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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, October 25, 2001

The September 11th attack
Local anthrax calls decrease

 •  Notification, testing issues emerge from anthrax scare
 •  Special report: Anthrax: Fighting the fear

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Calls of suspicious mail or substances to the Honolulu Fire Department yesterday dropped from a day earlier.

Yesterday, HFD responded to 17 calls as of 9 p.m., compared with 26 Tuesday. None turned up any anthrax or other hazardous substance, HFD Capt. Richard Soo said.

But Soo said residents have begun taking suspicious packages to their neighborhood fire station, and he asked that people leave the item where they found it and call 911.

"The system is working, but the system starts at the place of discovery," Soo said. "The system doesn't start when you discover it and then you transport to the nearest fire station. That's the complete worst thing to do."

Also yesterday, the administrative office at Mokapu Elementary School was closed after an envelope containing an unidentified substance was received at the school. Mokapu Elementary is a public school on Marine Corps Base Hawai'i at Kane'ohe Bay.

One school employee touched the envelope, but no children were exposed to the substance.

The envelope was sent for analysis to a Navy laboratory at Pearl Harbor, but the results were not available last night. As a result, the administrative office will remain closed today, but school will be in session, said Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen.