Updated at 11:35 a.m., Monday, October 15, 2001
White powder discoveries spawning fear in Hawai'i
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Post offices in Kailua on O'ahu, Lihu'e on Kaua'i and Kamuela on the Big Island were temporarily closed today as suspicious packages were checked out by officials who continued to respond today to calls from a nervous public. The post office packages turned out to be a mass mailing from a nonprofit organization called "Campus Crusade for Christ" of Lynchburg, Va. that used a different wrapping than normal, said Felice Broglio of the U.S. Postal Service. The post offices were reopened a short time later.
"People need to know it's not necessary to panic," Broglio said. "Some of what is on the mail is just dirt and dust." The Fire Department's Hazardous Materials Unit, meanwhile, responded today to a public housing complex on Lanakila Avenue after a resident reported a white powdery substance spilling out of an envelope. The substance has been sent to lab testing.
John Cummings of O'ahu Civil Defense said Emergency Operating Center responded to 24 cases from Friday through midnight yesterday. Samples were taken for testing in 11 cases and all proved negative.
The white powder found at the main post office over the weekend turned out to be a fire retardant, said Bill Perry of the state's Hazardous Evaluation & Emergency Response office. Cummings noted that one substance at an airport was candy powder.
For the most part, heightened public awareness is keeping emergency personnel busy. "One of the calls was from a lady who receivwed a suspicious package that turned out to be panty hose," Cummings said. "Another was from someone who bought potatoes at a supermarket and found the bag untied and suspected tampering."
White powder found at airports and in Hawai'i homes continued to frighten residents but none of the substances was determined to be dangerous.
Sections of Honolulu International Airport were sealed off and police and firefighters were kept busy after calls about suspicious packages and white powdery substances.
Mayor Jeremy Harris, flanked by Honolulu's police and fire chiefs, stood before TV news cameras yesterday afternoon at Honolulu Hale and asked people to remain calm.
"Folks, we need to go about our daily lives," Harris said. "We can't afford to be debilitated with fear."
Meanwhile, a United Airlines flight was scheduled to return to Los Angeles yesterday afternoon after an unscheduled overnight stop at Lihu'e Airport on Kaua'i, where the aircraft was decontaminated after two passengers reported finding a mysterious white powder on their luggage.
Kaua'i County hazardous material and fire units responded to the airport at Lihu'e and isolated the bags, while the State Health Department took control of, and used decontaminants on, the area through yesterday.
Air operations continued as normal despite the incidents, Paik said.
Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo said HFD had nine calls yesterday related to suspected biological and chemical threats.
About 3 p.m., two clerks moving a tray of letters at the main post office station at the airport saw white powder coming out of the tray. The area was secured so the material could be retrieved and analyzed.
Earlier, firefighters assisted a 24-year-old Papipi Street woman in 'Ewa Beach who said she had become ill on Friday and had gotten progressively worse since.
She said she feared a chemical or biological cause. She was taken to St. Francis West Medical Center for evaluation.
There was another white-powder scare at One Keahole Street in Hawai'i Kai until it was determined that a resident of the condominium apartment building at that address had thrown away some flour in the trash chute.
Advertiser staff writers Karen Blakeman and Walter Wright contributed to this report.
