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Anthrax Building Cleanup Stalled by Tabloid Photos; Congress Proposes D.C. Mail Irradiation Center
The completion of cleanup at the former Florida headquarters of a supermarket tabloid publisher that received tainted mail during the 2001 anthrax attacks is being delayed by photographs of Bat Boy and other tabloid staples, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 13). Attorneys for several photographers have informed cleanup contractor Bio-ONE that David Rustine’s $40,000 purchase of the Boca Raton site and its contents did not include boxes of pictures kept in the building. The attorneys said that Rustine has no authority to destroy the photographs — including images of Elvis in his coffin and alien kidnappings — which appeared in publications such as the Weekly World News, Star and National Enquirer. No one is willing to pay Bio-ONE to decontaminate the files in the boxes, which is costlier than simply destroying the boxes, said Bio-ONE Chairman John Mason. The presence of the boxes would also prevent authorities from lifting a quarantine placed on the building in the wake of the anthrax attacks. “We can only do that for someone that has true ownership,” said Karen Cavanagh, Bio-ONE’s chief operating officer and general counsel. However, Bio-ONE officials said they still plan to move into the building before the end of the year (Associated Press/ABC Action News, Dec. 9). Meanwhile, Congress has allocated $507 million for a mail irradiation building to be located at Washington, D.C.’s Brentwood postal facility, site of two anthrax-related deaths in 2001, AP reported. The new facility would speed delivery time for mail sent to federal agencies in Washington, which has been rerouted to New Jersey for irradiation ever since the 2001 attacks. “Right now, for government mail, the delivery time is extended by 48 hours,” said U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Deborah Yackley. The agency hopes to open the facility in 2006, Yackley said (Associated Press, Dec. 8).
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