[Post for study and research, I would say this is a well thought out threat, look at the words in the names of the dept and buildings........reads like the plan for 9-11.
Hit the money and cripple the country, this time Denver, that one to the food dept, gets my worry.
granny]
URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5021656,00.html
Hoaxes put state on alert
Government sites in metro area get threats, powders
By Kevin Flynn, Rocky Mountain News
September 26, 2006
State workers who handle incoming mail will be on the alert today after four state offices received threatening letters containing white powdery substances Monday.
The contents turned out to be benign, but the hoaxes resulted in evacuations of four buildings, disruptions of lunchtime traffic and a federal investigation into the source of the letters.
Officials, concerned there may be more letters still wending their way through the mail, alerted state workers to be watchful today.
The substances turned out to be sugar, sweetener and a still-unidentified non-hazardous household product.
Federal postal investigators took over the probe into the mailings, which disrupted three offices downtown and one in Lakewood.
It is a federal felony to send threats through the mail.
Dan Hopkins, spokesman for Gov. Bill Owens, wouldn't detail the instructions that will go out in the e-mail alert today.
The threats were sent to a seemingly random assortment of state agencies.
Those included the state geologist, the Economic Development and International Trade Division, the state Department of Agriculture and the office that handles professional registrations for occupations that range from engineers to hairdressers.
The letters contained life-threatening wording, said Lt. Phil Champagne, spokesman for the Denver Fire Department. The hazardous materials team from Denver responded to the three downtown calls, and West Metro Fire District's team worked the one in Lakewood.
The spate of letters came one day after a southeast Denver bank reported receiving a strange substance in the mail. Workers at UMB Financial Corp.'s Columbine Center called in Denver's hazardous materials team early Sunday after five capsules of powder were found in an envelope in the mail they were processing.
Champagne said that substance turned out to be a B3 vitamin complex, and was not dangerous. He said the UMB incident appears unrelated to Monday's events.
The substances sent to the three state offices downtown were sugar in one case and a sugar substitute in the other two, Champagne said.
The first call came in at 12:54 p.m. from the office of the Colorado Geological Survey. It is on the seventh floor of the state's Centennial office building, 1313 Sherman St., a block south of the Capitol.
Lunchtime crowds lined the sidewalk and about 300 workers were evacuated.
At 1:11 p.m., the second call came in from the 27th floor of the World Trade Center, 1625 Broadway.
That suite houses the Colorado Economic Development Commission, the Colorado International Trade Office and the Colorado Minority Business Office, among other agencies.
Firefighters evacuated that floor, plus the ones directly above and below it.
Shuttle buses on the 16th Street Mall had to skirt around some of the half-dozen emergency trucks on Cleveland Place outside the building.
Then at 2:50 p.m., the third letter was reported at the Colorado Department of Agriculture, 700 Kipling St., in Lakewood.
The entire four-story building that includes the Colorado Department of Public Safety was evacuated, affecting about 400 people.
Shortly before 5 p.m., the fourth call came in from the Department of Regulatory Agencies, 1560 Broadway.
The 13th floor, which houses the Division of Registrations, was affected. It is diagonally across Broadway from the site of the second scare.
flynnk@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5247
Copyright 2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
The contents turned out to be benign, but the hoaxes resulted in evacuations of four buildings, disruptions of lunchtime traffic and a federal investigation into the source of the letters.
Hmmm... lots going on in Denver it seems. Lots of Lefites there though -- could be a "copycat" or "Sympathy" thing. Then again Denver is a place where they showed Hamas and such on that one terrorist location map...