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Package Causes Water Scare: UPDATE ON SUSPICIOUS DUMPING IN RESERVOIR IN CONNECTICUT RESERVOIR
FOX NEWS HARTFORD CONNECTICUT/CTNOW.COM ^ | 03/26/02 | By COLIN POITRAS, Courant Staff Writer

Posted on 03/26/2002 3:08:31 AM PST by RaceBannon


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 CONNECTICUT


Package Causes Water Scare

March 26, 2002


By COLIN POITRAS, Courant Staff Writer



MIDDLEFIELD --

State and federal authorities were thrown into high alert Monday after a man was seen tossing a suspicious package into Middletown's public water supply off Route 66.

The package - described as a bound plastic bag - was quickly recovered by state police divers and sent to a state lab for testing.

Preliminary tests showed it contained an unidentified "starchy" substance that is not considered a health threat, Middletown Mayor Domenique Thornton said. More tests on both the package and the water supply are planned for today.

Thornton assured residents their public water is safe to drink.

"The water supply has been secured," State Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Vance said Monday night. "There are no contamination concerns whatsoever." The plastic bag, recovered about 15 feet from shore, did not show any signs of punctures or signs that it leaked, he said.

Middletown officials immediately shut down the filtration plant at the Mount Higby Reservoirs after state police alerted them to a possible contamination threat at about 5:30 p.m.

The reservoirs, although located in Middlefield, are owned by Middletown and serve as a backup water supply for all of the city's 44,000 residents, including thousands of students at Wesleyan University and hundreds of juvenile delinquents housed at Long Lane and the new Connecticut Juvenile Training School.

The city's water system was drawing directly from the city's main underground aquifer as an extra precaution Monday night. Thornton said that system will remain in place until all the testing is done and the reservoir filtration plant is turned back on.

There was no interruption of water service at any time Monday, officials said.

A passing motorist called police at about 5:30 p.m. after seeing a man pull off the road and toss something into the south side of the reservoir, Vance said. The report immediately sent local, state and federal officials into full alert.

Investigators with the FBI, state police, state Department of Environmental Protection and state Department of Public Health descended on the scene. Middlefield firefighters, water department officials and Middletown and Meriden police also responded.

Monday evening, a state police helicopter used an infrared imaging camera to scan the woods and shores of the reservoirs on the Middletown-Middlefield town line, but found nothing.

"Since 9/11, we are exercising due caution and any incidents involving a public water supply or watershed are going to be the subject of a full criminal investigation," Vance said.

Authorities were still looking for the man who tossed the package late Monday night. He was last seen driving a dark, full-sized car with tinted windows, police said.

Word of the possible water contamination spread quickly in Middletown on Monday night. While some officials and residents quietly criticized authorities for not alerting people sooner, Middletown Fire Chief Robert Ross said he was comfortable with the way the incident was handled.

The city recently installed new fencing around parts of the reservoir in order to improve security, but it apparently did not prevent the man from tossing the plastic bag into the water.



Courant Staff Writer Stephen Busemeyer contributed to this story.

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TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: connecticut; hartford; suspiciouspackage
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first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-79 last
To: 2Trievers; harpseal
May I beg to differ, blaming this on Wesleyan?

No, I agree with harpseal, all of CT's ills can be blamed on Wesleyan! ;^) Although I suppose Trinity can't remain blameless along with Yale. Cripes, what a cesspool of liberal "teaching" we live in!

Completely off subject, but seeing as how you bought the Hazmat issue up, the reason all of the stuff that gets dumped illegally is because of the restrictions on disposal. If our "government" were truly concerned with removing hazardous materials from our garages and basements, they wouldn't make it so difficult to do. This is the reason so many people have holes filled with all kinds of yucky stuff in their back yards or dump stuff in off-the-beaten-track areas. So I've heard.

61 posted on 03/26/2002 8:51:27 AM PST by LoneGOPinCT
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To: El Gato
Longer than you will.

The rate I'm going, I've got bread that will do that :^)

62 posted on 03/26/2002 8:54:04 AM PST by LoneGOPinCT
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To: DoctorMichael
We are at war.

Many have that short term loss of long term memory problem. 9/11 was about 6 months ago. Time perseption is blurred, and it seems to some like 6 years.
There's a total of 10 dead microbiologist since 9/11. That's also a 6 month, not 6 year span as well.

63 posted on 03/26/2002 10:36:44 AM PST by concerned about politics
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To: 2Trievers;McGruff
HTML police, indeed!

I cut and paste when it fits my attitude!!

64 posted on 03/26/2002 12:57:52 PM PST by RaceBannon
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To: LoneGOPinCT
Water Survival Tips
65 posted on 03/26/2002 1:03:32 PM PST by snippy_about_it
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To: nocommies
good inputs

You mean the picture? :) Thanks. You always did have good taste in graphics.

66 posted on 03/26/2002 1:39:48 PM PST by VA Advogado
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To: mewzilla; Race Bannon
All I know is that I still remember that the DOT told CNN's Major Garrett right after Richard Reid was caught that the guy was NOT a terrorist and WAS acting alone.

Roger that. I don't know why anyone would believe statements issued by gov within minutes of events that cannot possibily have been analysed yet.

Why doesn't this story identify the white starchy substance? Because they don't know what it is yet...

67 posted on 03/26/2002 2:09:33 PM PST by copycat
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To: LoneGOPinCT
"Although I suppose Trinity can't remain blameless along with Yale"

Lone, I can't let you get away with disparaging my alma mater Trinity. A few concservatives go there ... er ... um ... well one did.

68 posted on 03/26/2002 6:09:03 PM PST by 2Trievers
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To: RaceBannon; McGruff
" I cut and paste when it fits my attitude!!"

Gruffie

If Race likes the way this page looks then that is the way EVERY page should be formatted. okay?

...backing slowly away for the nearest exit door ... (psst! Gruffie ... do you know what will happen if you get a Marine angry?)

69 posted on 03/26/2002 6:24:07 PM PST by 2Trievers
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To: RaceBannon
Reservoirs are usually quite large. What substance could possibly poison an entire water supply with just a bag or pail of the substance thrown into the reservoir? Any chemical agent would likely dilute so much that there would be almost no harm. Is there any substance that COULD be harmful, except for plutonium?
70 posted on 03/26/2002 6:30:54 PM PST by Koblenz
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To: Koblenz
How about a biological "substance"...????
71 posted on 03/27/2002 4:47:41 AM PST by Chad Fairbanks
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To: 2Trievers
Lone, I can't let you get away with disparaging my alma mater Trinity. A few concservatives go there ... er ... um ... well one did.

You ruined their perfect record! :^) My step-"grandmother" graduated from there. She is stereotypical.

72 posted on 03/27/2002 5:00:32 AM PST by LoneGOPinCT
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To: LoneGOPinCT
You know I'm all for breaking records ... especia;;y land speed ones ...

When are we supposed to learn the test results? I heard they brought the package to Vinal Regional Tech's Vo-Ag lab to test the contents.

73 posted on 03/27/2002 5:31:07 AM PST by 2Trievers
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To: 2Trievers;LoneGOPinCT
May I beg to differ, blaming this on Wesleyan?

While I can not prove any connection to Wesleyan I do think that Wesleyan has an inordinate amount of influence on Middletown politics.

I think it will be found that is some material that a guy unloaded becasue he missed the "HAZMAT collection day" at his local landfill.

That is entirely possible and it could even be something more innocent.

While they were down there, they should have looked for the hundreds of murder weapons that have been tossed in there over the decades.

If they did that they might accidently come up with some evidence against some of our leading politicains in this state. Hey they might even come up with a few former politicians or at least mistresses/gay paramours etc.

I do not blame everything in the state on Wesleyan. How could I with Yale such a big influernce in New Haven County. There is plenty of blame to poartion out and I just do know Middletown and its envirorns quite well and I do realize the level of corruption drectly attributable to that institution. Now when it comes to Hartford and Trinity we must also include the University of Hartford in that mix and St. Joseph's College. I am old enough to remember when a College or University actually was a benefit to a community.

Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown

74 posted on 03/27/2002 5:38:04 AM PST by harpseal
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To: RaceBannon
March 27, 2002 : Package Scare: No Contamination Found
By JOSH KOVNER, Courant Staff Writer

Further tests on the suspicious plastic bag tossed into Mount Higby Reservoir in Middlefield so far have found no indication of bioterrorism, and water tests have uncovered no evidence of contamination.

State police Tuesday were "pursuing several leads" into the identity of the man seen tossing the bag into the reservoir, located directly off Route 66, shortly before 5:30 p.m. Monday.

"He faces anything from trespassing to something far more complicated," depending on his motives and what the substance turns out to be, said state police Sgt. J. Paul Vance. The crime of making terroristic threats, for instance, is a felony.

The suspect, who left in a dark, full-size car with tinted windows, was described by an eyewitness only as an Asian man, according to the police incident log at Troop F in Westbrook.

The reservoir supplies the backup water supply for the city of Middletown. Flow from the reservoir remained shut Tuesday while officials awaited definitive test results from the state health department. Those results are expected late today.

On Monday afternoon, a passing motorist made a cellphone call to Troop F and reported that he had seen a man toss a bound plastic bag into the reservoir. The item resembled a garbage bag, Vance said.

The call prompted a response from Middlefield and Middletown authorities, state police divers, the FBI, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the state health department.

State police divers found the bag quickly and put it in a sealed drum. The drum was decontaminated with bleach, placed into a second container and taken to the state health department laboratory.

In a state rocked by the anthrax-related death of 94-year-old Ottilie Lundgren of Oxford in November, health department chemists have grown used to such emergencies.

Since Sept. 11, they've done more than 2,000 tests on suspicious substances. Many of the tests were related to Lundgren's death, but a significant number were done to rule out the presence of bioterrorism agents in powders and other material submitted by local police and fire departments.

Initial tests on the contents of the plastic bag in the reservoir showed that it contained a "starchy" substance that was not believed to be hazardous.

Within 15 minutes of state police receiving the cellphone call from the witness, Middletown Water Department officials had taken steps to cut the flow of the Mount Higby Reservoir and to segregate it from the rest of the system, said agency chief Guy Russo.

He said he was pleased with the multi-agency response to the incident - the first terrorism scare the agency has faced. Russo said no major changes in security were planned, but he said the incident highlights a problem at the Mount Higby Reservoir: that it's too accessible from Route 66....

75 posted on 03/27/2002 5:42:26 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
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To: snippy_about_it
thank 'smuch
76 posted on 03/27/2002 6:19:05 AM PST by LoneGOPinCT
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To: harpseal
I am old enough to remember when a College or University actually was a benefit to a community.

I'm not so I do (blame them) :^)

77 posted on 03/27/2002 6:26:27 AM PST by LoneGOPinCT
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To: Chad Fairbanks
How about a biological "substance"...????

Could any potential bio substances survive in the reservoir and the water purification process?

78 posted on 03/28/2002 7:18:58 AM PST by Koblenz
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To: Koblenz
I don't see why one couldn't... I seem to recall they had a problem in Milwaukee some time ago... Crypto, I think it was called... I could be wrong, but I thought it went through purification...
79 posted on 03/28/2002 10:32:46 AM PST by Chad Fairbanks
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