Posted on 10/19/2001 10:14:55 AM PDT by callisto
The woman served 250 to 300 addresses in Ewing Township, mostly homes, but also some apartment buildings and a few businesses, fellow letter carrier Jim Bittenbender said.
The woman, whom authorities have not identified, does not pick up mail from public boxes, he said, indicating any outgoing mail she received would likely have come from those addresses or from someone personally.
"That would obviously be among the many avenues we would pursue," said Sandra Carroll, an FBI spokeswoman in Newark.
Bittenbender said his colleague didn't remember handling anything unusual.
"We pick up thousands of letters from this office. One letter carrier may pick up hundreds. It's something you just don't remember," he said Friday.
He and the infected woman work at the small West Trenton post office in Ewing, one of 46 central New Jersey stations that feed into a regional distribution facility in Hamilton.
A male worker who serviced mail-sorting machines at the Hamilton office was also being tested for exposure. Results were expected Friday. Postal Inspector Tony Esposito said officials were "almost certain" he has anthrax.
Authorities confirmed the woman's skin anthrax diagnosis on Thursday.
The two workers were being treated by personal physicians and taking antibiotics, officials said. The female employee had also been treated at a local hospital and released, health officials said.
"Both are doing well," Acting Gov. Donald DiFrancesco said.
A third postal employee - a Levittown, Pa., man who sorts and loads mail at the regional center - developed a skin rash and was tested for anthrax exposure or infection.
Bucks County Health Commissioner Dr. Louis Polk said the 35-year-old man was being treated for a skin rash at a hospital. His test results were also expected Friday.
A Sept. 18 letter tainted with anthrax was postmarked from Trenton and mailed to Brokaw. Another contaminated letter from Trenton, mailed to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in Washington, was postmarked Oct. 9, after the woman was infected.
Bar codes on one of the tainted letters from Trenton indicated that the infected woman probably handled the envelope, sources said. Earlier this week, officials said the letter carrier and maintenance worker were working on days when the tainted mail would have been processed.
Postal officials examined the prestamped envelopes and video surveillance tapes for clues as to the source of the letters.
Parts of the Hamilton office were sealed Thursday, and it and the West Trenton facility were closed to the public Friday. Officials said first-class mail, which is machine sorted, would be delivered out of the West Trenton office.
Officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control were in New Jersey on Friday to decide whether to give more tests to other postal employees.
Carroll also said Friday that the FBI is going to test items removed last month from the apartment of two Jersey City detainees for anthrax after The Wall Street Journal reported that the vacant apartment currently contains articles about bioterrorism.
The newspaper reported on Thursday that the unlocked apartment of Mohammed Jaweed Azmath and Ayub Ali Khan contained a 1995 article on sarin nerve gas and a magazine article on the National Center for Infectious Diseases. Azmath and Khan have been detained since they were picked up in Texas on an Amtrak train the day after the Sept. 11 terrorism, carrying about $5,000 and box-cutting knives similar to those used by the hijackers.
Carroll said the FBI has not returned to that apartment since a search Sept. 15 and has no immediate reason to suspect a connection between the detainees and bioterrorism.
---
On the Net:
Postal Service:
AP-ES-10-19-01 1233EDT
</FONAn apartment house on this letter carrier's route would just be one street address but could contain dozens or even a hundred of more separate tenants. This will be real work for the investigators to hit them all but it's still a lot better than having to look at a whole city or county. Gives them a starting point at least.
And some--especially those who are in the anti-social personality, narcissist categories--think they'll be able to lie their way out of it, because they think they're the ones in control, and in part because they feel that they're far superior to everyone around them. Think Bubba.
Exactly. This simply is sound investigative ideas. 300 addresses is not an overwhelming thing to check out. We should know something by tommorrow.
'scuse me for being paranoid, but I think its time we rounded these folks up and shipped them out (or at least threaten to.) It might even encourage some to talk.
How long for them to run down the tenants named "Mohammed bin Mohammed" ? 1 hour ?
What you said.
One thing this story has done is exposed some of us local Freepers. Maybe we should connect for a Freep sometime? We've got enough "progessives" in our area to keep us busy.
I believe a little overt visable work will smoke out the critters. What was the line from the movie where those that ran were VC and those that didn't were well disclipned VC.........
IMHO if the suspects run , field interview and watch, if they don't.......field interview and watch. Bumping into the same big old FiBi everyday on the way to the job, gedunk , and or mosque or just to walk rover can make a very simple statement .
Stay Safe
Secretary of State to Meet with Muslim and Jewish Leaders to Strengthen Community Relations
For Immediate Release Friday, October 6, 2000 Contact: Michael M. Kinney Phone: 609-777-2533
Secretary of State to Meet with Muslim and Jewish Leaders to Strengthen Community Relations
Trenton, NJ - As tensions mount in the Middle East, Secretary of State DeForest B. Soaries, Jr. announced today that he will convene a meeting with New Jersey's Muslim and Jewish leaders in a proactive effort to develop strategies to strengthen community relations. This meeting will help forge a solid foundation on which to raise awareness of issues impacting these respective communities and build positive and productive partnerships between two of the state's most prominent religious, ethnic groups.
"New Jersey's diversity is one of its greatest, unifying strengths," stated Secretary Soaries. "Even though we come from different backgrounds, we share a common future. It is up to each of us to ensure that we continue to grow together as many faces of one family."
Many Faces-One Family is Governor Christie Todd Whitman's diversity initiative for the State of New Jersey. Spearheaded by the Department of State, Many Faces-One Family is a leadership and public awareness campaign designed to encourage individuals and groups to gain a greater understanding and appreciation of one another. It is a unifying force that promotes successful strategies for improving human relations.
That's common sense.
Something more is going on then what we are being told.The FBI and our government is going to Hollywood for ideas for Christsakes. I along with a few others could drive up a million scenario's for them if they need idea's and clues.Now that the CIA has their hands untied I think we will see more action. But the FBI is suffering painfully from the Clinton years and those folks are still in there.Very lax and we all know it. They might be on guard for big trucks,planes, and big buildings. I think the terrorists are going through the heartland route and will resort to destroying the feeling of any calm possible.
As we need to keep our eye on the big ball we should not stray from the small one's either.
My bottom line is that I think FiBi's need major overhaul aka pull heads outta @sses. Hopefully this atrocity will have some effect on them and not just the creation of a police state versus the police state we now enjoy.........(yeah that's what I ment to write)
Stay Safe !
Anthrax_Scare_List
Go here:
and then click the Anthrax_Scare_List topic to initiate the search! !
Never forget these guys tried to get their rental-truck deposit money back from the agency, AFTER the truck was blown up in the 1996 attempt on the WTC.
Not many Cal Tech grads in either camp.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.