Anthrax Threat Closes Ala. Clinic

10:22 PM ET 01/03/00

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - An abortion clinic where a bomb killed a security guard in 1998 was evacuated Monday following a claim that an anthrax-laced letter was delivered with the day's mail. Other clinics and offices around the nation received similar threats Monday, the latest in a series that date back several years. Some of the letters were determined to be hoaxes while testing continued on others.

The New Woman All Women Heath Care Clinic contacted authorities after receiving a fax informing them of the threat. Police confiscated the letter, which had not been opened, said Lt. Moody Duff.

Duff said all but two employees were evacuated from the building while federal investigators analyzed the letter to determine if it was filled with the deadly bacteria.

An off-duty police officer was killed and a nurse severely injured when the clinic was bombed in January 1998. Suspected serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph has been charged with the bombing, but has not been captured.

Anthrax is an acute infectious disease that can strike animals and people. Deaths are rare with appropriate treatment. Among the other locations involved were the Planned Parenthood clinics in Providence, R.I., Manchester, Conn., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Naples, Fla., and a government unemployment office in Immokalee, Fla. Tests on the Connecticut letter found it was not contaminated, and the FBI called the Indiana threat a hoax. It was not known if the other letters truly contained anthrax.

FBI agent Doug Garrison said the threatening letter will be sent to the FBI lab in Washington. ``We'll process this thing for evidentiary value because there may be fingerprints or something,'' Garrison said.

Char Wendel, the executive director of the Planned Parenthood office in Naples, Fla., said the typewritten letter said: ``You've been exposed to anthrax. You're going to die in less than 24 hours. We need to get rid of you. We're sorry.''

Sporadic threats of contamination with the potentially lethal anthrax date back several years. The FBI said a spate of letters last year contained a sticky substance or dark powder and the ominous warning: You've been contaminated by anthrax. The letters have been received in almost every region of the nation. They often arrive in bunches, at 10 or 15 similar targets in a city. The targets have been varied: Abortion clinics, Catholic schools, nightclubs, department stores, hospitals, post offices, courthouses, news media offices, FBI offices and even the Old Executive Office Building beside the White House.

 TOP