Reactions
continued from page 1
saw the police. He later received an
e-mail from Halverson about what
had happened.
But he said he is not worried that
the anthrax threat has reached the
West Coast or the University campus.
“It sounded like a cheap prank,”
he said. “I think someone is just
piggy-backing on everyone’s fears.
... But it didn’t sound like people
were that worried. Everyone I
talked to was pretty much like, ‘Oh
well, if we got it, we’d take the an
tibiotics.’”
Adam Clausen, a graduate stu
dent who tutors physics lab ses
sions, was also in Willamette Hall
during the time of the incident.
But he said the anthrax “scare”
has gotten weary, and not even a
campus threat fazed him.
“I wasn’t really surprised,” he
said. “It mostly just made me tired
to think about it. What’s the point
of doing something like this?... It’s
gotten so tiring. ”
He added that even if the threat
ends up being credible, the situa
tion does not exactly leave him in
shock.
“It’s not like I thought, ‘Oh man, I
almost just died,”’ he said.
Beata Mostafavi is the student activities
editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald.
She can be reached at
beatamostafavi@dailyemerald.com.
Jonathan House Emerald
A group of HazMat workers takes a break shortly after 4 p.m.Thursday as the Eugene Police Department clears Willamette Hall.
Hospitalization
continued from page 1
At 5:30 p.m., members of the Haz
ardous Materials response team ar
rived outside the emergency room as
part of a medical follow-up effort.
Two Eugene Fire Department
trucks and another vehicle parked
just outside the emergency room.
Hospital security guards were post
ed at all entrances to the hospital,
and patients and staff were allowed
to enter only through the emer
gency room entrance on the build
ing’s north side.
“We got dispatched to the Uni
versity of Oregon this afternoon be
cause of the letter,” a 14-year-veter
an of the Eugene Fire Department,
who would identify himself only as
Andy, said. “We were ordered by
the state. This is just a follow up.”
The patient treated for exposure
to the unknown substance was de
clared safe and was released at 6
p.m., officials said. The emergency
room then reopened.
The biological agent incident is -
the second in three weeks at
McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. On
Oct. 31, a man admitted a baby with
flu-like symptoms and expressed
concern that the child had been ex
posed to anthrax. Results were neg
ative, a hospital official said.
Eric Martin is a higher education reporterfor
the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached
at ericmartin@dailyemerald.com.
Find answers to your pressing career questions and more
* Meet two professionals of your career choice
■ Polish your resume and cover letter
* Learn networking skills
■ Earn one upper division credit
* Only six class meetings a term
■ Winter 2002 classes available: Business,
Biofogy, Chemistry, Physics, EMS, Computer
Science, English, Environmental Studies,
Psychology, Sociology and All Majors
REGISTER TODAY!
http://uocareer.uoregon.edu/mentor/
CRN’s are listed in Schedule of Classes under Career Center
CM
JMentor Program
A .«?«■«.*? t >f it«* UO Caret: f C«tMcK
Sponsored by the ASUO, The Career Center and The Student Alumni Association
Virtual Office Systems Inc.
In Partnership with
The University of Oregon Bookstore
3131 West 11th Ph. 343-8633 Open Mon-Sat 10-6
The Athlon -
HP 1.6 St/stem
$999.99
• MSI 6380 Motherboard
• 32 MB GeForce 2 MX
• 30 GB 7200 RPM Drive
• 256 MB DDR 266 MHz
• 17”.27SVGA Monitor
W/ a Athlon XP 1.7, $1039.99
W/a Athlon XP 1.8, $1119.99
Adda Toshiba 16/40DVD $90
AMD: The
smart choice
for value and
performance!
AMDDunn-750
1Competitor’
$479.99
• Microstar MS 6330 Board
• 32 MB GeForce 2 MX
• 20 Gig WD 5400 RPM
• 128 MB PCI33 SDRAM
• Monitor Additional
Add 17” .27Monitory $170.00
With a Duron 1000, Add $45
Win 98 SE NOT available
I VOS systems include A TX case, Windows 98 SE, ME, or XP Home, 52X CD,
56K v.90 modem, mouse, keyboard, floppy, sound, stereo speakers, warranty.
' V OS Inc. Systems are also available at the LO Bookstore. Parts available onl\ at VOS I he.
Pric.es good through! I 2301. AMD. K7. XI’. Athlon and Duron are trademarks ot AMD, Ine. Specs subjeei to ehange. \\u\\.voseoinputers.eom
V- v- :‘ f j’xt
HazMat
continued from page 1
“There is an ongoing investiga
tion,” FBI public relations coordi
nator Beth Anne Steele said. But
Steele was quick to point out that
“there has been no evidence of a
credible threat in Oregon since
Sept. 11.
“If we discover that it is anthrax,
we’ll make a public announce
ment immediately.”
At 4:15 p.m., a University em
ployee was admitted to McKenzie
Willamette Hospital in Springfield.
The man said he feared he had
been exposed to the substance
while handling the letter. He was
treated and discharged from the
hospital at 6 p.m.
After the FBI and EPD had col
lected evidence and samples of
the substance for testing, the Haz
Mat team began a decontamina
tion of Willamette Hall, a process
that involves cleaning potentially
contaminated surfaces with
bleach.
Joan Saylor, an administrative
lieutenant with DPS, said the situ
ation is under control and there is
no threat to students. University
Health Center director Dr. Gerald
Fleischli said the area of exposure
was contained quickly enough that
people who may have been in
Willamette Hall don’t need to wor
ry about having been exposed.
“The health risk is pretty mini
mal at this point,” Fleischli said.
“The people who may have been
exposed — the police, the people
in the office, the firefighters —
have been taken care of.”
University officials said there
is no threat to the campus mail
system because the letter was de
livered directly to Willamette
Hall by the U.S. Postal Service.
The building, which houses the
physics and general science de
partments, was never entirely
closed and was not evacuated;
however, Crasemann and his as
sistant were sent home. Other
employees in the building were
told they were free to go home if
they wished.
Saylor said two student workers
were present in a room adjacent to
Crasemann’s office when police ar
Symptoms and effects
After the one-to*seven day incubation
period, the onset of the symptoms of
Fever
Malaise
Wore severe symptoms can
occurs within 24 hours of the onset
of the severe svmptoms.
SOURCE: fBl
rived on the scene. Police feared
the two might have been exposed
to the substance when they en
tered Crasemann’s office during
the morning. The students were
decontaminated by the HazMat
team and released.
' Crasemann said he had no idea
why the letter had been sent to
him, but joked that as editor of
Physical Review A, a monthly
physics journal published by the
American Physical Society, he of
ten has to reject manuscripts sub
mitted by authors from around the
world.
“There are a bunch of unhappy
authors around the world,” he
said, adding that the postmark
looked genuine to him. “They
write angry letters, but I don’t
know that anyone would go this
far.” Saylor said DPS has been
contacted four to six times by
people with concerns relating to
anthrax. Officers were dispatched
in two of those instances, but
both were found to be false
alarms. One of the cases was
found to be nothing more than a
crushed Tic-Tac.
The FBI said that it will take
about 72 hours to test the sub
stance taken from Willamette Hall
for biological agents. In the mean
time, the University has estab
lished a hotline, 346-5692, which
will be updated regularly as infor
mation becomes available.
Emerald staff members Eric Martin, John
Liebhardt and Michael Kleckner contributed
to this report.
'r ! } i: t
8 M-t