BREAKING NEWS: Mysterious powder found in downtown

WBNS 10TV ^ | 10/10/2001

[Mago]

Area around Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging closed off.

A section of downtown Columbus has been blocked off and several people taken to the hospital for decontamination after the discovery of a mysterious white powder at a building Wednesday afternoon.

The Central Ohio Area Agency on Aging, 174 E. Long St., has been evacuated as a precaution, and the area surrounding the building is closed off.

Sgt. Earl Smith of the Columbus Police Department tells 10TV that a business-sized envelope contained the powder. The letter was from a doctor here in Ohio, though we do not know whether it was hand-delivered or sent through the mail.

10TV has learned between 10 and 15 people, including firefighters, are being taken to Grant MedicalCenter for decontamination. Samples from the powder willbe tested to determine exactly what the substance is.

[Musket]

Your hypothosis works for me. But you forgot our domestic idiots that will use the situation for their jolly's!

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

A section of downtown Columbus has been blocked off and several people taken to the hospital for decontamination after the discovery of a mysterious white powder at a building Wednesday afternoon.

Paging Roger Clinton...

[xm177e2]

AMERICAN airlines, AMERICAN media, UNITED airlines, COLUMBUS ohio...

[Pathfinder]

Here's Northern New York's story for today- Hazardous Materials Scare At Watertown Doctor's Office Wednesday, October 10, 2001, 5:46pm Concern over possible bioterrorism led to the evacuation of a physician’s office in the Jefferson County town of Watertown Wednesday. Staff and patients evacuated after Doctor Robert Bacsik found a white substance on a chair in his office at Pediatric Associates of Watertown. Firefighters cordoned off the area and immediately treated the case as a potential hazardous materials situation. Jefferson County Sheriff's officers questioned the night cleaning crew to help identify the suspicious product. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army's 59th Chemical Company from nearby Fort Drum was called to attempt to identify the substance, and the FBI was notified. Authorities say the doctor had not been to work for three or four days and discovered the substance when he returned Wednesday morning. Authorities told 7 News Reporter Carrie Penoyer that the powdery substance was residue from a broken fluorescent light bulb.

[Siegfried]

Always remember this:

When you're worried,
And in doubt,
Run in circles,
Scream and shout.

(8-)

[defenderSD]

Cocaine is a white powder. Drug smugglers can't get enough of it through the border now and it's piling up in their warehouses. So they're sending free samples to people through the US mail to generate new business. (Just kidding folks, but I wouldn't be too concerned about white powders. This stuff is probably nothing very hazardous, but we'll just have to wait and see what it is.)

[Hamilton2]

Yesterday, I received a mid-size white envelope, with no return address. The address label was printed. With all the hoopla over this white powder stuff, I contacted the local police department. I asked if any directives had been received about this kind of mailing (I wasn't going to open it up to see if it was a powder or not!!!!!!!!) I was told it was probably junk mail and no directives had been received.

So, you can't assume everyone is on the same page in the law enforcement community.

I ended up throwing it in the trash .

[snippy_about_it]

On the news tonight they said the powder was brown. They had a guy on from the health department that said actually antrhax doesn't come in a powder. Looks like this could go on a while.

[Bill Rice]

"Help. I want to know what I should be on the look out for"

Ragheads for starters, and then anything that's out of the ordinary.

[bootless]

I bet it's cheese.

[Pharmboy]

...but the good news is that Osama and his buds don't have the chance to laugh at the hysteria over here because they're huddled up somewhere dodging ordnance.

[Henry F. Bowman]

We have a housekeeper who comes in every other Friday to clean up all the "mysterious powders" that occasionally accumulate around here.

[Maelstrom]

People like me would definitely shoot it down.

[Boot To The Head]

Simple question: Doesn't it take a few DAYS for anthrax to make someone ill?

[jammer]

I think the common anthrax variety found in the artic regions is white for the same reason artic rabbits and polar bears are white.

And for the same reason that Swiss cheese is white.

[Hillary 666]

BREAKING NEWS: Mysterious powder found in downtown

And in other important news, Brad Pitt cut a loud fart today.

[Lumberjack]

I work in Columbus, Ohio, and live a bit north of it in Delaware county. I'm guessing this powder, like all the others before it, is faux. However, it still felt strangely unnerving to think that somebody would even want to target Cols. Ohio for anything, even a prank attack.

I'm concerned that at this rate, everybody's going to become just like those people in the story who disregarded the boy who yelled wolf too many times. And then one day, there will be a wolf.

Whoever is responsible for this stupidity, if they aren't the terrorists attempting to cause panic but are homegrown kooks, should be caught, tried and locked up for twenty years minimum, as accessories to terrorism. They are either with us, or they are with the terrorists, and I don't care if they are foreign or home grown.

[MeekOneGOP]

BREAKING NEWS: Mysterious powder found in downtown

---

Really? Did Michael Irvin go to Columbus, Ohio? ;-)

[Vinomori]

Showed the people being hosed down

All citizens should be hosed down at the start of each day. We should create a separate cabinet-level position to oversee this.