Posted on 10/13/2001 4:23:35 PM PDT by patent
he source of the anthrax that sickened an NBC employee at Rockefeller Center has been found in an envelope mailed to the television network from Trenton on Sept. 18, authorities reported yesterday, and a second person who handled that envelope has symptoms that indicate possible exposure to anthrax.
The findings meant a sharp turn for an investigation that until yesterday had been focused on a separate set of letters, sent to NBC, to The New York Times and to The St. Petersburg Times in Florida. Tests on those letters so far have all been negative.
Investigators did not learn of the letter postmarked from Trenton until Friday, when they went to the NBC studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza after tests showed that an assistant to the NBC anchor Tom Brokaw had tested positive for anthrax infection.
The New York Times reported yesterday that both letters sent to NBC were turned over to the F.B.I. on Sept. 26, but Barry Mawn, the assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.'s New York office, said yesterday that the bureau did not learn of the letter sent from Trenton on Sept. 18 until Friday, the same day that they picked it up and began testing it.
Several people handled the Trenton letter when it was first received at NBC, perhaps as early as Sept. 19, including Erin M. O'Connor, the aide to Mr. Brokaw, and the second person who, officials said yesterday, has a fever, a rash and swollen lymph nodes, all symptoms that are consistent with anthrax exposure.
Dr. Neal L. Cohen, the New York City health commissioner, would not provide any information about the second individual other than to say that the person was being treated with antibiotics while awaiting results on a definite test for anthrax exposure, which should be complete within the next day. Health officials said the woman was thought to have contracted it through a skin wound.
"It is very clear to us that this is what we are looking for," Dr. Cohen said of the Trenton letter.
Other than a small group of people who handled that letter, which was opened between Sept. 19 and Sept. 25, health officials yesterday said there appeared to be very little risk to other NBC employees and they said they thought that there was no remaining danger of infection at the building now.
NBC's chairman, Bob Wright, who attended a news briefing held by city and federal officials yesterday, could not explain why the letter from St. Petersburg had been turned over to the F.B.I. on Sept. 26, the day after it was received, but the letter from Trenton was instead placed inside a second envelope and then stored in a file of threatening letters at the network's office.
"It was kept along with some other letters that were threatening in nature," Mr. Wright said. "It was really in a category of threatening letters."
He said it was not unusual for NBC employees to get threatening letters and that not all of them were brought to the attention of law enforcement authorities. It was the powder that was found in the letter delivered to NBC on Sept. 25, similar to that found in the letter sent to The New York Times, that caused enough alarm to result in a call to investigators.
"Now we have identified the missing link so to speak, the actual cause of the anthrax that created this whole situation," Mr. Wright said. "So we are no longer dealing with an unknown time, date and place and that is very important."
Mr. Mawn of the F.B.I. said: "We went up there, we were doing a complete and thorough investigation, making sure we had talked to everybody. During the course of that we were provided information for the first time that there was another letter threatening in nature."
The Trenton-postmarked letter contained a sandlike substance and a threatening note, although law enforcement officials would not disclose the nature of the threats.
Officials said yesterday that they had tested more than 400 NBC employees who had visited the "NBC Nightly News" offices around the time the letters were received, but the results of those tests were not yet available. Yesterday, NBC employees continued to line up at the network's offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza to get the tests, which now are being recommended for anyone who may have been in the area between Sept. 19 and Sept. 25.
NBC News planned to broadcast its evening news from a studio away from the area where the Trenton letter was opened, as employees were still being kept away from the "NBC Nightly News" offices. But officials said that there was almost no risk of additional exposure.
"The public health risks associated with that building right now are minimum, and pretty close to negligible," said Stephen M. Ostroff, chief epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "So people who work in that building, spend time in that building, should go about their business."
Health officials were still awaiting another round of tests on the letter sent to The New York Times, which was received Friday morning by a reporter who covers bioterrorism. After opening that letter, which had been sent from St. Petersburg, a white powder fell on her face, hands and sweater. But Dr. Cohen said he was reasonably confident that these final tests would come back negative, meaning that all of the letters sent from St. Petersburg are likely to be hoaxes.
Cut heads off and sew them into pig bellies and send to the families.
That's easy to solve. No more Arabs on planes. None! Not one. The stewardesses seem to be doing a pretty good job of throwing them off for the slightest of reasons. Let's hope they keep it up.
How do you stop these mail "bombs"?
Round up every non-citizen Islamic, and tell them it's time to go home.
How do you know its the Islamic people?
Arabic women too? Kids?
Why stop there? Round 'em all up.
Our government is being very slow to protect American lives. I think it's not too concerned as long as it's just a few or many thousand Americans, after all----non-citizens must have their rights. The Arabs aren't going to stop, they'll be going after some high-profile people soon and then maybe then things will change. So it's life as usual, make sure you buy a car today, schedule a flight on an airplane.....we don't want these terrorists affecting our economy, killing people is okay though.
Okay, I'll bite. How are you gonna "round them all up"?
Tell me how. Be specific.
A couple of empowering laws could be passed by congress in a day, if they were seriously inclined. The president could then go on all TV networks, and order all non-citizen Muslims to immediately report to a large facility (or facilities) in their areas. Football stadiums would work well. From there they could be trucked and bussed to planes and boats to return them home. Those able to immediately purchase their own tickets on regular commercial outbound planes would be allowed to do so. Any who did not immediately leave could be charged with a felony, all their assets seized, and then deported or imprisoned. We are at war in a life or death struggle. It's time to act like grownups, and realize that.
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