Terrorist threats come to Hawaii

By Ed Rampell

Terrorist threats have come to Hawaii. On February 22, a letter sent to a female doctor’s office contained a note claiming that the pow der inside the envelope was anthrax, a deadly chemical agent. State and Federal authorities were notified, and the Ala Moana Building, which is located near Hawaii’s largest shopping mall, was entirely evacuated. The Republic of the Marshall Islands used to have its consular offices located in

this building.

Firemen dressed in protective garb decontaminated six people, including the receptionist who opened the letter, and the

mailman who delivered it. Authorities determined that the letter was a hoax and that the substance inside was not lethal.

An agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation stated that the doctor’s office where the letter was sent used to be a Family Planning office. The FBI man said the envelope had a postmark from the US state of Kentucky. According to the FBI, a number of similar letters with anthrax hoax es have been sent to women’s reproductive centers and abortion clinics throughout America. Many of these envelopes bore a

Lexington, Kentucky postmark.

Another terrorist threat took place the next day, on February 24, at Chinatown, in Downtown Honolulu. The Department of Motor Vehicles received a letter with its address, taken from one of the Department’s

old envelopes, cut out and pasted on top of another envelope. The words “Dirty politi cians” and “Jew” was also put on top of the second envelope. Inside was what appeared to be a small packet of salt, such as the kind found in restaurants.

The authorities again evacuated the

building, inconveniencing hundreds and

interfering with business. Once more, the FBI and others determined that the packet did not contain anthrax. The FBI believes that this second terrorist threat is a “copy cat” of the first one, which appears to be part of a national campaign against abortion and reproductive rights.

Although the anthrax scares turned out to be bogus, authorities and the media are saying that terrorism has now reached the shores of the Aloha State. ■