From: believer@telepath.com Subject: IP: More clinics receive "anthrax" letters as authorities await results Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 19:17:26 -0600 To: believer@telepath.com Source: Fox News - AP More clinics receive letters as authorities await results 8.00 p.m. ET (101 GMT) October 31, 1998 By Susanna Ray, Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Federal marshals stood watch Saturday over an abortion clinic that received a letter claiming, "You have just been exposed to anthrax.'' Authorities meanwhile awaited results of tests on the envelope's contents. The Planned Parenthood clinic was one of five clinics that received envelopes Friday containing a brown, powdery substance and threatening notes. The others were in the southern Indiana town of New Albany, Knoxville, Tenn., and two in Louisville, Ky. On Saturday, two other clinics one in Wichita, Kan., and another in Louisville reported receiving similar letters. Authorities said the letter to the Wichita clinic was postmarked in Cincinnati, just like the ones sent to at least four other clinics. Pat Bashore of the FBI in Louisville said he did not know the origin of two of the Louisville letters. In Wichita, an employee called the fire department, which contacted federal authorities. FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said the envelope wasn't opened but "looking at it through backlighting, it doesn't appear to contain anything at all.'' The clinic was evacuated for about 45 minutes. Friday's incident at the Indianapolis clinic prompted police to decontaminate 31 people who were scrubbed down and treated with antibiotics at hospitals as a precaution. Two people from a Louisville clinic also were treated at the hospital Friday. Preliminary tests on the contents of the New Albany envelope and one from Louisville were negative for anthrax, a strain of bacteria that can be used as a biological weapon. Contents of a letter sent to the Knoxville Reproductive Health Center will be sent to a lab for testing, the FBI said. Results of testing in the Indianapolis case had not been completed Saturday, FBI agent Doug Garrison said. Michael Smith, who lives in an apartment near the Indianapolis clinic, said he's opposed to abortion, but now is scared about what anti-abortion extremists might do next. "You're automatically wondering what chemicals went off. I mean, my window's open. ... I feel endangered,'' he said. Meanwhile, a Newsweek poll found that 60 percent of Americans believe the anti-abortion movement has to share at least some of the blame for recent violence against abortion provides. Fears of violent attacks against abortion providers were heightened Oct. 23 when a sniper fatally shot a doctor who performs abortions near Buffalo. Thirty-three percent of those responding said the anti-abortion movement is indirectly connected to the violence because of statements that encourage violence. Another 27 percent believed there is a more direct connection, the Newsweek poll said. The survey also found that 51 percent of Americans sympathize with abortion-rights efforts and 39 percent back the anti-abortion effort. The poll appears in the Nov. 9 issue of the magazine, which is on newsstands Monday. Its margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. © 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************