Tuesday, October 16, 2001
Bioterror a threat at the doorstep
Postal Service, offices taking precautions
By John Eckberg and Earnest Winston
The Cincinnati Enquirer
International bioterrorism and a far-flung war seemed as close Monday as the office mail slots or the driveway mailbox.
In workplaces across the Tristate, from the U.S. Postal Service to suburban schools, from big corporations to car dealerships to professional sports teams, employees who handle mail were taking extra precautions after public health officials discovered anthrax, apparently delivered in letters, in three states and Washington, D.C.
And the wariness wasn't only in workplaces.
Patty Mikesell eyed return addresses as she picked up her mail at the Monroe post office.
“I want to make sure it's the normal stuff. I think everyone's handling it differently. Everybody's really nervous,” she said.
Latex glove sales were brisk locally — indicating that was one step many people were taking.
At The Home Depot store in suburban West Chester, for example, sales associate Matt Smith said the store had sold about 30 boxes of latex gloves, about twice as many as usual, in the past week.
On the front line were the thousands of postal employees charged with delivering mail.
“We have been having all sorts of safety talks with our employees. After this past weekend, we really stepped it up,” said Bonnie Manies, a Cincinnati district spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service. She said about 5 percent of the employees were wearing gloves and masks on Monday.
Concerns about security hampered more than the Postal Service.
Personal Courier, a Westwood courier company that employs 18, said operations are now sometimes slowed as security personnel double-check couriers.
“We are paying attention to what they are saying on TV and being vigilant,” reported Dan MacConnell, vice president of Thomson-MacConnell Cadillac Inc.,
an automobile agency in Walnut Hills. “Any suspicious-looking thing raises a red flag. In the past, we wouldn't have thought twice about it. We are paying attention to postmarks and addresses.”
Precautions were being taken at large businesses as well, although none reported any problems and officials were tight-lipped about new measures.
Fifth Third Bank processes tens of millions of pieces of mail each year at its Cincinnati headquarters.
“We're advising employees to be cautious and not panic,” said Stacie Yee, a bank spokeswoman.
Mailroom procedures were being reviewed at Fifth Third, Ms. Yee said.
Similar reviews were being made at Ohio Casualty Co. and Procter & Gamble Co. P&G also was retraining employees to make sure security is up to par, spokeswoman Linda Ulrey said, without providing specifics.
At Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America Inc. in Mason, Matthew Rosen, director of human resources, said employees in the mailroom are checking for “postmarks and looking for anything that might be suspicious. Also, we're going to be using gloves to open it up.”
Reds spokesman Rob Butcher said the team's mailroom supervisor has begun wearing latex gloves when opening mail, and the supervisor also sent an e-mail Monday morning cau tioning employees to be on alert for suspicious packages.
“To me, it's going to get to the point where if there's not a return address on it and you don't know what it is, you're not going to open it,” Mr. Butcher said.
Jack Brennan, public relations director for the Cincinnati Bengals, said the team has been taking additional security measures, coordinating with the NFL Security Office.
The new precautions also applied to Tristate schools.
In the Princeton Schools, administrators said employees were told Monday to be more cautious when opening mail than they would have been a month ago, said Sharon Oakes, director of communications.
“We're in education. It's our job to educate our (staff),” Ms. Oakes said. “We want to give them information.”
In the Lakota Schools, information from the Postal Service's Web site on what to do with suspicious-looking mail was sent to all buildings as a precaution, said Jon Weidlich, the district's director of school and community relations.
Employees at Planned Parenthood offices across Greater Cincinnati, where threatening mail has been received in the past, are on a heightened state of alert, but have not changed their mail-handling policies.
“We changed our policies a couple of years ago in response to a hoax letter,” said Susan Momeyer, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.
“So we have not had to change anything recently,” she said. “We just are very, very careful in reviewing every item that comes through the mail and we make decisions based on a checklist from the FBI about what we will even open.”
Steve Kemme, Richelle Thompson, Cliff Peale, Terry Flynn, Jeff McKinney and Marta Roberts contributed, as did Enquirer contributors David Eck and Sue Kiesewetter.
SPECIAL ATTACK COVERAGE
Bioterror a threat at the doorstep
Anthrax scare wasn't funny to employer
Scare at Sharonville mail center
Scares scramble emergency squads
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Airport tries to cope with parking problems
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Commission considers loan fund
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State tax increases possible
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Kentucky Digest
New jail may oust agencies
Politics blamed for fund loss
Kentucky quarter draws interest
Rifle barrage hits cruiser
