Package scare triggers memories of anthrax

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Postal workers who returned to work Saturday said a package that ignited at a government mail facility conjured painful memories of the anthrax attacks that killed two of their colleagues in 2001.

The fiery package found Friday, which was addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, followed two packages that ignited Thursday in Maryland state-government mailrooms. It halted government mail until bomb-sniffing dogs could sweep the D.C. facility.

Mail processing resumed Saturday morning after a meeting with workers, the local postmaster and the workers union.

Postal-workers union President Dena Briscoe said that the meeting was helpful but that the fiery package worried many employees. She said most of the postal workers also were sorting D.C. mail back in 2001, when letters containing anthrax were sent to lawmakers and news organizations as the nation was still reeling from the 9/11 attacks.

“One of the ladies was crying because these episodes are bringing those feelings and those emotions and those memories back,” Briscoe said.

When the popping and smoking package was discovered Friday, Postal Service managers failed to follow proper safety procedures, Briscoe said.

The evacuation process was “very sloppy,” she said, because workers in the back of the building had no idea they were supposed to evacuate. Managers should have made an announcement on the public-address system, she said.

Helen Lewis, a mail- processing clerk at the D.C. facility, said co-workers told her management had trouble deciding whether to evacuate the building and wanted to wait for postal inspectors or police to decide. A worker ended up flagging down a police car, and workers said police evacuated the building.