Anthrax fears cancel small-town postmarks

Associated Press

LEAVENWORTH — Add local postmarks to the growing list of losses since the September terrorist attacks.

No longer will a friendly postal worker use a rubber stamp to hand-cancel your letter from a scenic small town.

U.S. Postal Service officials now fear such pounding could release a puff of deadly spores from an envelope filled with a fine dust of anthrax or some other tool of bioterrorism.

So, mail from smaller post offices all over the country will only be handled by automated equipment in larger processing centers, where new safeguards are being installed.

Ending hand canceling was one of several precautionary measures adopted by the Postal Service following the deaths earlier this week of two Washington, D.C., postal workers who are believed to have handled mail contaminated with anthrax.

"Security of the mail always meant something different in the past," Leavenworth Postmaster Chuck Rose said. "Now, we have to take extra measures to make sure the public doesn’t come to harm."

Rose said most employees at the Leavenworth post office feel safe, but there is concern.

"In these smaller towns, it’s more of an awareness issue than a real threat," he said. "But it’s nothing to be cavalier about."

Wenatchee Postmaster Mel Miller said most employees there are not using the gloves and masks provided to mail handlers as a precaution.

Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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