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Horsley Gets Anthrax Letter

Following is an excerpt from an Atlanta Journal/Constitution article that shows the kind of ongoing harassment Neal Horsley has received for publishing factually verifiable information on the Internet. Since all the details of the events surrounding the Anthrax Letter are required to show the full effects created by such an attack, most of the article by Diane Lore, an AJC staff writer, is quoted.

"Neal Horsley, the Carrollton creator of an Internet site criticized for targeting abortion providers, said Tuesday he received a threatening letter claiming to contain deadly anthrax.

Horsley, whose Web site is being investigated by the U.S. Justice Department in connection with the Oct. 24 shooting death of a Buffalo, N.Y., doctor who performed abortions, said he opened the letter at the post office on Monday and immediately turned it over to the Carrollton Police Department.

Law enforcement agents believe the letter was a hoax, but it has been sent to a federal laboratory for analysis, which will determine whether it contained the lethal bacterial agent.

"As soon as I grasped what it was saying, I immediately folded it back up and put it back in the envelope," Horsley said Tuesday. "I had no reason to suspect there was something wrong."

Horsley, 54, a computer consultant, said the letter was in a business envelope with a clear window listing his address. The postmark was from Fort Worth, Texas, he said.

The message was printed and centered, with the first line reading, "You have been exposed to anthrax." A second line, also centered, listed a strain of the bacterium, which Horsley could not remember. The third line "just berated me."

But by that time, the father of three said he was so shaken, he returned the letter to the envelope without reading it in detail.

Similar letters were received Monday by two Catholic parishes in Indianapolis and Cheektowaga, N.Y., as well as the Chicago office of the Pro-Life Action League. The letters sent to Indianapolis and Chicago also had Texas postmarks. The letter to the New York church was from Illinois.

After Horsley brought the letter to the Police Department, officers triple-wrapped it and placed it in an evidence can before calling the FBI, Capt. Brad Robinson said. "We didn't actually look at the letter," the Carrollton officer said. "But we did handle it appropriately in case it was dangerous."

The FBI did not return phone calls for comment.

Horsley went through a hazardous material wash-down at Tanner Medical Center in Carrollton as a precaution. "They brought out the rubber suits and the breathers," he said. Tim Padgett, director of the Carroll County Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the West Georgia Regional Hazardous Material Team was called out to decontaminate Horsley. Horsley was expected to be fingerprinted by the FBI for agents to determine which prints on the letter are his and which ones aren't.

Anthrax is an infectious bacterium used in biological warfare. When inhaled, it can cause respiratory death within a week.

Horsley, a 1985 graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary near Philadelphia, was thrust into the national spotlight after he crossed Dr. Barnett Slepian's name off a list of 225 doctors on his Web site, after Slepian was shot to death in his Buffalo home.

Horsley's Web site, "The Nuremberg Files: Visualize Abortionists on Trial," features images of fetus body parts bordered by dripping blood and includes a list of doctors who perform abortions. Some doctors' names are accompanied by personal information, such as photos, home addresses, names of children and wives. When a doctor is killed, the name is crossed off. When wounded, the name is grayed.

Four Georgia doctors are on the list. None would publicly comment on the site.

Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood, mentioned the site in a national news conference the day after Slepian's death, accusing Horsley's Web site of inciting violence.

Horsley denied Feldt's claims and said Planned Parenthood has slandered him and endangered his life and his family's.

"No one really knew I existed until she did this," he said.

In a statement from Planned Parenthood, the organization disagreed that he was virtually unknown before the killing.

"Violent, anti-choice extremists have known about his site for quite some time," according to the group's statement. "We wanted to make sure the rest of the country knew what was going on. His Web site speaks for itself."

Since the shooting death of Slepian, Horsley said, the site has had more than 2 million "hits," or instances of computer users calling up the site. Two days after the Planned Parenthood news conference, he said, he recorded 400,000 hits. Internet specialists said there is no way to verify or contest Horsley's claims.

Horsley said he started the Web site about three years ago after he could not find a publisher for his books. Formerly a Southern Baptist, Horsley said he was essentially "excommunicated" from two churches after heavily pushing an anti-abortion agenda.

But the Internet allowed him the freedom of speech he craved. His Web site, with 15 different categories, contains everything from lists of doctors to where to get anti-abortion posters and literature.

"I think I've been made to sound like I'm nonchalant about the death of this doctor. But that's not it," he said.

"What the problem was, was this doctor was killing human beings. And even though he's been given permission by our government, I contend no one can take the life of another without risking their own."

But Horsley said he plays no part in the violence against abortion providers. He says he is a reporter who is merely soliciting and providing information. Critics argue Horsley's Web site is designed to foster violence.

"It may not come right out and say, 'Go out and kill these people,' but with the blood dripping around the list, I think it's certainly implied," said Sharon Lau, a National Abortion Federation spokeswoman.

The Justice Department on Monday named a task force to examine violence against health care providers. The panel will also look at Web sites --- with Horsley's being at the top of the list, according to Justice Department officials. But Associate Attorney General Raymond C. Fisher said it was unclear whether there could be "a specific remedy for it."

Several free speech organizations maintain the Web site should not inspire a clarion call for Internet censorship. The American Civil Liberties Union says it is naturally concerned about the First Amendment issues. However, ACLU spokeswoman Emily Whitfield says the organization's focus right now is Slepian's slaying."

November 12, 1998"

What makes this article most significant today--nearly two years after the incidents occurred--is the fact that the Atlanta Journal/Constitution is doing everything in its power to prevent people from learning about this incident. The AJC has demanded that Neal Horsley remove the quoted article from his Web site and they have removed the article from their online archives. The kind of censorship being exercised here is exactly the kind of censorship that occurred in Nazi Germany before the fascists came to total power.
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