Free Republic

Some area residents aren't taking any chances At $39.95, gas masks aren't cheap. But what price peace of mind? asked Brooks Strickland, the owner of Strickland's Surplus on Carolina Beach Road. "That's only taking two people out to eat," said Mr. Strickland, who sold 18 of the masks Wednesday. With the government raising the state of alert Feb. 7, such purchases can seem more practical than paranoid. But New Hanover County's emergency management director cautioned against using the masks, which need to be properly fitted and may not have filters appropriate to the threat. Instead, Dan Summers, the director, echoed...

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WINSTED, Conn. -- Paul West didn't take the federal government's terrorism alert lightly. By Wednesday, half his entire 19th century farmhouse was covered with plastic to protect his family from a chemical or biological attack. He planned to finish the job Thursday. West paid $250 for 3,500 square feet of plastic and other supplies Wednesday morning. "Why wait?" West said. "If there is an attack, how are you going to get the plastic?" West said he had a hard time finding enough plastic for his Platt Hill Road home. He initially wanted to make a "safe room" using plastic. "It's...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government first urged Americans to seal a room with duct tape and plastic sheets. Now it says people should cover their mouths with a cloth and wash their hands to cut down on further contamination from a chemical, biological or nuclear attack. The latest recommendation came in an information bulletin from the FBI (news - web sites)'s National Infrastructure Protection Center warning of the threat from al Qaeda of a possible mass-casualty chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack. The bulletin, dated Feb. 12 and posted on its Web site (http:/www.nipc.gov/publications/infobulletins/2003/ib03-003.ht m), also recommended "basic countermeasures."...