Who knew what when: St. Petersburg's anthrax scare

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 16, 2001

Friday

9 A.M.: Postal inspector Andrew Balkin provides training to 35 city employees who handle mail, telling them what to look for, how to handle it, what to do in the event of something suspicious. The training was scheduled before St. Petersburg's anthrax scare.

SHORTLY AFTER 5 P.M.: St. Petersburg police Chief Mack Vines learns that letters sent to NBC News and the New York Times carried St. Petersburg postmarks. The news comes almost simultaneously from a St. Petersburg Times reporter and two of Vines' detectives.

5:30 P.M.: First Deputy Mayor Tish Elston gets a call from Vines, who informs her about the two letters from St. Petersburg. Mayor Rick Baker walks into Elston's office and learns of the St. Petersburg connection.

6 P.M. David Bilodeau, Pinellas emergency management director, at his second home in Brooksville, finds out about St. Petersburg connection from CNN.

7:30 P.M. Baker and City Council member James Bennett are at a dinner at the Isla del Sol clubhouse with Isla del Sol residents. Baker and Bennett talk about the potential threat.

8 P.M. City Council member Virginia Littrell learns while watching NBC Dateline that a letter sent to Brokaw's assistant had a St. Petersburg postmark and the assistant had been diagnosed with anthrax. She calls Elston.

8:30 P.M. Elston calls Vines and reports back to Littrell that Vines has been in touch with the FBI. Vines tells Elston that federal authorities have run tests and they came back negative.

Saturday

12:30 P.M.: Elston talks to Vines again for an update. There is no new information. City officials are in contact with federal authorities on a regular basis.

1:30 P.M. Baker and other city dignitaries attend the opening of the Wildwood Recreation Center at 1000 28th St. S.

1:45 P.M. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani tells a news conference that the letters postmarked from St. Petersburg do not contain anthrax. An NBC News employee who was exposed to anthrax got it from a separate letter with a Trenton, N.J., postmark.

Sunday

EVENING: Vines calls all council members to give them the all clear. None of the St. Petersburg letters actually had anthrax on them.

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