America Strikes Back: Notebook

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 24, 2001

Poll: Non-Sept. 11 charities should expect less

WASHINGTON -- About one-fourth of the Americans who say they gave to charities for victims of the Sept. 11 attacks plan to stop giving or give less to other charities this year, according to a national poll released Tuesday.

About 58 percent of the 1,009 adults telephoned Oct. 5-8 by Wirthlin Worldwide said they had given money to a charity in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. An additional 12 percent said they gave blood, time or something else other than cash.

More ominously for the thousands of small, local nonprofits that live from hand to mouth, 48 percent of respondents said they would "stop," "greatly reduce" or "somewhat reduce" their giving in the next six months if the economy continues to decline.

Independent Sector, a Washington-based association of more than 700 foundations, corporate givers and national nonprofit groups, sponsored the poll. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 points for all respondents, and 3.7 points for the givers.

Ex-President Bush says why he's lying low

ISLAMORADA -- Former President George Bush said Tuesday that he is proud of his son's efforts to combat terrorism and that he has avoided the spotlight so he won't complicate the president's work.

"I think the country saw a man who is in charge, wants to do what's right. Wants to do it in a just manner," Bush told CBS News' The Early Show. "He does not want to hurt innocent people in the process but is determined to root out this terror."

The former president said has avoided interviews with reporters because he doesn't want to complicate his son's job.

"If I deviated from something, unknowingly, they'd rush down there at those press conferences and say: "Mr. President, your nutty father over here is saying this and that,' " Bush said.

Bush made the remarks while in Florida, where he was taking part in a charity fishing tournament.

PR campaign considered for Arabs, Muslims

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, fearing that it might lose the public relations war in Muslim and Arab nations to Osama bin Laden, is turning to Madison Avenue for help.

The State Department is talking to the Advertising Council, a New York nonprofit group that develops advertising strategies for national causes, about crafting a "public diplomacy" campaign on the military action in Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.

Overseeing those talks is Charlotte Beers, the new undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and a former J. Walter Thompson advertising executive who started in the industry marketing Uncle Ben's Rice. She was named to the post early in the administration and sworn in Oct. 2.

In security . . .

NATIONAL GUARD AT AIRPORTS: Responding to a call for better use of National Guard troops at airports, federal officials have broadened their duties to include patrolling airport perimeters and parking areas, the Transportation Department said Tuesday.

The lower-profile -- but possibly more productive -- duties were authorized by Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and will be performed in conjunction with keeping watch at passenger screening checkpoints.

BUILDING VENTILATION: The FBI has warned local law enforcement officials about terrorist attacks in which chemicals could be released into heating and air conditioning systems of office buildings, Hearst Newspapers reported, quoting an unnamed FBI official as saying Tuesday.

The official, who asked not to be identified, told Hearst that the warning wasn't instigated by any threat to a particular building.

The FBI warning prompted a building managers trade group, the Building Owners and Managers Association International, to alert its members about the threat.

The trade group's alert said the release "of a toxic chemical into an air handling system is a credible threat because toxic chemicals are readily available in quantities and in forms making them easy to disperse." The group warned its members to step up security around air intakes.

SECURITY COMPANY DEAL: A company that allegedly hired criminals to staff security checkpoints at Philadelphia International Airport told a federal judge Tuesday that it wants the authority to fingerprint its employees nationwide.

Lawyers for Argenbright Security Inc. of Atlanta said the company favors a Federal Aviation Administration plan to require criminal background checks of all airport employees with access to restricted areas. The FAA plan requires congressional approval.

U.S. District Judge Marvin Katz on Tuesday approved a settlement of charges that Argenbright hired criminals to run security checkpoints in Philadelphia.

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