Suspicious Incident at Md. Subway

The Associated Press Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001; 1:19 p.m. EDT

TEMPLE HILLS, Md. –– A Metro subway station just outside Washington was closed Tuesday after an armed man scuffled with a police officer and a jar with an unknown substance fell onto the platform, officials said.

Fire department hazardous-material teams in protective rubber suits responded after several people reported being sick.

Mark Brady, a Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman, said a man dispensed some type of product in the subway station.

"That product made people on the train sick, with dry throats and nausea," he said. About 15 people were isolated.

Officials who run the Metro subway system said a scuffle broke out between a transit officer and man on a train after the passenger pulled a knife and gun. The train stopped at the Southern Avenue station on the Green Line and the fight continued onto the platform.

Transit police took the man into custody. Officials said the officer and the armed man were not injured.

-- (terrorists winning @ psychological. war), October 09, 2001

Answers

West Chester Restaurant Quarantined After Chemical Scare

Reported by: 9News Staff Web produced by: Liz Foreman 10/9/01 12:18:24 PM

Police in West Chester have quarantined employees and customers at the Frisch's restaurant on Cincinnati-Dayton Road near I-75 because of a chemical scare.

Police said they are investigating a small vial filled with a clear liquid that was apparently left in the restaurant overnight.

Some people at the scene said the vial was left by some men of Middle Eastern decent after they made a scene at the restaurant, but police refuse to confirm that.

-- (another@one.), October 09, 2001.

HazMat teams investigate suspicious powdery substances at 2 Naples locations

Tuesday, October 9, 2001

By GINA EDWARDS, gvedwards@naplesnews.com LIZ FREEMAN, epfreeman@naplesnews.com MIREIDY FERNANDEZ, mmfernandez@naplesnews.com

Officials from local hazardous materials teams in Collier County responded to two separate anthrax scares Tuesday morning after employees found mail delivered by a private courier service covered with a white powdery substance.

At least 20 employees at the Fifth Third Bank at 4099 Ninth Street North (U.S. 41) and about 50 employees at the Cummings & Lockwood law firm at 3001 Ninth Street North were affected.

Employees at both locations discovered white substances in mail delivery packs there, authorities said. The substances haven't been confirmed as the deadly anthrax bacterium.

"You have to assume it's anthrax or something suspicious but it's probably nothing," Collier County Emergency Management Director Ken Pineau said.

FBI investigators on scene hoped to have the substance tested by late afternoon or evening. Mail at Fifth Third Bank was flown to the FBI lab in Tampa.

Fifth Third Bank workers called emergency dispatch at 9:28 a.m. after employees there discovered a white powdery substance covering envelopes of mail they were sorting.

Similarly, a white powdery substance was discovered in a mail delivery package at the Cummings & Lockwood law firm.

Emergency workers and law enforcement authorities detained a total of about 75 exposed people at both locations.

About two dozen people at Fifth Third were quarantined as part of procedures set in motion to deal with a potential anthrax scare. Hazardous material teams, in full protective blue suits, entered the building to decontaminate the roughly 25 employees who came in contact with the mail.

Inside their building, the bank workers had to strip down and get hosed off as part of the precautionary procedures. Dressed in blue wraps, they were taken to a staging area outside where emergency workers held up tarps to protect their privacy.

By noon, all of the Fifth Third employees had refused transport to area hospitals.

At the Cummings & Lockwood law firm, about 50 people potentially exposed to the substance were detained inside the building. Emergency workers from the North Naples fire department's Hazmat team put on biohazard suits and entered the building before noon.

Emergency officials received the call from Cummings & Lockwood at 10:21 a.m. Employees were stripped and decontaminated inside the building. The employees emerged from the building in blue hospital gowns and were taken to a tent set up outside.

No employees opted to go to the hospital, and many went home.

The local office of the FBI is located in the same building complex as Cummings & Lockwood, but officials at the scene said they have no reason to suspect that the FBI office was a target.

At the four-story Fifth Third building, Naples Realty closed for the day and employees evacuated.

Meanwhile, employees at the First National Bank at 8975 Harbour Drive were evacuated Tuesday afternoon because of its proximity to the affected site.

Pineau said nerves are frayed in the wake of the anthrax death in Boca Raton.

"I could drop a container of Sweet & Low and the whole building would be evacuated," Pineau said.

However, he added, authorities must take precautions for each incident.

-- (another@one.), October 09, 2001.

RS center shuts down after hazardous material scare

By Patrick Crowley The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - A 3,500-employee IRS office in Covington is under a full lockdown today, and hazardous materials experts are investigating after workers reported a suspicious sticky substance in an envelope that had been handled by several people.

Emergency workers brought one woman wearing a blue business suit out of the building and began scrubbing her down in a large black tub. After scrubbing her, they removed her clothes, wrapped her twice plastic and took her to St. Elizabeth's Hospital North for further decontamination and observation.

Otherwise, no one was being allowed in or out of the Cincinnati IRS Center on Fourth street, and fire department hazmat teams were seen taking hoses into the building.

Officials placed the suspicious letter in a can, which was placed in a police car and driven to a waiting Hamilton County Sheriff's Office helicopter and flown away.

Chris Kerns, a spokesman for the IRS said the building, which can have as many as 3,500 workers in offices and 188 children in its childcare facility, is in ''standard procedure lockdown.''

The center, which processed 20 million individual and business tax returns from seven states, has had about 20 similar incidents in past 5 years.

But this lockdown, coming as the nation anticipates retribution for the U.S. bombing of Taliban and terrorist targets in Afghanistan comes only a day after six people were hosed down by hazardous materials crews at a doctor's office on Montgomery Road in Sycamore Township , following delivery of a suspicious package Monday.

Local and national officials are scrambling to increase stockpiles of medical tools to fight a potential biological attack and one such incident seems to be unfolding in south Florida.

Federal officials suspect foul play rather than an environmental source is at the root of two Florida anthrax cases that have left one man dead and hundreds of co-workers lining up for medical tests.

The FBI on Monday sealed off the Boca Raton offices of American Media Inc., where both men worked, and agents donned protective gear before going inside.

The IRS center can have up to 188 children in its childcare center for employees. About 5,000 people are employed by the IRS in Cincinnati, with about 3,500 working at the center.

The Associated Press and Enquirer staffers Lori Hayes, Amy Higgins and Chris Mayhew contributed to this report.

-- (another@one.), October 09, 2001.

The I.R.S.?

Nice touch Bin, I like that one!

-- (please do @ more. of those), October 09, 2001.

Whoever wrote this:

The I.R.S.? Nice touch Bin, I like that one!

-- (please do @ more. of those), October 09, 2001.

I'll presume to speak for most Americans when I say...

Fuck you.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), October 09, 2001.

Suspicious Incident at Md. Subway By LAURIE KELLMAN Associated Press Writer

TEMPLE HILLS, Md (AP) _ An armed man sprayed a substance into a subway station Tuesday during a scuffle with police, leaving some 35 passengers and transit workers suffering from nausea, headaches and sore throats.

Authorities took the man into custody and said it did not appear to be a terrorist act.

"It appears at this point to be an isolated incident," said Prince Georges County Police Chief John Farrell.

Fire department hazardous-material teams in protective rubber suits responded and the sick were being decontaminated at the scene.

Officers said the man apparently had evaded paying the fare when he got on the train, then pulled out a pump-action bottle and sprayed the area in a struggle with police who asked for his identification.

At the next train stop, additional transit police boarded, and the man pulled out a gun and fired a single shot. No one was hit.

Prince Georges County Fire Department Capt. Chauncey Bowers said that after several hours of testing, authorities concluded that pepper spray used by officers may have made the passengers and workers sick.

"The irritation that was suffered quite possibly might have come from the pepper spray that was used to apprehend the suspect," he said. "All indications at the moment are that the substance is a cleaning solution." Bowers said those suffering from the symptoms were to be monitored for a several days in case of further symptoms.

Officials identified the suspect only as a 23-year-old male. They declined to provide any other information because he had not yet been charged by Metro transit police. The suspect was being detained at an area hospital, which police refused to name.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), October 09, 2001.

-- (terrorists winning @ psychological. war), October 09, 2001

Suck it up guy, the terrorists are not "winning".

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 09, 2001.

Right Lars. We're blowing up deserted brick buildings in the sand, and they're controlling our minds.

You may be winning the old war, but they're winning the new one.

-- (the truth @ ain't. pretty), October 09, 2001.

Same to you Buddy, you blind, stupid, fuck.

-- (feed the rich @ slave. man), October 09, 2001.

In poor taste KoFE. You deserve the comment.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), October 09, 2001.

A few years ago I heard otherwise good citizens remark that if McNut had blown up an empty IRS building, they would have chipped in for gas money. How times are changing...

-- helen (I@love.JBT), October 09, 2001.

Fuck you too, Jackass; that wasn't me. I think we need the IRS, I just happen to also think they need to do their job right. I'm only sorry you're too stupid to understand that.

-- KoFE (your@town.USSA), October 09, 2001.

Right Lars. We're blowing up deserted brick buildings in the sand, and they're controlling our minds.

You may be winning the old war, but they're winning the new one.

Speak for yourself, guy. The terrorists may be controlling your mind; they are not controlling mine or anyone that I know.

I'd wager they are the ones who are shitting their pants right now.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 09, 2001.

"they are not controlling mine or anyone that I know."

LOL!

Apparently we have another idiot here who is incapable of reading or listening to the news, including articles posted on this very thread!

-- (duuuuh@i.don.see.nuttin), October 09, 2001.

What's your point, anonymous one?

You are a little too thrilled with this situation for my taste.

Why don't you move to Afghanistan then?

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), October 10, 2001.

They wouldn't have him.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 10, 2001.

Why don't YOU move to Afghanistan you fascist motherfucker. You and the corrupt elite of the fascist establishment you are so fond of will fit in well over there with all the criminals and terrorists.

I've got as much right to stay here as any of you and your corrupt corporate tycoons and political dictators, and I will defend those ORIGINAL principles of Democracy on which this country was founded.

Go fuck yourself and your support for fascist domination of our great nation.

-- (go take over @ banana. republic), October 10, 2001.

Communist.

-- Jack Booted Thug (governmentconspiracy@NWO.com), October 10, 2001.

I see another one of life's losers has checked in. Happy trails food stamp boy.

-- No (can@do.fool), October 10, 2001.

LOL!

When did people get the impression that I am a right-wing Republican? I'm as close to the center of the political spectrum as they come.

As for this situation, the only thing that matters is that I am an American. And as an American I will never shut up when I see people making remarks such as those above by this anonymous coward.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), October 10, 2001.

FBI probe hijacker anthrax link

by Nigel Rosser and Mike McDonagh

The anthrax scare gripping America intensified today as a link emerged between two of Osama bin Laden's hijackers and the building where a man contracted the fatal disease.

Investigators believe that two hijackers had subscriptions to the tabloid newspapers published in the Boca Raton headquarters of American Media Inc, where the British-born picture editor Robert Stevens is believed to have contracted anthrax.

The link would cause massive alarm because it is known that Osama bin Laden's operatives have been trying to obtain chemical and biological weapons. Mohammed Atta, one of the hijack leaders, stayed nearby and tried to hire a cropspraying-plane in the hope of mounting a chemical-attack. Several other suicide hijackers visited a crop-dusting business in Belle Glade, 40 miles away.

A source close to the inquiry said the link is being treated seriously but cautiously. "We're not sure what to make of that yet,'' he said. "It may mean absolutely nothing.''

At a high-level briefing, investigators were told that the anthrax strand taken from Mr Stevens had "certain configurations'' that matched a specific strain on file at a national anthrax repository in Arizona. Mr Stevens, 63, who worked at The Sun, an American magazine, died on Friday from inhalation anthrax, a rare form of infection. Anthrax germs were also found up the nose of a 73-year-old mailroom employee and on a computer keyboard used by Mr Stevens, who had lived in Florida with his wife Maureen for 25 years.

A third woman, a librarian, is undergoing further tests to see if she has been exposed to the spores.

About 850 workers, members of their families and people who visited the offices of American Media, which includes several British citizens, are being given blood tests.

The FBI believes that the killer spores probably arrived by mail or possibly were put in the air conditioning system. The anthrax incubation period is between 12 hours and five days.

One Palm Beach County Health Authority official said: "How the rare anthrax strain was obtained is a frightening mystery.î

US health officials said it was "a billion to one chanceî that the two men had contracted anthrax naturally, but the FBI has yet to find clear evidence of a crime.

Detectives are looking into two reports of suspicious incidents at the newspaper

offices, including a "weird love letter to Jennifer Lopezî with a "soapy, powdery substanceî inside delivered last month.

They are also investigating whether the National Enquirer could have been a target after a series of derogatory articles about Bin Laden and Arab terrorism.

Events in Florida have led to police and health authorities being mobilised across an increasingly jittery country. Amid panic buying of masks and antibiotics, even the normally sober International Herald Tribune carried the front page headline Fear of Bioterrorism.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer tried to allay fears and said: "It's not unusual at times like this for false alarms to go off. Nevertheless, it will be the continuing position of the federal government to investigate, to make all means availableto be helpful.î There were scares in Washington, where a man sprayed perfume from a pump action bottle on a subway as he struggled with police.

In Virginia, a man who may have worked in a building owned by AMI was tested for anthrax on Monday after coming to the hospital with flulike symptoms and signs of confusion. Doctors treated him with an antibiotic, rushed tests to health authorities and called the FBI. Tests showed he probably did not have anthrax.

In Covington, Kentucky, an Internal Revenue Service center was shut for several hours and seven workers treated as a precaution after a powder was found in the mail room, police said. An envelope containing the powder was removed for study. In Montreal, the offices of Globe International, office of a company with close ties to American Media, were briefly evacuated because of a suspect letter. Police said they doubted it was dangerous but did not want to take chances.

-- (more@news.reports), October 10, 2001.

U.S.-Canada Border Closed in Vt, NY

By Wilson Ring Associated Press Writer Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2001; 2:49 p.m. EDT

HIGHGATE, Vt. –– A bomb threat made to a business near the U.S.-Canada border and a suspicious vehicle prompted federal officials to close two major border crossings Wednesday.

Vehicles heading toward the ports of entry at Champlain, N.Y., and Highgate, Vt., were stopped by police Wednesday afternoon and directed to smaller border crossings, said Craig Jehle, port director in Highgate.

The call was made shortly before 9 a.m. to an office of Deringer, a customs broker and international freight handler.

"The caller said: 'There's a bomb that's going to go boom,'" said John Holzscheiter, Deringer marketing vice president and co-owner.

The company's offices in Champlain, Highgate Springs and St. Albans were evacuated.

Officials were investigating the threat Wednesday afternoon and could provide few details. The only thing they said about the suspicious vehicle is that it was near Highgate.

"We're waiting for things to get checked," said Temple Black, a public affairs officer with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Burlington.

Both of the closed border crossings are busy ones involving Interstate highways, 87 on the New York side, 89 on the Vermont side.

Also in Vermont, the owner of 14 hydroelectric plants along the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers posted armed guards this week after three suspicious men were spotted on a remote road near one plant over the weekend.

Officer Mike Chesanek of the Bellows Falls police department, said the men spoke broken English and appeared to be from the Middle East or India. He asked them for identification, but did not detain them. He said they told him they were looking for American Indian rock carvings that can be found in the area.

-- (more@news.reports), October 10, 2001.

Just like this whole forum is about to go boom and be no more.

-- (LadyLogic2000@yahoo.com), October 10, 2001.

Suspicious powder found at State Department By ELI J. LAKE

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- FBI agents, fire trucks and Emergency Medical Service Vehicles descended on the C street entrance of the State Department Wednesday following reports that a suspicious package with an unknown powdery substance was found in the building's mail-room.

"A small amount of white powder was discovered on the floor of one our mail rooms," Lynn Cassel, a State Department spokesman, told reporters Wednesday. "We have no idea where it came from."

Cassel said the Bureau of Administration called the Hazardous Material division of the District of Columbia city government to report the unknown substance. The woman who found the substance, Cassel said, was fine.

She said there was no plan to evacuate the building, but they are investigating the incident. "We don't think it's serious, but we don't know," Cassel said.

As a precaution, the State Department shut off its internal air conditioning system, but the building has not been evacuated.

One woman on the sixth floor fainted. Medical procedures were being performed on a man near the C Street entrance. He was said to be near the woman and said he was feeling ill.

Four ambulances, three fire trucks and FBI counter-terrorism agents were in the building to investigate.

-- (another@one.), October 10, 2001.