The FBI & Orem officials take the threat of terrorism seriously
Yesterday as I was leaving the office, I noticed a fire engine arrive and block off the street to the building next to ours. I didn’t stop to find out what was going on. This morning, however, I found out that it was because employees in a mailroom in that building had found a mysterious white powder in a package.
Apparently one of the employees felt sick, and three employees who had been exposed were taken to the hospital. The area was quaratined, and various emergency services in Orem got to test their procedures for dealing with a possible biological terrorist attack.
Fortunately, the white powder turned out to be neither anthrax nor ricin, and the employees are fine.
Now, here’s the kicker: The package was misdelivered; it was not intended for the building next door, it was intended for my building. For my office. In fact, it was addressed to me — which is why I had messages from the FBI in my voicemail this morning, asking me to call as soon as possible. I called, and the agent wanted to know whether had ordered a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book, and what I knew about the seller. I told him I’d ordered the book through Amazon.com’s marketplace, and other than that I knew nothing about the seller.
So, apparently all this fuss was the result of a misdelivered package. Still, it’s good to know that the FBI and Orem officials are prepared to deal with a threat of this type, should it ever actually happen.
However, I do wonder what I would have done had I opened the package, which I expected, and noticed some sort of white powder. Would I have ignored it, or would I have considered the possibility that it was anthrax? Frankly, at this point I don’t know how I would have reacted.
At least the FBI agent is going to check into how I can get my book back from the CDC.
UPDATE: Changed the link in the first paragraph to a Deseret News story with more information.
UPDATE #2: According to this story, the white powder turned out to be “grounded up packing material.”
UPDATE #3: A wrap-up story from the Deseret News.
My goodness! What a lot of intrigue and drama - glad it turned out to be harmless. You do realize that your FBI file is quite a bit thicker now and your name will have a tickler attached to it forever. I do wonder about the people that got “sick” due to the powder…it’s amazing what people will do to get out of work.
Regarding the people who felt sick, I tend to think that the symptoms were psychosomatic, due to worry about whether they had been exposed, rather than just “faking it” to get out of work. I mean, they ended up having to be decontaminated at the hospital, and I don’t think that was a fun vacation for them.
My comments about the employees trying to get out of work were sarcastic.
You better be careful what you write about now. The men in black will be watching you!
So what was the book?
my question is, what were these folks doing opening YOUR package?
Well, I don’t know why they opened my package when it wasn’t addressed to them, but my guess is that they didn’t notice that until afterwards. They receive enough mail that they actually have a mail room, so they probably just open everything that comes in.
The book was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book.
The book was a Buffy the Vampire Slayer book.
News update from the Deseret News:
After analysis, it was found that the white powder was in fact a very finely ground and specially processed garlic-powder, designed to slay vampires instantly on contact. Reports are that Dracula has left the building and his representatives aren’t returning our phone calls.