Seattle post office on alert, still moving mail

The people who move Seattle's mail were put on guard yesterday by reports of anthrax-contaminated letters but said it is unlikely the scare will slow the daily river of mail.

"People who use the mail still have to pay their bills and that sort of thing. I can't see there being too much of a change," especially with the Christmas holiday coming up, said Ernie Swanson, customer-relations coordinator for the Seattle branch of the U.S. Postal Service.

Handling suspicious mail Watch for: • Unexpected mail from unfamiliar people. • Mail addressed to someone no longer at the address or with an address that is too specific or not specific enough. • Items without a return address, or a return address that does not match the postmark. • Heavy, lopsided or oddly shaped mail. • Restrictive endorsements such as "personal," "confidential" or "open by this addressee only." • Protruding wires, stains or strange odors. When opening mail: • Minimize contact by cutting mail open, not ripping it. • Think ahead. Know who you would contact and what you would do if you opened suspicious mail. • Have emergency numbers handy. If mail is suspicious: • Don't open it, smell it or taste it. • Put the item down gently, get away, keep others away from it and note who has been near it. • Put the clothes you were wearing in a plastic bag. • Wash hands vigorously and carefully. • Call 911. *Sources: U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft; Kenneth Newman, deputy chief inspector of investigations for the U.S. Postal Service; Dr. Barbara Seiders, manager of the chemical and biological defense program at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The service, which delivers 650 million pieces of mail a day, 6 million to 8 million in Seattle alone, has asked employees to be more vigilant about potentially harmful mail but has not implemented additional precautions, Swanson said. Security measures are already in place to protect employees from mail that may include chemicals or biological agents such as anthrax, he said.

Federal officials, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, have urged Americans to be careful opening mail after an NBC News employee in New York contracted the disease. The worker's infection came after three employees of American Media were exposed to anthrax.

If one of the 3,000 or so Seattle area postal-service employees who handle mail notices a suspicious envelope or package, he or she is instructed to put the package aside and tell a supervisor, who then calls 911 and notifies the Postal Inspection Service.

While the Post Office will X-ray suspicious packages or envelopes, "We're not in a position to X-ray everything that comes along," Swanson said. "I don't think that's called for, nor do we have the equipment or manpower to do that, and we would significantly slow down the mail system."

Some local mailrooms have similar precautions in effect and those changing their procedures were generally mum.

Boeing already had its 50 mailroom employees on the lookout for suspicious activities or packages. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the company has stepped up security around its Everett and Renton plants with measures such as inspection of delivery trucks at additional checkpoints.

"The recent events that we've seen around the country obviously increase our vigilance," said Boeing spokesman Dean Tougas.

The company already has teams of firefighters and emergency medical technicians at area facilities to respond to biological or chemical hazards.

The Seattle Times, whose four mailroom staff members handle more than a million bill payments and letters a year, as well as thousands of packages, yesterday provided latex gloves to employees concerned about handling mail. Employees were told to contact their physicians if they thought they might have been in contact with anthrax or had flu-like symptoms. Employees were urged to call 911 and company security if they spotted suspicious packages.

At the King County elections office, nearly 500,000 absentee ballots are returned during election season. Elections Superintendent Julie Anne Kempf said workers who open mail could start wearing protective clothing.

The city of Seattle, already on a heightened state of alert, became only more vigilant about its mail yesterday, said Roger Nyhus, spokesman for Mayor Paul Schell.

"We're looking at the whole mail-delivery process," he said. He declined to give details but said the city is coordinating its activities with the Postal Service, Seattle police and the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health.