Anthrax Roundup- Real and Hoax Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Peter Bell Girls are every bit as equal as boys. And every bit as stupid. Couple of undergrads in Kentucky are probably looking at some good jail time for shutting down their local post office; crossover genre porn titled something like "caged hot sorority girls!" may be one uplifting upshot of this inspirational tale. Meantime, in Kenya, they've let the pros do the last round of tests on the anthrax letter they got a week or more ago. Lo and behold - no anthrax. The lesson here: the early reports cannot be definitive. There are a couple of time-consuming steps to go through *and they have to be done right* to confirm anthrax. This story survived for days beyond its early release - like the Nevada Microshit letter - solely because as soon as someone saw something weird, they ran for the press. Early tests by marginally competent labs (State of Nevada and apparently the local hospital lab facility in Kenya) seem to regularly demonstrate - as many of us did in fourth grade, and as many more of us discover when cleaning the fridge - that Microbes are Everywhere, And Easy To Grow. They don't say a lot about Man-Eating Anthrax, Hot-Coed-Caged-Sorority-Sister-Eating Anthrax, or any other form of anthrax, though. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Hoax-Arrests.html October 24, 2001 People Arrested in Anthrax Hoaxes By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 1:04 p.m. ET LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Two college students were arrested for an anthrax hoax that halted postal service in the town of Murray after white powder spilled from an envelope. Preliminary tests indicated the substance was powdered sugar, Murray Postmaster Mark Kennedy said Wednesday. The post office in the southwestern Kentucky community was closed Tuesday after the powder spilled onto a postal clerk's shirt. Amy Wood, 20, of Benton, Ky., and Erin Creighton, 21, of Morganfield, Ky., both students at Murray State University, were arrested Tuesday. They allegedly intended to send the letter to friends as a hoax, Murray police Capt. Eddie Rollins said. ``I don't think they understood the seriousness of their hoax initially, but I think they were coming to understand the seriousness of it when they were taken into custody,'' Rollins said. Both were charged with a single count of mailing a threatening communication, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, said U.S. Attorney Stephen Pence. Three postal employees underwent medical tests as a precaution, Kennedy said. Elsewhere, six people in the Philadelphia area were arrested on charges they perpetrated anthrax hoaxes, including one that shut down a Home Depot store in Chester County for five days, First Assistant U.S. Attorney H. Geoffrey Moulton Jr. said Wednesday. Robert T. Gibson of West Chester, Pa., is accused of sending an envelope containing a white powder and a note claiming the substance was anthrax to the Home Depot in Frazer. The powder tested negative for anthrax and the store reopened Tuesday. Charges were filed Wednesday in Flint, Mich., against three General Motors Corp. workers accused of taking part in an anthrax hoax that shut down a production line for hours, Genesee County Prosecutor Arthur A. Busch said. An envelope containing baby powder was placed on a truck on the assembly line, authorities said. In western Tennessee, a former Northwest Airlink employee was indicted Tuesday on charges he falsely reported he had been kidnapped and forced to phone a terrorist threat to Northwest Airlines. If convicted, Timothy Scott McNeill, 40, of Memphis, could get five years in jail. * http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Anthrax-Kenya.html October 24, 2001 FBI: Package in Kenya Tests Negative By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 5:37 a.m. ET NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- The substance contained in a package sent from the United States to a doctor in Nairobi, originally reported to contain anthrax spores, has retested negative for the bacteria, according to the FBI. ``The letter from Atlanta was retested by the Kenya Medical Research Institute, and the consensus of the microbiologists was that the letter was not contaminated with anthrax,'' the FBI said a statement issued by its office in Atlanta. ``It is believed that the tests were conducted on a mildew or fungus.'' The substance in the package, which was reportedly sent from Atlanta on Sept. 8 to a Kenyan doctor, was initially tested at Nairobi Hospital, a private hospital where the doctor works. On Oct. 18, Kenyan Health Minister Sam Ongeri told reporters the package had tested positive for anthrax spores. He said the state-run Kenya Medical Research Institute was carrying out a third test to establish which strain of anthrax bacteria was involved. Kenyan health officials were said to be in meetings Wednesday and could not be immediately contacted. The package, which the recipient said was damp on arrival and contained cloth samples, arrived in Nairobi Oct. 9 and was opened two days later ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytaf-10.25.01-00:42:55-26793