Posted on 10/09/2001 9:35:20 AM PDT by ksen
HazMat Team Investigates Suspicious Substance
Man Says He Received Envelope Containing White Powder
Posted: 11:32 a.m. EDT October 9, 2001
Updated: 12:22 p.m. EDT October 9, 2001
BAREFOOT BAY, Fla. -- A man told Brevard County authorities Tuesday that he received an envelope containing a white powder two months ago, and he said that he hasn't felt well since opening the package, according to WKMG Local 6 News.
Brevard Authorities Investigate Suspicious Substance
The Brevard County bomb squad and Fire-Rescue HazMat team responded to 815 Laurel Cr. in Barefoot Bay after the man reported the incident.
The man said that he threw the envelope and its contents away, but said that there may be some powder left in his vacuum cleaner.
Stay with myCFnow.com and WKMG Local 6 News for more details.
Copyright 2001 by myCFnow.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Cincinnati Enquirer News Update - Updated October 9, 2001 12:04 p.m.IRS center shuts down after hazardous material scare
By Patrick Crowley The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON - A 3,500-employee IRS office in Covington is under a full lockdown today, and hazardous materials experts are investigating after workers reported a suspicious sticky substance in an envelope that had been handled by several people.
Emergency workers brought one woman wearing a blue business suit out of the building and began scrubbing her down in a large black tub. After scrubbing her, they removed her clothes, wrapped her twice plastic and took her to St. Elizabeth's Hospital North for further decontamination and observation.
Otherwise, no one was being allowed in or out of the Cincinnati IRS Center on Fourth street, and fire department hazmat teams were seen taking hoses into the building.
Officials placed the suspicious letter in a can, which was placed in a police car and driven to a waiting Hamilton County Sheriff's Office helicopter and flown away.
Chris Kerns, a spokesman for the IRS said the building, which can have as many as 3,500 workers in offices and 188 children in its childcare facility, is in ''standard procedure lockdown.''
The center, which processed 20 million individual and business tax returns from seven states, has had about 20 similar incidents in past 5 years.
But this lockdown, coming as the nation anticipates retribution for the U.S. bombing of Taliban and terrorist targets in Afghanistan comes only a day after six people were hosed down by hazardous materials crews at a doctor's office on Montgomery Road in Sycamore Township , following delivery of a suspicious package Monday.
Local and national officials are scrambling to increase stockpiles of medical tools to fight a potential biological attack and one such incident seems to be unfolding in south Florida.
Federal officials suspect foul play rather than an environmental source is at the root of two Florida anthrax cases that have left one man dead and hundreds of co-workers lining up for medical tests.
The FBI on Monday sealed off the Boca Raton offices of American Media Inc., where both men worked, and agents donned protective gear before going inside.
The IRS center can have up to 188 children in its childcare center for employees. About 5,000 people are employed by the IRS in Cincinnati, with about 3,500 working at the center.
The Associated Press and Enquirer staffers Lori Hayes, Amy Higgins and Chris Mayhew contributed to this report.
http://enquirer.com/midday/midday1.html
They really ought to publicize that. _Nobody_ would say "boo" from then on out. Except the terminally kinky.
"Ooooo! Scrub me down in public and wrap me in plastic!"
If all our emergency personnel are out on wild goose chases....
All this has to be making life very difficult for the cocaine dealers and snorters. Poor Roger.
That's right out of a novel! I can't recall the name at the moment, but I think it's one I have.
The victims received envelopes with star confetti in them...the first was a man who owned a rug business...he was the test case, because if he fell ill with Anthrax, it wouldn't look "weird."
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