14 Governors Receive Mail That's Rigged With Matches

[R. A. Hettinga]

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/11/national/11letters.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=>

The New York Times

September 11, 2004

14 Governors Receive Mail That's Rigged With Matches
By FOX BUTTERFIELD

OSTON, Sept. 10 - Envelopes containing matches that were rigged to ignite
when opened have been received through the mail at the offices of at least
14 state governors in the last two days.

The mailings, under investigation by the F.B.I. and the Department of
Homeland Security, bear a return address that names two inmates at a
maximum-security prison in Nevada. But a Nevada corrections official said
it was unclear whether they were the actual senders.

 Aides to several governors, including Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, said
they had been told by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the case was
being treated as one of domestic terrorism, and Jennifer Meith, a
spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Fire Marshal's Office, said that was her
understanding as well.

But spokesmen for the bureau declined to comment on a current
investigation, although one of them, Joe Parris, said in Washington, "Cases
of this nature are generally handled by the local domestic terrorism
squads'' - that is, the joint terrorism task forces set up by the F.B.I. in
cities across the country.

 Because of the Nevada connection, the case is being handled by the
bureau's office in Las Vegas, Mr. Parris said.

 No one has been injured, although 23 staff members in the office of Gov.
Judy Martz of Montana were evacuated on Thursday after one of them opened
the envelope sent there. It ignited briefly and then petered out, said
Chuck Butler, a spokesman for Governor Martz.

Not all the envelopes have been opened. Once warnings about them began to
spread, some were kept unopened, to be turned over to investigators.

 The envelopes are of a plain white business type. Each of those that have
been opened contained a blank piece of paper. Matches were attached in such
a way that opening the envelope could cause them to ignite, aides to the
governors said. Each bore a return address from the Ely State Prison in
eastern Nevada.

 Glen Whorton, assistant director of the Nevada Corrections Department,
said the two inmates at the Ely prison whose names were given in the return
address had been questioned.

 But, Mr. Whorton said, investigators are not sure whether the inmates,
whom he declined to identify, were the senders or whether their names were
put on the envelopes by someone else, either inside or outside the prison.

"We're not assuming the names on the envelopes are simply the end of the
matter,'' he said.

The governors who were sent the envelopes are Democrats and Republicans
alike. In addition to Mr. Romney, of Massachusetts, and Ms. Martz, of
Montana, they are George E. Pataki of New York, Rick Perry of Texas, Dirk
Kempthorne of Idaho, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Gary Locke of Washington,
Olene S. Walker of Utah, Bill Owens of Colorado, Theodore R. Kulongoski of
Oregon, Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, Kenny Guinn of Nevada, Linda Lingle of
Hawaii and Janet Napolitano of Arizona.

One of the mailings was also sent to Jackie Crawford, the Nevada
corrections director, at his Carson City office. The aide who opened the
envelope was surprised but not hurt when a match ignited as she pulled out
a blank sheet of paper, Mr. Whorton said.


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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
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