Coffee Creamer Creates Anthrax Hoax

Omaha World Herald ^ | 11/1/01 | TOM SHAW

[JJSOmaha]

A white powder found on several computer keyboards in the Douglas County Treasurer's Office led to the evacuation of the office for more than an hour Wednesday. The substance turned out to be powdered coffee creamer. Treasurer Julie Haney said the powder was sprinkled on six keyboards used by workers who answer questions over the phone at the downtown office. The first shift of phone operators discovered the powder at 7:30 a.m., she said. Douglas County sheriff's deputies and a hazardous-materials crew were called, and all office workers were evacuatedinto the hallway. The six phone operators were isolated and told to wash thoroughly. Most of the employees were allowed to return to the office by 9:30 a.m. The phone operators were allowed to go back to work at 10 a.m., Haney said. "It makes me angry," she said. "It's a prank, and it wasn't funny. It wasted a lot of time." Haney said authorities lifted fingerprints from a new container of the powdered creamer in the office. No one was in custody as of late Wednesday afternoon, she said. Haney said she wants the person who put the powder on the keyboards to be prosecuted.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

We need to make it clear to people that these hoaxes will be considered an act of terrorism and will be dealt with in the most severe way legally possible. This will be true no matter who is responsible and what they say their motives were. As Pres. Bush said, "you are either for us, or you are for the terrorists."