Sunday, March 6, 2011

Who Sent the White Powder to Stevens Hall?


Authorities have so far only announced that it was a female staff member working in Stevens Hall who mailed the letter--a letter filled with white powder and hate. Our sources have speculated it was a Sociology prof who received the letter, but no names have been mentioned. We seriously doubt the substance was harmful. Here's the take of Mary Carton, a microbiologist who works at a local hospital.

  1. The chances that the white powder contained Bacillus antracis spores the bacteria that causes anthrax is virtually zero. Any stocks that are available are highly regulated and hard to get. I’ve learned over the years not to say impossible as anything is possible at some point.
  2. Local hospitals don’t keep anthrax in the lab, and training at the state lab training is done with non-infectious bacteria that are similar in biochemical and growth characteristics.
  3. The hospital I work at keeps the doors to Microbiology locked to prevent other bacteria causing infectious diseases from walking off with unauthorized personnel.
  4. A greater possibility is that the powder cause be some sort of hazardous chemical. In either case the hazmat team has to come out in their suits, strip those involved down, and dispose of everything. The entire room has to be totally disinfected and cleaned at great costs for the whole process to the tax payers, not to mention the expense of replacing personal items and clothing also.
  5. What was intended as something to scare and get back at the person the letter was sent to will be the last stupid stunt done for a while. The FBI and Postal Service are involved and this person when caught and they will be caught, will be put under the jail for a while for a terrorist threat.
  6. Classes for the remainder of the day and night had to be cancelled in the building because of this.
  7. The victims will have to worry for a couple of weeks about inhalation anthrax from the powder.


Shoalanda