University mail system proceeds as usual despite threats
■uampus man nanaiers nave
already been trained to deal with
suspicious letters
By Marty Toohey
for the Emerald
In light of recent high-profile an
thrax incidents, the University mail
system is following federal and
state safety guidelines but not
changing day-to-day procedures,
according to Joan Saylor, a Depart
ment of Public Safety administra
tive lieutenant.
The University’s Mail Services
Department sorts most University
mail at a central receiving area.
Sorters and carriers were trained in
suspicious package recognition be
fore the anthrax incidents, and
things are not much different for
them now, according to Mail Ser
vices Coordinator Diane Longworth.
“We’re doing the same things we
always have, except watching a lit
tle closer,” Longworth said. “We
wash our hands a little more often,
we have (masks and gloves) avail
able to carriers, but we leave that
up to individual carriers.”
The FBI has not recommend
wearing gloves or masks, but
strongly advises mail carriers or
anyone sorting their mail to wash
their hands frequently.
If any packages seem suspicious,
DPS should be contacted, accord
ing to Saylor. DPS will respond
with two officers whenever possi
ble, with one officer going to the af
fected area, while the other officer
will talk to others in the area to de
termine if anyone has handled the
item in question, according to the
DPS Web site.
“We’re telling people to be mind
ful when they open their mail,”
Saylor said. “There have been no
specific threats toward Oregon or
the University, and we don’t want
to make people’s lives more fearful
than they need to be. If you receive
suspicious mail, put it down, don’t
handle it, call DPS and we will re
spond quickly.”
Once DPS officers assess a situa
tion, they will determine whether to
notify Environmental Health and
Safety, the Eugene Police Depart
ment or FBI. If there is a risk of
chemical or biological contami
nants, such as anthrax, DPS will
clear the area and shut off all vents,
and EHS will be called in, according
to EHS Director Kay Coots.
After working with law enforce
ment to ensure crime scene evi
dence is not damaged, EHS work
ers will enter the area, wearing
any protective gear deemed neces
sary. In the case of anthrax, work
ers wear respirators and skin-and
eye coverings.
Coots and Saylor said much of
their departments’ responses are
formed on a case-by-case basis.
“A package that smells funny
and doesn’t have a return address is
a lot different than a normal enve
lope going to an international stud
ies office that normally receives in
ternational mail,” Saylor said.
Marty Toohey is a freelance reporter for the
Oregon Daily Emerald.
Anthrax
continued from page 1A
see much of a chance for an anthrax
outbreak in Oregon, yet EPD and
Lane County Sheriffs offices contin
ue to receive calls from worried citi
zens throughout the state.
“There is no information to sug
gest there are any targets in Ore
gon,” FBI agent Mike Morrow said.
Though the outbreaks of the
acute infectious disease can no
longer be viewed as isolated inci
dents, the low number of occur
rences should not be cause for the
nation to panic, officials said.
“We’re fielding hundreds of calls a
day,” said Dr. Ann Thomas, a med
ical epidemiologist for Oregon Health
Division. “We’ve tested suspicious
substances, and nothing in Oregon
has turned out to be positive. ”
It’s not even uncommon to see
some kind of powder in the mail,
Thomas said. Some magazine pub
lishers will mail their magazines
with a talc powder or corn starch to
preserve the glossy-look of a maga
zine, she said.
The Eugene Police Department
responded to a wave of calls by
asking Eugene citizens to stay
calm after the first anthrax out
break in Florida.
“Our communication center
was overwhelmed,” said Eugene
Police Department Spokeswoman
Pam Alejandre. “We had people
calling wondering if their flour
was actually anthrax.”
Lane Gounty Sheriff Jan
Clements said his office received a
report from a woman worried about
dust on her car. The substance
turned out to be pollen.
Clements held a press conference
last week to reassure Lane County
that it has the means to deal with an
anthrax attack if one should occur.
“I’m trying to calm people in the
community and give cause for min
imizing their fear,” Clements said.
“We need to really put things in
perspective. Five thousand people
die from food poisoning each year
and thousands from car accidents,
but that doesn’t keep people from
driving cars.”
He said he does recognize, how
ever, that the American people
have discovered a new scare that
needs to be addressed.
Lane County, he said, is well
equipped to handle most emergency
cases within the county on its own.
However, when handling certain sit
uations is beyond the county’s capa
bilities, the state and national gov
ernment will be asked to intervene.
“If anthrax was found, we would
be working directly with the FBI,
the Oregon Emergency Manage
ment and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency — everybody
would be working together to deal
with the problem,” Clements said.
“We’re positioned to coordinate an
effective public response. ”
Rob Rockstroh, the director of
Lane County Health and Human
Services, said the county is also
well equipped to handle a commu
nicable disease outbreak.
“We once had an outbreak of He
patitis A and had 1,200 people
lined up for shots,” he said. “We’re
very used to dealing with commu
nicable disease reporting.”
Botello, a University senior living
on the East Coast, returned to work for
Sen. Gordon Smith on Wednesday.
Smith’s office is located in the
Russell building, the only Senate
office building that has reopened.
Two of the House office buildings
— the Rayburn and Cannon build
ings — reopened last week.
So far, no mail is being circulated
through the open Senate and House
office buildings, though inside mail
will resume circulation tomorrow,
Botello said. She has also seen an
intense increase in security, some
thing she said should have been in
place from the beginning.
“There are Capitol police every
where; dogs are used to sniff out
cars that park near the Capitol, mir
rors are being used under the cars,”
Botello said. “Security should have
been this tight to begin with.”
She said she’s not scared anymore.
In fact, she and Ali Burket, also a
University student interning for
Smith, discussed coming back to
Oregon and changed their minds.
Lindsay Buchele is the community editortor
the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached
atlindsaybuchele@dailyemerald.com.
Clinic
continued from page 1A
states and the District of Columbia,
Eugene Planned Parenthood
spokeswoman Kitty Piercy said.
The envelopes — which have
preprinted return addresses from
the U.S. Marshals Service or the Se
cret Service — contain unidentified
powdery substances and threaten
ing letters, she said.
So far, all substances have tested
negative.
“For them to do this at a time
when we should all be working to
gether against terrorism is really
reprehensible,” Piercy said.
Although U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft has condemned an
r
thrax hoaxes and promised the
prosecution of guilty parties,
Planned Parenthood leaders have
expressed some skepticism. Piercy,
who is a former Oregon state repre
sentative, said climes never got an
adequate response from govern
ment officials in the past.
“We have been experiencing do
mestic terrorism for quite a long
time,” Piercy said. “We believe the
public should demand the country
respond as strongly to domestic ter
rorism as national terrorism.”
Portland FBI Spokeswoman
Beth Anne Steele said she could
not discuss the details of the in
vestigation. But she said the de
partment had information that
abortion clinics could be potential
targets of anthrax threats.
“The FBI did warn abortion clin
ics all over the country when the
threat was first realized,” she said.
“A warning went out to clinics to be
on the alert for anything suspicious.”
She added that the FBI did not
prosecute anyone for sending an
thrax threats to abortion clinics in
the past.
At least 132 National Abortion
Federation affiliates have also re
ceived the mail. Because member
ship in NAF and Planned Parent
hood doesn’t completely overlap,
representatives believe more than
200 clinics were targeted.
Many of the messages are signed
by “the Army of God,” a radical
Christian anti-abortion group that
has taken credit for several clinic
bombings and murders of abortion
doctors. The letters include state
ments such as “You’ve been exposed
to anthrax. We will kill you all.”
Although states on the west
coast have received such mail in
the past, none have gotten anthrax
threats after Sept. 11. But Portland
Planned Parenthood representa
tive Don Skinner said after the
“rash” of anthrax mail in 1998 and
1999, all clinics have developed a
protocol for responding to suspi
cious deliveries.
“We’re being vigilant about what
comes in,” he said. “(The Army of
God members) are people who
have embraced violence as a means
for achieving their end. ” j
Last week, the Army of God ,
spokesman, Rev. Donald Spitz of |
Chesapeake, Va., told the L.A. I
Times that the flood of threatening
mail to clinics is a “good thing” and
a “brilliant move.”
But Spitz denied knowing where
the mail is coming from.
Piercy said the Eugene Planned
Parenthood office has never received
anthrax threats but is being cautious.
She added that the threats will not
stop clinics from doing their work.
“The best way to fight this is to
not let it keep us from going to
work and providing the kind of
health care women in this com
munity and all over the country
reed,” she said.
Jeata Mostafavi is the student activities
iditorforthe Oregon Daily Emerald.
5he can be reached at
)eatamostafavi@dailyemerald.com.
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