MONROE — The Monroe post office was abruptly closed Thursday and mail delivery from the office suspended after an unknown powder was found there.

CARRIER TESTED

A Cincinnati-area postal employee is being tested for anthrax.     A letter carrier from the Symmes post office on Fields-Ertel Road in Symmes Township reported flu-like symptoms and a rash, said Bonnie Manies, Cincinnati district spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service.     “The only reason he is being tested is because he is a postal employee,” she said.     The letter carrier has not been identified.     The letter carrier entered a Northern Kentucky hospital for tests Thursday, she said.     Test results take 48 hours.

        But the powder turned out to be harmless, the post office will reopen and mail delivery will resume today. No workers will be tested.

        “A customer found white powder on a letter and a carrier actually found white powder on his shirt,” said Bonnie Manies, a Cincinnati district spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service. “They took samples of that and sent it to the department of health in Columbus.”

        The customer had retrieved the suspicious letter from a post office box, Mrs. Manies said.

        The substance was found midmorning, prompting postal officials to call Monroe mail carriers off their routes and close the office on Cincinnati-Dayton Road (Main Street) in the heart of Monroe.

        All employees at the office were sent home, and the parking lot of the post office was cordoned off with yellow caution tape.

        Tests on the substance revealed later Thursday that it was not harmful, but officials did not know what it was.

        The post office serves 2,962 homes and businesses in the Monroe area, Mrs. Manies said. Most of the area didn't receive mail Thursday because carriers had been on their routes a short time when they were recalled.

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