder were discovered around the campus, and two similar incidents at Cannery Row. The substances proved to be harmless. Anthrax jitters also generated public demands for vaccinations and antibiotics, which medical authorities advised against.

His hazardous materials team rolled on about 60 responses during those two months, Brown said, and the alarms have tapered off to about a half-dozen since January. "This is the first in a while."

[MississippiMan]

Why did this get bumped up? It is (so far) unsubstantiated. It's a friend of a friend story until an establish news source picks it up.

I'm glad to get inside tips before our illustrious media pick it up, thank you very much. If there's nothing to it, that will become evident soon enough. Source Police not needed IMO.

MM

[BCR #226]

Call the ATF yourself. Simple solution.

Mike

[ZinGirl]

well, he is purposefully NOT going to tell McKinney...but then will later demand to know what she knew about his shower and when she knew it.

(tadslos...since you've become a part of this, I figured I should ping you!)

[piasa]

Don't forget to notify Leahy so that the whole world will know...

[buffyt]

That is exactly what we do here, post news that may not be on TV or radio or in the papers yet. That is our strength. They can't sweep a story under the rug, because we are already on top of it. That is the strength of the internet! The Liberal Media can't ignore all of us all of the time.... Drudge is a master at breaking news stories before they hit the press, too!

[dead]

If somebody attacked the BATF, some sonofabitch is gonna die.

It don't even matter who, they'll just start machine gunning people randomly.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Maybe you can send this in to Fox News as a news tip?

[TomGuy]

post news that may not be on TV or radio or in the papers yet

Very true. Many news posts on FR never make the media news, but are significant. For example, the Yonkers, NY, "chemical food poisoning" of last evening has not been mentioned on any TV news outlets in my area, including the morning Networks.

[cardinal4]

it got bumped because an established news source is going to confirm that TADSLOS is, in fact, going to take a shower.

I hope he doesnt use all the hot water!

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

WHat is the story with the "shower taking" comments???

[Cachelot]

It don't even matter who, they'll just start machine gunning people randomly.

Do you think they might do requests?

[marktuoni]

TADSLOS taking a shower really isn't Bump-able News either...it is after all the 17th of the month...It's been 30 days since his last shower....this is an expected event!

[ZinGirl]

so YOU knew or had previous knowledge of the showering of TADSLOS....an expected event OR could you have warned us? Just what did YOU know and when did you know it? (LOL - can we tell it's a Friday?)

[TADSLOS]

I'll have you know that I shower daily and always at the brink of breaking news.

[marktuoni]

We were given a briefing that TADSLOS was getting ripe, in the past when this happened, TADSLOS would jump in a lake/pond/puddle...we had no way of knowing that TADSLOS would go INTO a building to bathe!

Happy Friday!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

establish(ed) news source

If I've learned anything after several years of Free Republic, it's to take the words of most people on this forum more seriously than "established news sources" any day.

[VA Advogado]

Pray that these fine law enforcement officers are OK.

[UnsinkableMollyBrown]

Several Quarantined in Yonkers

Toxic food fells 6 in Yonkers

They don't know what it is, but 2 medical personnel have been hospitalized after coming into contact with bodily fluids from the victims. One developed a rash, the other - skin lesions. Also, the victims were found unconcious and had a yellow substance coming from their mouth and eyes. Evidently they got sick after just a few bites of food. Also, the police are treating it as a crime, and nearby residents are still at a Red Cross shelter set up at a church (so evidently, they can't get back into their homes).

[gc4nra]

"Possible Anthrax situation at BATF NFA branch...'

If this is true there i9s only one solution: CALL IN JANET RENO AND BURN IT, BURN IT TO THE GROUND!

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

nope, fill me in

[Tauzero]

Is this good news or bad news?

[Hoosier Patriot]

they'll just start machine gunning people randomly.

Before, during, or after the fire starts?

[Beelzebubba]

Pray that these fine law enforcement officers are OK.

I will pray that these jack-booted thuggish enemies of our liberties are OK.

I will also pray that VAA loses his blind adoration of authority.

[philman_36]

You've got some brown stuff on your nose there...you might want to wipe it off.

[philman_36]

Ahhhh, my own ignorance of it is cured also. Many thanks.
You could've left us perplexed, uninformed mushrooms even more in the dark than we already were, which would've been a cruel and unusual punishment, and we'd never have known what it was all about.
All your showers belong to Breaking News.

[ctdonath2]

WHat is the story with the "shower taking" comments???

A few weeks ago there was a series of "breaking news" items (I forget about what), and someone commented that these items kept happening just as s/he was about to get into the shower. The correlation happened enough that now some FReepers feel obligated to make sure SOMEONE takes a shower upon the announcement of breaking news.

(I wish someone would explain the "moose" references...)

[Centurion2000]

Pray that these fine law enforcement officers are OK.

You forgot your /sarcasm tag

[Centurion2000]

(I wish someone would explain the "moose" references...)

There's a movie you need to buy/rent ..... Monty Python and the Holy Grail ... read the opening credits and all will be made crystal clear ... (or a moose may bite your sister)

[OldFriend]

I have no problem with posting the story, I do have a problem with the suggestion that we should be calling these people. Right now they have other things to deal with and our phone calls are an uneeded distraction.

[philman_36]

(I wish someone would explain the "moose" references...)
And the "cheese" too. Imagine, all of it on one thread. I don't think we'll be so lucky.

[philman_36]

Got the real low down on the "cheese" too?
Long time no see. Doing OK?

[eno_]

You nailed it. 99.9% chance of a hoax by a gun grabber.

[BCR #226]

Sorry, no hoax. My information comes directly from the ATF operators. I was calling in for status on a form 4 transfer. After trying quite a few times, I called the main ATF number. I explained the problem to the operator and he told me that there was an anthrax situation going on.

Mike

[eno_]

I'm sure the situation is real. I was talking about the anthrax. I bet it was sent by someone trying to gum up the works.

[BCR #226]

Ah... my bad. misunderstood the reference. It's highly possible that is the case. The ATF NFA branch isn't on the terrorists hit list as far as I can see.

I just got updated information from a class 3 board that this has been occuring since yesterday or the day before. Why hasn't the media picked up on it?

Mike

[fire_eye]

What's the big deal? There's no threat here, if someone's turned anthrax loose at BATF - bacteria can't infect other bacteria...

"Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms? Who's bringing the chips and salsa?"

[BCR #226]

Big threat actually. For many people in the class three world, there exists a huge chance of paperwork now being lost or destroyed. If that happens, time is lost. If it somehow effects existing records, (highly unlikely but you never know with the ATF) then peoples freedoms may be jeapordized due to ATF errors.

Mike

[archy]

Ah... my bad. misunderstood the reference. It's highly possible that is the case. The ATF NFA branch isn't on the terrorists hit list as far as I can see.

I just got updated information from a class 3 board that this has been occuring since yesterday or the day before. Why hasn't the media picked up on it?

Mike

World Net Daily is on it, as is at least one newspaper writer specializing in CBR weapons, and at least one other foreign news service, and a very well-known Anthrax matters expert.

As with the WEatergate breakin, the real story may be the coverup, particularly if BATF accidentally dosed themselves with material they were intending to plant on *terrorists* elsewhere, as if checking with the NFA branch while researching for a convenient address for a scapegoat.. Developing....

Stay in touch....

-archy-/-