Bio-Scare On Queen St. Proves To Be A False Alarm

By Steve Bigham

The nation’s growing anxiety about bioterrorism hit all too close to home last Saturday morning when a woman was seen pouring a strange white substance along Queen Street.

Local, state, and federal officials, including an FBI agent, rushed to the scene and soon discovered the material in question was just baking flour, which had been spread on the ground by a local hiking group.

News that the powder tested negative for anthrax came as a relief to many who had spent a few uneasy hours on Saturday. Unlike most false alarms, however, this one just did not want to go away. The good news in Newtown was followed by reports of real-life anthrax exposures in other parts of the country. Anthrax was discovered at the studios of NBC, ABC, and the offices of US Senator Tom Daeschle and New York Governor George Pataki. There were also numerous other false alarms as the nation found itself in a state of high anxiety.

At 10:30 am Saturday, police responded to the report of a woman dispensing some sort of white substance from a bag at Fairfield Hills, along Queen Street near the middle school and the SNET building. There were also markings found behind St Rose School and along Elm Drive.

Fearing the worst, officials acted quickly to isolate the substance and clear the scene, although the area was not evacuated. Merryhill Children’s Center on Queen Street was having a fair at the time, and most of the people left the scene once the nature of the fears of local officials became known. The mysterious woman was never found.

Officials from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) responded, as did state police, Newtown Hook & Ladder Volunteer Fire Company, and one agent from the FBI. Health District Director Mark Cooper and First Selectman Herb Rosenthal were also at the scene, as was Police Chief Mike Kehoe. Queen Street was closed for nearly five hours.

“We treated the area as a crime scene,” Chief Kehoe explained.

DEP officials wearing full-body protective suits removed the substance, which was transported to a state lab in Hartford for testing. The area was decontaminated with a chlorine bleach solution.

The public’s awareness of the possibility of a terrorist act has been heightened in recent weeks and a passerby called police after spotting a woman dispensing of the substance from a bag.

“This would have been an incident that probably would have gone unnoticed before September 11,” Chief Kehoe said. The incident was still under investigation earlier this week and Chief Kehoe refused to rule out the possibility of any arrests.

“I wish [the hiking group] had told us what they were doing. I would say we certainly did expend a lot of time and effort,” he said.

A representative of the hiking group contacted police on Sunday to explain that the flour was being used to mark a trail for a hike that was scheduled to take place Saturday afternoon.

Mr Rosenthal commended the efforts of all those who responded, saying they did a fine job.

At the time of the incident, youth sports activities were taking place at the middle school and Fairfield Hills. Town officials did not evacuate those areas and told parents they felt confident there was no risk of injury. Most residents of the area stayed in their homes, and there were no reports of any panic.

The overall cost for the response and cleanup is expected to reach as high as $20,000, according to police. There is no word yet on who will foot the bill.

Newtown police are trained in how to deal with hazardous material situations each year. Police who responded first to the scene were officers Michael Edis, William Hull, Thomas Fitzsimmons, Sgt Doug Wisentaner and Sgt John Cole.