Two cases of anthrax scares have been reported at the University in the past week. Both instances involved individuals who were suspicious of materials they had received through the mail.
On Wednesday around 4:30 p.m., the Department of Public Safety received a call from Laurie Beans, associate director of the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies, with concerns of a suspicious package. DPS officers responded to the scene immediately. The Metropolitan Police Department also responded to the scene.
Jason Wisniewski, Administrative Officer of CERES, said that the package included a letter requesting a brochure from the center. Wisniewski said that Beans, who opened the letter, thought that she felt an powder-like substance with “an unusual texture” when handling the letter and decided to alert DPS.
Wisniewski said that the package had a printed label that was addressed generally to the center. He added that the return address matched the postmark on the envelope.
Wisniewski said that DPS and MPD concluded that there was no cause for concern.
Another incident occurred in the Harbin dormitory on Monday around 4 p.m. Harbin hall director Thom Dancer said that Bryan Hughes (MSB ‘05) received a letter in the mail from a return address that he did not recognize. Hughes asked resident assistant Tammy Wegman (MSB ‘02), who was also in the Harbin mailroom at the time, what he should do. Hughes and Wegman decided to alert DPS.
“The letter was addressed to someone who had lived there the year before or two years before,” Dancer said.
He said that the return address was from a non-profit organization that the student did not recognize.
“DPS responded and then they called [MPD] … When they looked at it they decided that it probably isn’t anything,” Dancer said.
He said that the letter in question is now in the possession of MPD.
Director of Public Safety William Tucker denied on Wednesday afternoon that there have been any suspicions of anthrax at the University.
“No, there have not [been any incidents]. I wouldn’t consider this anthrax,” Tucker said.
Tucker said that there had been one off-campus student who reported that he was suspicious of a package of books that he had received in the mail.
“There was nothing in it. [He called DPS] just because he had a sore throat and flu … he went to the hospital [and] we made a personal illness report,” Tucker said.
“The University is not worried about it … we’re just preparing so that we can respond to it,” Tucker said.
Lt. Brian Bray of MPD District 2E confirmed that at least two incidents of anthrax warnings have occurred at Georgetown in the past week. “There was nothing to worry about in either case,” he said.
Bray said that MPD was called again to investigate at the Georgetown hospital on Wednesday evening. He said that there was no cause for concern in this case either.
Bray said that MPD has been receiving 200 to 300 calls a day since Sept. 11 concerning suspicious materials that individuals receive through the mail. He said that he believed that only two of these calls so far?both of which concerned a package received in the office of Senator Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), have proven to be valid.
“People are just hallucinating things,” Bray said. “We’re spending all our resources on suspicious packages … our officers are getting a little ticked off,” he said.
Bray said that the standard procedure for responding to calls on suspicions of anthrax are for an officer unit to be sent to the scene to investigate. The joint anti-terrorist task force between the FBI and MPD is then notified investigates further if there is valid evidence of any biological or chemical substance.
