POWDER--Closes SD Newspaper

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I work in Yankton.

http://www.yankton.net/stories/101501/com_operations.shtml

Web posted Monday, October 15, 2001

EXTRA: P&D Operations Disrupted After Suspicious Substance Discovered

By AL LUNDY P&D City Editor

The normal daily operation of the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan was disrupted Monday morning after mail room employees found a suspicious substance on a pallet of advertising inserts.

P&D Publisher Rita Thomas said authorities were called after a beige granular substance was found in the newspaperıs mail room by an employee. Samples of the material are being transported to a state health laboratory in Pierre for testing.

Because of recent cases nationwide in which anthrax spores have been discovered in mailings and other parcels, the suspicious substance found in the P&Dıs mail room prompted the notification of local authorities.

According to Thomas, the substance was found between the cardboard cover and the inserts themselves. The employee who found the substance became concerned.

Thomas said she is confident no one is in danger, but she said it is best to proceed with caution.

³When employees become concerned, especially with the heightened state of alert that we are under, and the mass distribution methods we use for our product, we have to act,² Thomas said. ³If we err, weıre going to err on the side of caution.

³We just canıt take a chance. Based on the concerns of the employees and the description that was provided by The Associated Press of a white or beige powdery substance, what we found resembles that description.²

Thomas said the safety of the Press and Dakotanıs subscribers was another reason authorities were summoned.

³With our mass distribution of nearly 9,000 newspapers, we have a responsibility to not only protect our employees, but also the public,² she said.

According to Thomas, the Town and Country and the inserts that go with it will be delayed at least 24 hours.

³We are making arrangements to print our newspaper elsewhere tonight,² Thomas said.

³I really donıt think there is a reason to be alarmed; this could easily be packing dust,² she said. ³But again, with the concerns of our employees, the amount and appearance of the substance, and what has happened in other places, we have a responsibility to have the material tested.²

According to the company that shipped the circulars to the P&D, the description of the substance given to them could match dust or particles from packing material, said Assistant Police Chief Jerry Hisek.

Early Monday afternoon, P&D employees were not being allowed to leave the newspaper offices, and those not already at work were not allowed to come to work.

State authorities said they are uncertain how long it will take to determine what the substance is.

To contact Al Lundy, e-mail him at alundy@yankton.net.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

Answers

10:00PM Central (I remembered)

Okay, there was a news article that stated an employee of the Claycomo Ford plant in Missouri saw some dust/powder on a newspaper and they shut down the shift until they checked it out. The last thing I read was everything seemed to be okay. They said in the first article how dust/powder is a normal thing in the production of newspapers. Now reading the above post, it makes me wonder.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001


S.D. newspaper moves to sister operation to print paper after suspicious powder found

By CARSON WALKER The Associated Press 10/15/01 9:00 PM

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- The Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan planned to print Tuesday's edition at its sister operation after part of the newspaper's building was shut down because of a powdery substance.

The substance was found Monday in a pallet of advertising inserts. But publisher Rita Thomas said employees at the distribution center where the ads originated thought it was probably dust from packing.

She said police took a sample to the state health lab and test results were expected Tuesday.

"We're just erring on the side of caution. It's probably packing material," Thomas said. "Although I did see the substance and I can see why the employees were concerned."

Staffers continued to work even after part of the building where the substance was found was closed. Tuesday's paper was scheduled to be printed at Plain Talk, a weekly in Vermillion.

None of the inserts with powder on them will go out.

"Better to be safe than sorry," said Dave Bordewyk, general manager for the South Dakota Newspaper Association. "Although we are out here in South Dakota and it seems safe and secure from what's happening, it shows this can happen anywhere."

Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001


The advertising inserts would be the grocery store adds. Those same inserts also go to the stores so you can grab one when you walk in the door.

Comforting thought, eh?

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001


The only paper I get is from a tiny local paper, so I'm not going to worry about that one. From now on, the only mail that will come into my house will be the bills and letters that I am expecting. I will throw anything else in the outside trash barrel before coming in from the mailbox. I don't care if I sound paranoid or not.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

Yep--time to treat the snailmail just like email. If you don't know the sender, "delete" it, unopened.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001


You just had to know that there would be a lot of copycat crap, from the home-grown sickos we've got in this country.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001

I haven't opened junk mail for years. It gets pitched in the outside trash can on the way to the house. If I were to receive personal mail from someone I don't know, I think I would leave it outside, get some rubber gloves and open it carefully outside. I might even put a mask on. I'd also have a couple of ziplock bags handy to put it in if it turned out to be suspicious. Then I'd call the cops.

There was a guy in Durha,--a university researcher yet--who took his suspicious package down to police HQ. That meant TWO sites had to be decontaminated. Stupid bugger. (It turned out to be innocuous.)

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001


not that I expect to be targeted to receive such contaminated mail, but I cannot help feeling guilty having my neighbor collect and hold our mail until we come down and get it.

it's just that to have it redirected by the USPS would be so slow to go into effect that when they finally initiated that I would be back home. LOL

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2001


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