Posted on 11/21/2001 4:36:54 PM PST by t-shirt
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:49:35 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON (AP) - A letter to Sen. Pat Leahy was laced with billions of anthrax spores, authorities said, and a mysterious new case of the disease was confirmed in Connecticut.
The most deadly form of the disease appeared in a 94-year-old woman in a rural area southwest of Hartford.
Connecticut Gov. John Rowland said early today that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the Connecticut case after five sophisticated tests at the hospital and state health laboratory had indicated anthrax.
(Excerpt) Read more at inq.philly.com ...
Please don't let terror cause you to give up your rights.
Demand all illegals and terror linked individuals be arrested and or deported.
More stories to be posted here.
November 21, 2001 7:11 pm EST
By Chris Cowles
DERBY, Conn. (Reuters) - A 94-year-old woman from a rural Connecticut town on Wednesday became the fifth person in the United States to die from inhalation anthrax in a baffling case that revived fears of bioterrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Ottilie Lundgren, who lived alone in the farming community of Oxford, died at 10:32 a.m. EST five days after she was admitted to Griffin Hospital in nearby Derby, Connecticut, the hospital's president Patrick Charmel said.
The latest case of inhalation anthrax, a potential germ warfare agent, was the first in rural America and raised fresh alarms following a three-week period without any new cases since the last death, in New York.
"It's very scary," said Lundgren's neighbor Jodi McCue. "You would never have expected Oxford or a 94-year-old woman who stays at home all the time to ever have something like this happen.
"With terrorism and things that have happened lately, you expect New York to be a target. But Oxford?" she said. "I can't explain it and I'm very scared."
U.S. officials said they had no clues so far as to how the woman contracted the disease.
"There is mystery to this case," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson told reporters during a telephone briefing. "We do not know how she was exposed to anthrax. All possibilities are being investigated."
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aided by the FBI and state troopers, said they hoped testing of her home and places she visited would yield clues. Results will take about two days to process.
Since early October, four people had died and 13 others been infected with anthrax, a livestock disease that can be used as a germ warfare agent.
Three of the four previous anthrax deaths occurred in people age 55 or older and the woman's age may have made her less able to defend against anthrax spores than younger people, health officials said.
"That may be highly significant as to why she got infected and somebody else might have just brushed it off and no one would have ever noticed it," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
SUSPICIONS POINT TO MAIL
Investigators have still not determined who is behind the anthrax attacks, but Attorney General John Ashcroft has indicated authorities are leaning toward a domestic source.
"It's rather extraordinary if you think about a 94-year-old woman in Oxford, Connecticut getting anthrax," Connecticut Gov. John Rowland told reporters. "The obvious question is why her?
"Granted, at her age, she did not travel a great deal. So that's why the suspicions lead directly to the mail. Some sort of cross contamination," he added.
All of those infected so far have been associated with the mail, the media or Capitol Hill, except for a New York hospital worker who died on Oct. 31.
As Griffin Hospital officials announced Lundgren's death, a woman brought a suspicious envelope she feared might contain anthrax to the hospital's emergency room. Preliminary test results for anthrax were negative.
In Washington, a small amount of anthrax was detected in the Education Department's main mailroom, which was then sealed and the ventilation system in the room shut down.
Rowland said the postal employee who delivers Lundgren's mail had been treated with antibiotics and Jon Steele, head of the U.S. Postal Service's northeast region, said all 1,500 postal workers at Connecticut's two primary distribution centers in Wallingford and Seymour were offered treatment.
Rowland said authorities had checked the woman's local post office as late as Nov. 11 and had found no problems there.
"Now we begin to believe that something possibly could have happened after the 11th. But we still have no evidence it's from the mail. It's a mystery to us but the FBI and the CDC are going to continue to work on it," he said.
Lundgren, a widow whose husband died in 1977, lived alone in Oxford. She was admitted to the 160-bed Griffin Hospital in Derby last Friday with symptoms corresponding to pneumonia.
Within hours of her arrival she was treated with antibiotics as the first of five tests showed she had anthrax, doctors said.
Newsday
By Margaret Ramirez
STAFF WRITER
November 21, 2001
Environmental tests on a city subway line have found no evidence of anthrax bacteria, officials said yesterday.
"The subway is clean of anthrax," said Mayor Rudolph Giuliani during a news conference at City Hall. "There are no indications of anthrax on the 6 line and all of the tests are now back."
Earlier this month, city and federal health officials took environmental samples at subway stations along the line as part of an investigation into the inhalation anthrax death of hospital worker Kathy Nguyen.
Officials hoped to determine whether she might have been exposed to the bacteria during the commute from her Bronx home to Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, where she worked.
City health commissioner Dr. Neal Cohen said the subway samples were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and results were received Monday night.
The negative subway tests mean officials are left with few remaining leads as to how Nguyen contracted the only case of inhalation anthrax in the city. Officials also have hypothesized that Nguyen may have encountered the person behind the anthrax attacks.
"There continues to be a very intensive law enforcement and public health investigation, so there are still reviews of the whereabouts and activities of Ms. Nguyen in the period of the most likely exposure to anthrax which would be roughly two weeks prior to her onset of symptoms which is Oct. 26," said Cohen.
Nguyen reportedly traveled between Manhattan and the Bronx fairly steadily. Cohen said investigators are looking at several areas where she visited.
There have been seven other cases of anthrax in New York City, all of which were skin anthrax.
In another anthrax-related development, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White yesterday announced two men had been charged in anthrax-related cases, including a Peekskill postal employee who allegedly threatened an anthrax attack upon a Westchester congresswoman.
Willard Franklin, of Peekskill, was charged yesterday with sending a white powdery substance in a letter to the Mount Kisco office of Rep. Sue Kelly. Tests are under way to determine the makeup of the substance, White said.
The envelope also contained a note allegedly from Franklin setting forth his arguments for his entitlement to an award from the U.S. Postal Service because of an injury. Franklin is charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction, a crime, which carries up to life in prison on conviction.
In the second case, Huned Mansouri, whose address was not given, was accused of threatening an anthrax attack by sending a letter filled with powdered wheat to a former co-worker.
Staff writer Patricia Hurtado contributed to this story.
No, she didn't "steal it" herself, but someone probably used such a letter tray to hold dried flowers and decorative grasses in place to make up a bouquet to give to her. This is a common practice among the young when it comes to 94 year old ladies - the giving of dried flowers!
The tray was one that had been contaminated earlier at Brentwood facility in DC. It just happened to end up in CT in the normal course of business.
CDC folks should check out the dried flowers and find out who gave them to her. Check out their stolen letter tray collection as well.
The corrugated polypropylene material works like a pump. The corrugation tubes can contain millions of spores, and as the trays move around the postal system, they can pump them out.
A few minutes ago, some nitwit on CNBC reported that, "...she spent most of her time just being an elderly woman..."
Sometimes I seriously wonder how we could possibly exist without Big Media...
MSNBC
November 21, 2001
Associated Press
MIAMI, November 21 - A woman was charged Wednesday with sending a powder-filled letter to her boyfriend's other lover in an anthrax threat after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Melinda Rosemarie Smith was charged with sending a threat by mail to Guensine Ambo, who opened the envelope on her bed at home Oct. 24, postal inspector Luis Soler said in a court affidavit. An initial court appearance was set later Wednesday.
The three-page letter mailed to Ambo claimed the powder was "worse than anthrax." The letter was laced with profanity and was signed "Trouble."
Ambo called for help after the powder fell in her lap, and a hazardous-materials response team responded. Ambo immediately told investigators that Smith was the only one who would do such a thing because of the contents.
Smith admitted sending the powdered letter and leaving an earlier note on Ambo's windshield, Soler said. Smith said the powder was a combination of an over-the-counter medication and grains of dry dog food.
Smith told investigators that she wrote the letters because Ambo cursed her mother when she went to the older woman's home to complain about the note left on the windshield.
Fritz Francois had extended, dual relationships with Smith and Ambo, who had a child by him, Soler said.
The first victim of the current anthrax outbreak was a Boca Raton supermarket tabloid photo editor who died Oct. 5.
US anthrax woman dies
BBC
There was another scare at the US Senate this week
A 94-year-old woman from Connecticut has died from inhalation anthrax - the deadliest form of the disease. She becomes the fifth person in the United States to die from anthrax since September.
Ottilie Lundgren rarely went out
Authorities are baffled as to how Ottilie Lundgren, who lived in a small rural community and rarely went out, contracted the disease. She was admitted on Friday with symptoms akin to pneumonia.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the case after she tested positive for the disease in five separate tests carried out by the local health authorities.
Baffled
The north-east US state's governor, John Rowland, said: It's difficult to explain how the person contracted anthrax".
"There is no evidence (she) contracted the disease as a result of a criminal act," he added.
With terrorism and things that have happened lately, you expect New York to be a target. But Oxford? I can't explain it and I'm very scared
Jodi McCue, neighbour
Mr Rowland said authorities had checked the local post office for anthrax spores but found no trace.
The woman - the first new anthrax case in three weeks - lived in Oxford, about 30 miles (48 kilometres) southwest of the state capital, Hartford.
The previous victims of anthrax were a hospital worker in New York City, two postal workers in Washington and a photo-journalist in Florida.
Chile alert
There has also been another anthrax alert outside America. Authorities in Chile said on Tuesday they have found anthrax spores in a letter sent from abroad to a private business in the capital, Santiago.
Chilean Health Minister Bachelet: The 13 people who were exposed are on antibiotics
And investigators have found traces of anthrax in two more US lawmakers' offices - those of Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.
All of those infected so far - 13 people, along with the five who have died, have been associated with the mail, the media or Capitol Hill, except for the New York hospital worker, Kathy Nguyen.
Domestic source
The BBC's correspondent in Washington, Rob Watson, says the US authorities had been hoping the outbreak of anthrax infections was over, despite their total failure so far to track down whoever is responsible for the attacks.
The disease can be spread by hoofed animals, although they rarely carry it in western Europe and the US.
This week's other apparent targets are more typical of the pattern which has so far emerged in the American anthrax cases.
A weekend environmental sweep of the Senate Russell Office Building in Washington found trace amounts of anthrax in the offices of Senators Kennedy and Dodd.
The investigation was ordered after a letter to Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy was discovered on Friday.
This letter raised to more than a dozen the number of Senate suites found with trace amounts of the bacteria.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has indicated that authorities believe that the anthrax is comes from a domestic, rather than an international, source .
Miami Herald
Cop in trouble for using 7-letter word: Taliban Bad, bad joke: A 19-year veteran of the Miami-Dade Police Department is relieved of duty -- and faces firing -- for scribbling the word ``Taliban'' on a letter to his boss. Lt. Jorge Carnero, 47, sorting mail at the Hammocks station, wrote ``Taliban'' on an envelope addressed to Capt. Bill Press. He figured Press, 49, would see it himself and know it was a prank, says Carnero's lawyer Michael Cornely. But a civilian clerk saw it first -- and panicked. County firefighters arrived at the cop shop, treating it as a possible anthrax letter.
Unfortunate, says Cornely. But he insists Carnero is no evildoer. ``He feels bad. This was not an intentional hoax to frighten people.'' Nor was there any powder. Carnero used the ``T-word'' in jest because Press is a strict, by-the-book supervisor. ``That's what the Taliban is -- very strict,'' Cornely adds. Besides, it's a nickname that other cops called Press -- at least behind his back. Says Press: ``No comment.'' Carnero asked MDPD Director Carlos Alvarez for mercy. ``They shouldn't fire him,'' Cornely says. The lieutenant realizes he did wrong, but ``it's nothing you lose your career over.'' Carnero, he says, ``is on eggshells, waiting to see if 19 years of his life is down the drain.'' Alvarez declined to comment -- internal investigation -- but indicated a decision is likely next week.
BEEF AT SHULA'S
For 17 years, Mohammad Reza Mohammadpour worked for The Graham Cos., four as a cook, 13 as night kitchen manager of the popular Don Shula's Steakhouse. But one month after the 9/11 attacks, he says, he was canned. No coincidence, he claims. ``I am an Iranian-born Muslim,'' he says in a complaint to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Commission on Human Relations.
``Immediately after the World Trade [Center] attacks . . . I noticed a change in the way that management acted toward me.'' Mohammadpour, 55, says he was asked to train a new hire before leaving for vacation Sept. 24. ``I was told that the trainee . . . would be my superior when I returned, even though he had no experience in a steakhouse restaurant.'' But when ``Chef Moe'' showed up for work on Oct. 10, he got word to report to personnel instead of the kitchen. ``I was told that I was being let go because of a reduction in force. I was offered 17-weeks severance if I would promise not to sue.'' So he got himself a lawyer, William Amlong. Graham Cos.' lawyer, Mike Casey, says business is down and ``they've laid off several other people,'' including an ``Anglo-American'' cook.
SHE'S A `SQUARE'
WFOR-CBS 4 entertainment reporter Jade Alexander goes Hollywood -- as a contestant on Hollywood Squares. She got to play with such celebs as ``center square'' Whoopi Goldberg. Alexander, 37, earmarked her $6,000 winnings for CBS 4's nonprofit Neighbors 4 Neighbors.
Show airs at 7:30 tonight -- on CBS 4, of course.
CHEW ON THIS
Miami Beach's second oldest restaurant -- Starfish, nee Gatti's -- just changed hands. Debbie Ohanian, the concert promoter/clothing manufacturer who bought the SoBe landmark in '93 from the late Mike Gatti, leased it to Barton G. Weiss, the Miami-based events impresario. (Gatti's grandpa founded the West Avenue eatery in '25; Joe's Stone Crab opened in '13.) Under Ohanian, Starfish evolved into a Latin dance club known for its salsa nights.
Weiss, 45, is seriously renovating and plans to call it Barton G. Opening is set for late January, with chef Ted Mendez at the helm.
Ohanian, 44, will still be around. She and choreographer-husband Eduardo ``El Chino'' Rodriguez live in the upstairs apartment. And, she's hired on as a consultant.
Care to lunch with serial killer Ted Bundy, or sip a margarita with dictator-turned-inmate Manuel Noriega? Mary Klein, 60, owner of Piccadilly Garden restaurant on Northeast 40th Street in the Miami Design District, is decorating the table tops with the sketches of courtroom illustrator Shirley Henderson.
Other famous and infamous faces will include favorite son Elián González; accused drug lords Willie Falcon and Sal Magluta; and Yahweh Ben Yahweh, just out after nine years in prison for murder conspiracy.
``Plenty of history right here in Miami,'' Klein says.
Henderson, 57, has other courtroom drawings in the mahogany-paneled bar at Joe's.
JOHN MICHALAK November 21, 2001
MADISON HEIGHTS - A disgruntled union worker has admitted mailing an anonymous anthrax scare letter containing a white powdery substance to his union office in Madison Heights, police said.
The hoax could land the 41-year-old Detroit suspect in jail for up to a year.
But it could have been worse. The suspect's timing in mailing the letter unwittingly gave him a lucky break in avoiding a harsher penalty, said Madison Heights Detective Sgt. Gary Kowaleski.
The suspect mailed the letter Oct. 20 and an executive secretary at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 876, opened it on Oct. 22.
A day later, the Michigan Legislature adopted a new law elevating the crime from a misdemeanor charge with a one-year jail sentence to a five-year felony, Kowaleski said.
Kowaleski soon is expected to present a case to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office seeking criminal charges.
The detective obtained a written confession from the suspect, who works at a food processing plant in Detroit. Kowaleski said the man admitted making a "bonehead mistake," and said he did so because the union was taking money from his pay without notice.
The suspect admitted putting Avon Wild Country talcum powder in the letter, Kowaleski added.
The union's executive secretary opened the letter and immediately saw the powdery substance burst into the air, he said.
As a precautionary measure, a special hazardous materials team responded to the office at 876 Horace Brown Drive and cleared out 84 workers until it was determined that the substance posed no real threat. The workers later were allowed to return. The executive secretary didn't seek medical attention, Kowaleski added.
"The victim suffered no ill effects, and we're confident it wasn't harmful," said Kowaleski, indicating the prosecutor's office could still request the powder be analyzed.
Prior to the anthrax scare letter, Kowaleski said the suspect also sent threatening letters to the local president of the union, Andy Johnson. While the suspect identified himself in two of the letters, the union didn't report them to police, Kowaleski said.
Police were able to link the anonymous anthrax scare letter to the earlier threats to Johnson because of one common characteristic.
Kowaleski said one letter to Johnson contained his photo with large "X" marked over his face. The anonymous anthrax scare letter contained the business card and picture of a female union representative. The union representative's picture also had an "X" marked over it.
"It was too much of a coincidence," said Kowaleski, adding the suspect confessed to initiating the anthrax scare only a few minutes into a police interview.
The union represents 23,000 workers statewide in supermarkets and food processing plants.
Johnson said he doesn't recall ever meeting the suspect, and doesn't know his work status. But he praised police investigators and firefighters for their efforts.
"We have 84 employees here and we take their health and livelihood seriously," Johnson said. "They checked out the building and kept us on the side.
"The police did a hell of job and I appreciate it. They handled it with real concern. They helped workers to have confidence that this was handled properly."
The Madison Heights anthrax scare came more than a week after several other similar scares in the Detroit area, including incidents Oct. 9 at Porsche Engineering and Standard Federal Bank, both in Troy.
In both instances, workers opened packages with suspicious powdery substances which were tested with negative results. The businesses remained closed for a couple of days.
As a precautionary measure, officers took nine persons from Porsche Engineering to William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. A woman at Standard Federal Bank drove herself to St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Pontiac.
Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania, anthrax has killed four persons on the East Coast, including two New Jersey postal workers.
Since the attacks, letters containing anthrax spores have been found in New York and Washington, D.C.
As result, numerous post offices have been tested, including processing centers in Royal Oak, Detroit and Grand Rapids.
No anthrax has been found in Michigan. Federal investigators haven't yet found the source of the killer anthrax.
Staff writer John Michalak can be reached via e-mail at john.michalak@dailytribune.com or by phone at 591-2521.
"They think it might be the mail"
HELLO...... The woman is 90 and didn't leave her home. This is cross contamination. There are other cases of people receiving white powder in mail that has been tampered with. Some of this news is being supressed. First they went after the political people and now maybe they dont care and just anyone gets it.
There's also no talk of taking up the Russians on their offer of providing us their anthrax vaccine, even though it seems it's vastly superior to the stuff BioPort produces -- I gathered as much from Ken Alibek on one of his recent TV appearances. He clearly considers the avenue pursued by BioPort to be a serious scientific error.
T.V. report said,"...billions of anthrax spores, maybe, TRILLIONS!!
Report further said, U.S.A. and Soviet Union NEVER HAD ANYTHING LIKE THAT POTENTIAL!!
Which only begs the question "what was she the remainder of the time? One of the Backstreet Boys?"
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