Anthrax hoaxes cost time

By Lagena McBride, Herald Staff

Arkansas State University has been the focus of a series of anthrax hoaxes including five at Twin Towers since Oct. 19, said Capt. Mike Archer of the University Police Department.

The lab sciences in the Department of Agriculture received two separate pieces of mail from Iraq, which they contacted the UPD to investigate.

The ASU Post Office also received a letter that was from Brooklyn, N.Y. The reason the post office was suspicious of the letter was because it was addressed only to ASU, and not an individual or a department. The post office called the UPD as well.

"[The Post Office employees] thought that it was a little odd that someone would go to the trouble to send us a letter all the way from Brooklyn, N.Y., but not really care who got it," Archer said.

"It's one of those things that six months ago we would have opened it and checked it. Today, due to everyone's heightened awareness, we are just being careful and exercising a little common sense," Archer said.

The UPD, with the help of a local Federal Bureau of Investigation agent, thoroughly inspected the letters and found that they held no actual threat. As a precautionary measure the department triple-bagged the contents, sealed them and placed them in a storage container for future reference, Archer said.

Twin Towers also received five anthrax scares. On Saturday, Oct. 20, at 7:45 a.m. students reported finding powder on the floor of Twin Towers. Then, on Sunday, Oct. 21, at 11:15 p.m., another report was made about finding powder on the floor in a different area of Twin Towers. On Monday, Oct. 22, a student reported finding an unknown type of powder that was sprinkled around the seat of a commode. On Tuesday, Oct. 23, and Wednesday, Oct. 24, students reported finding unknown powders in Twin Towers.

In all cases, the UPD and the local fire department responded and quickly identified the powders as non-harmful. Four of the cases proved to be laundry detergent, while the Oct. 22, case turned out to be talcum powder.

"We cleaned it up ourselves for several reasons. We did not want to alarm anyone. We did not want to get 20 or 30 phone calls about the same spill that was on the floor," Archer said. "Due to our quick response we could go over, look at it, make a judgment call on it and then just clean it up on the spot while we were there, so as not to add any additional tension to the campus as a whole."

The UPD has not made any arrests at this time for any of the hoaxes that have taken place.

"In a couple of cases, we know that there were students involved," Archer said. "Several have been questioned and there is a couple of these incidences with investigations pending."

"Any hoax or any scare will be fully investigated, and those responsible will be held accountable. They could face state or federal charges, not to mention disciplinary action by the University."

If it is determined later who is responsible for these hoaxes, these contents may be an important clue to the FBI or other law officials who may prosecute in these cases.

"Something else that helped with all [the letters]: When we call the FBI, and tell them we have a letter postmarked from so-and-so, they can readily check and let me know in just minutes if they feel that area is a threat, if there's been a threat from that area or location or if anybody else has received a threat," Archer said. "We are in constant contact with the FBI as far as what they're doing, what we're doing and we've been working hand-in-hand on some things."

According to the United States Postal Service, students should be wary of mail that is unexpected or from someone they do not know.

Signs of suspicious mail include mail sent to someone no longer at that address, handwritten addresses, has no return address or bears a return address that cannot be confirmed as legitimate, sealed with excessive amounts of tape, lopsided or lumpy in appearance, marked as "personal" or "confidential" or has excessive postage.

If a piece of suspicious mail is received, the package should not be handled, shaken, bumped or sniffed. The authorities should be contacted.