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Envelope closes sheriff's station
By JAMIE JONES
© St. Petersburg Times, SPRING HILL -- A Sheriff's Office substation was shut down Thursday shortly before 3 p.m. after a woman brought a suspicious looking envelope into the Forest Oaks Boulevard office. The Sheriff's Office immediately alerted the county's Emergency Management Office, which advised the woman and a clerk working in the office to wash their hands with hot soapy water and asked authorities to triple seal the envelope in a plastic bag. The office was cleaned and expected to reopen Thursday, said Lt. Joe Paez. Mark Tobert of emergency management said the substance would be sent for testing. He said his office continued getting calls Thursday about mysterious powders. "Anything with white powder on it, people are calling about," Tobert said. He said that to evaluate the seriousness of calls, his office asks residents whether they received any threats and whether they would fear the substance under normal circumstances. "Nothing we've tested has come back positive," Tobert said. On Wednesday, a section of Oak Hill Hospital was shut down after a man scheduling an appointment noticed a white substance on his hands. A hazardous waste materials team came from St. Petersburg to decontaminate the man, in his 60s, and five hospital employees. The hospital tested the six people for possible bacteria, said spokeswoman Nancy Kaminski, and results should be available in the next two days. Also Wednesday, an 85-year-old Spring Hill woman called the Sheriff's Office to report finding white powder on the lid of her green garbage can. A deputy "isolated the garbage pail" with crime scene tape. The garbage lid was decontaminated by emergency services, the report said. A 57-year-old Spring Hill man, William Fiorella, called deputies to report receiving a letter he believed might contain anthrax. He saw the letter about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, but didn't open it because he thought it looked suspicious. Fiorella went to church and when he returned home, he had developed a rash on his wrist, according to a Sheriff's Office report. EMS examined his rash and said it wasn't consistent with anthrax exposure. Also this week, James Highburger, 48, who lives on Culbreath Road, told deputies he had been sick for two days with upper respiratory illness. His wife, Sylvia, told deputies that the tissue box he had been using contained about a teaspoon of an unknown white powder. The Hernando County Health Department tested the substance and found it to be bacillus, a type of bacteria that is not typically harmful. Authorities said they will continue investigating calls to ensure everyone is safe.
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From today's Hernando Times |
