To me it looks like an older persons handwriting - just my opinion
Posted on 10/13/2001 9:03:35 PM PDT by OKCSubmariner
EXCERPTED:
A broadening national bioterrorism investigation turned toward St. Petersburg late Friday after NBC officials disclosed that a New York employee has contracted anthrax.
A woman who opens the mail for news anchor Tom Brokaw was diagnosed with a skin form of anthrax several days after she opened a letter that contained white powder and was postmarked from St. Petersburg.
The New York Times on Friday received a letter with a white powder and the St. Petersburg Times received one earlier in the week. All three letters were postmarked in St. Petersburg.
Federal law enforcement officials said late Friday that all three letters postmarked St. Petersburg tested negatively for anthrax.
[However, the test for the letter sent from St. Petersburg to the Brokaw aide must have been unsuccessful (too small a sample size?) because the aide in fact did contract Anthrax. This point was made by Ted Kopel on ABC Nightline last night. This calls into question the negative test results for the other two letters since they were also sent from St. Petersburg and may not have had inadequate sample size].
• An assistant to NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw contracted the skin-based form of anthrax after opening a "threatening" letter to her boss.
Officials quickly said there was no known link to either the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or the more serious inhaled form of anthrax that killed a supermarket tabloid editor in Florida last week. The 38-year-old NBC employee was being treated with antibiotics and is expected to recover. The letter was postmarked in St. Petersburg on Sept. 20 and opened Sept. 25, authorities said.
St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler opened his letter at his desk Tuesday. As he did so, a white powdery substance, resembling sugar or salt, spilled out.
Troxler stopped opening the letter. Authorities were called to the newspaper's offices in downtown St. Petersburg. Police put the envelope in an airtight container and drove it to a state health lab in Tampa for analysis. Firefighters covered Troxler's desk with a plastic sheet and yellow emergency-scene tape reading "caution."
Health officials found no signs of anthrax or bacteria in the powder. The envelope and a letter inside also tested negative.
The letter had no return address and was postmarked St. Petersburg. It bears a code 337, then a space, then 1.
Anything that is mailed in Seminole, Largo, Bay Pines, Gulfport, Pinellas Park or any St. Petersburg neighborhood goes through the main post office on First Avenue N and is stamped with a 337. [Actual envelop shown in article and the zip code is visible as 33701 and the postmark can be made out as early (“0?”) October 2001 for St. Petersburg]
The cryptic letter misspelled Troxler's name and had little punctuation. It said:
"Howard Toxler ... 1st case of disease now blow away this dust so you see how the real thing flys. OKLAHOMA-RYDER TRUCK! Skyway bridge-18 wheels." [Oklahoma-Ryder Truck capitalized for emphasis by FR poster, original version did not use capital letters]
AL Queda does not have a good anthrax delivery system, this is the best they can do, this stuff ain't domestic in origin...
So, it's saying that the bridge will be attacked by a truck bomb, an 18-wheeler. And it's been reported that the government has intelligence that a truck bombing is planned. Did they ever find that missing truck, the one whose GPS locator was turned off?
The terrorists of all creeds and colors will rot in hell for the thoughts and actions each and every one of them incur upon our nation. They will not win.
Some times the soultion for real tough problmes are very simple. I hope it is domestic copycat garbage. But always better to be on the guard.
[However, the test for the letter sent from St. Petersburg to the Brokaw aide must have been unsuccessful (too small a sample size?) because the aide in fact did contract Anthrax. This point was made by Ted Kopel on ABC Nightline last night. This calls into question the negative test results for the other two letters since they were also sent from St. Petersburg and may not have had inadequate sample size].
Be careful of your assumptions... The article says that the St. Petersburg "white powder" letter tested negative for Anthrax.
Just because the aide contracted Anthrax several days after reading a weird letter with white powder, that doesn't mean that that letter was what infected the aide.
A weird letter may have been the first to be suspected, because it was strange, but if it tested negative, then the infection could have been delivered to NBC by some other means and the weird letter had just gotten the blame because it was creepy.
I doubt if "sample size" was a problem, since modern techniques can analyze microscopic quantities of material, especially for biological agents which can be multiplied by PCR or simple growth on a suitable medium.
UHaul, I rented one last year and Colorado was the state on mine.
I've heard so many conflicting reports, including the Iowa one, that I don't know what to beleive anymore. Given our lax immigration laws and PC sensibilities, I think it would be easy for a couple of swarthy males to make with some Anthrax out of Iowa. Just as a few "Asian-Americans" could slip our nuke secrets out of LosAlamos.
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