Friday, November 16,2001
Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon
Volume 103,Issue 59
“The health risk is pretty minimal at this point. ”
Dr. Gerald Fleischli, director of the University Health Center
HazMat, FBI respond to mail threat
■SUSPICIOUS SUBSTANCE:
University professor recieves
athreatening letter containing
a ‘granular’ substance
By Leon Tovey and Marty Toohey
Oregon Daily Emerald
The specter of bioterrorism showed
itself at the University on Thursday
when an emeritus physics professor re
ceived a suspicious package at his of
fice in Willamette Hall.
At about 9 a.m., Emeritus Professor
Bernd Crasemann and his assistant
opened a brown envelope in Crase
mann’s office, which is located in
Room 251 of Willamette Hall. Crase
mann said the envelope — which was
FOR MORE
INFORMATION
about Thursday’s
incident, call the
University’s hotline
(346-5692).
It you think you’ve
been exposed to
suspicious mail...
•Limit exposure
to the package
and its contents.
• Call the Department
of Public Safety
(346-6666).
•Wash your hands
with soap and
warm water.
postmarked from
Malaysia — was
addressed to him
and contained a
letter and an un
known substance
that he described
as “granular” in
texture.
The letter had
writing both in
English and a lan
guage that Crase
mann didn’t rec
ognize —
although he said
that it was not
Arabic.
“It said ‘Death
to the oppressor,’
or something like
that, Crasemann
said of the English portion of the let
ter in a phone interview with the
Emerald.
At 9:23 a.m., Crasemann called the
Department of Public Safety to report
the letter. DPS called the Eugene Po
lice Department, who sent three offi
cers to investigate. After assessing the
situation, the EPD officers shut down
the air circulation system in
Willamette Hall and called in the FBI
and a HazMat response team.
Turn to HazMat, page 8
Jonathan House Emerald
Hazardous materials workers clean 251 Willamette, the office of physics Professor Emeritus Bernd Crasemann, on Thursday
afternoon in response to a suspicious letter. The letter and its contents were sent to a Portland lab for testing.
■CREDIBLE THREAT: University
employee is tested for possible
anthrax exposure and released
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
A University of Oregon employee ad
mitted himself to McKenzie-Willamette
Hospital in Springfield at 4:15 p.m.
Thursday because he feared he had
come in contact with a biological agent
while handling a suspicious letter ad
dressed to University physics Professor
Emeritus Bemd Crasemann, hospital
officials said.
Hospital officials said the Lane Coun
ty Public Health Department called the
letter a “credible threat.”
Officials would not name the Univer
sity employee, but they said he was not
an assistant to Crasemann or the profes
sor emeritus himself. The employee
had apparently handled the letter,
which Crasemann said contained a
granular substance.
A hospital spokeswoman said the
emergency room had been temporarily
cleared.
Shortly after 4:15 p.m., hospital offi
cials interviewed the employee to de
termine where he had come in contact
with the letter, and when. The officials
would not elaborate on the patient’s an
swers.
He was not panicked, said Tom
Hambly, manager of emergency servic
es for McKenzie-Willamette Hospital.
“He was very lucid, and said he came
in close contact with the letter and was
concerned he had been exposed.”
Though anthrax is not contagious,
hospital officials took the patient out
side so he could remove his clothes and
be cleansed with a decontaminating so
lution. Hambly said the precaution was
taken to eliminate the possibility that
spores had attached themselves to the
patient’s clothing.
The officials then cleared the area
and used a solution to “wipe down” the
emergency room and the chair in which
the patient originally sat.
Turn to Hospitalization, page 8
Thursday’s events
□9:003-111.
Crasemann and assistant open mail
□ 9:23 a.m.
DPS receives call from Crasemann
□ 9:32 a.m.
EPO receives call from Crasemann
□ 10:30 a.m.
Crasemann and assistant told
they could go home
□1:52 p.m.
MazMatteam dispatched
□ 4:09 p.m.
EPD officers clear scene at Willamette Nail
□4:15 p.m.
Universe employe Is tested for anthrax
at McKenzie*Willamette Hospital
□6:15 p.m.
Man discharged from hospital
Campus remains calm in face of possible danger
■STUDENT REACTION: In spite
of Thursday’s concern about
exposure to anthrax, some
students consider it a hoax
By Beata Mostafavi
Oregon Daily Emerald
Graduate student Adam Halver
son was on his way to the restroom
in Willamette Hall on Thursday af
ternoon when several officers from
the Department of Public Safety
ushered him out of the way.
Halverson, who teaches physics
on the second floor, later found out
that a professor in the building had
received a letter containing an un
usual message and an unknown
substance.
“I had just gotten out of a tutoring
session. I didn’t know what was go
ing on,” he said. “I wondered if it
was an anthrax threat — it seems to
be a prevailing fear for everyone
nowadays. It just turned out to be
real this time.”
But he added that he was pretty
sure the threat was a hoax. Emeritus
Physics Professor Bernd Crase
mann, who received the threat, is
also the editor for Physical Review
A, a physics journal. Halverson said
he suspects that the message was
sent by a writer who could not get
his work published in the journal.
“We think it was just a crackpot
who keeps getting rejected,” he said.
Senior biochemistry major Ben
Wiggins, who was in a lab in the
basement of Willamette Hall at the
time, said there were no signs any
thing was wrong until he left and
Turn to Reactions, page 8
Michael J. Kleckner Emerald
Oregon’s HazMat Team responded to Willamette Hall on Thursday morning after
a physics professor received a threatening letter postmarked from Malaysia.