Letter contains powdery substance

By ED TIBBETTS/ QUAD-CITY TIMES | Tuesday, April 09, 2002

Two John Deere Health Care employees were being tested and a part of the company's offices in downtown Moline were cordoned off Monday after a nurse opened an envelope that contained a powdery substance.

Moline Fire Department Capt. Mike Welch said the department's hazardous materials team, as well as specialists from Arsenal Island, responded to the incident about 11:30 a.m.

Nobody reported any signs of ill health, and only a portion of the third floor in the company's building at 1300 River Drive was sealed off. Still, nasal swabs were taken of two employees and sent out for tests. The envelope was being tested as well.

The envelope originally had been sent to a Deere Health Care office in Virginia, which had been closed. It then was routed by interoffice mail to a Deere office in Tennessee and eventually was sent to the Deere Health Care corporate headquarters, said Ken Golden, a company spokesman. He said the employees followed company's procedures that were developed after a spate of anthrax scares last year.

Welch said the envelope had been in the company's possession for several weeks. It did not appear to have any suspicious characteristics, he added. The employees, both women, went home, changed clothes and showered, he said.

The disruption lasted only a couple of hours.

The FBI was notified of the incident, Welch said.

Ed Tibbetts can be contacted (563) 383-2327 or etibbetts@qctimes.com.