Another day, another terrorist threat — or so it seems.

Scary information, but what are we to make of it? I have no idea.

All day at work, I’m hooked to the Internet. On Tuesday, I couldn’t keep up. Each time I looked at news reports, there was more to fear.

The FBI warned that landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty might be targets. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said terrorists will inevitably gain and use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

Robert Mueller, the FBI chief, said suicide bombers will certainly kill Americans on U.S. soil. And terrorists, authorities said, may be renting apartments to blow up the buildings.

"It’s like the boy who cried wolf," Julie Miller, 56, of Snohomish said about the flurry of warnings since recent reports of possible intelligence failures before Sept. 11.

"Warnings should go to the right people. Now they just cause a lot of anxiety we don’t need.

"I’m getting tired of hearing about it," said Ken Hickey, 77, of Everett.

"If those people are going to do something, they’re going to do it regardless," added Jose Garcia, 61, of Everett.

At the FBI office in Everett, Marita Malone said deciding whether to inform people of every threat is "a tossup."

"Do we warn the public and risk apathy later on?" said Malone, a special agent and supervisor. No recent threats target the Northwest, she said, "no more than have been issued throughout the United States."

"There have been no specific threats in Washington state," agreed special agent Ray Lauer, an FBI spokesman in Seattle.

Feeling helpless, I asked Malone how Jane Doe citizen can possibly respond.

"We recommend intelligent vigilance. Use common sense," she said. "What we need is an awareness of anything out of the ordinary and some identifying information — license numbers or telephone numbers.

"We are concerned about getting calls from people fearful that someone has passed by on the street. They don’t know the person’s name, there’s no identification. That frankly doesn’t help," Malone said.

People should keep the danger in perspective, Lauer said. "What’s the possibility of running into a terrorist? Very little," he said. "Their goal is to instill terror and make us change our lives. If they negatively affect us and our country, they’re winning."

I want to hear about credible threats and make up my own mind.

We all have a certain risk tolerance based not on statistics but on gut feelings. I can get behind the wheel of a car because it feels normal. There are no metal detectors to freak me out in the supermarket parking lot, but the drive home from the store is far more dangerous than a plane trip.

What happened Sept. 11 was so horrifying that Bill Schulz’s wife, Gale, will no longer fly.

"She took the bus to see her mother in Phoenix. We used to fly to London regularly," the Snohomish man said.

That’s a shame, said Rick Steves, who operates the Edmonds-based travel business Europe Through the Back Door.

"People have to realize that 12 million Americans went to Europe last year and none of them were targeted by terrorists," Steves said. More than 4,500 people are signed up to take his tours this summer, more than in 2001, he said.

Steves agrees with the U.S. government on one thing, that terrorists will strike again.

"We’ve been telling people, don’t take our tours if you think there’s not going to be terrorism," he said. "We are vulnerable no matter how much money our government spends on the military.

"The more we travel, the more difficult it is for our country to turn its back on the rest of the world. We need to be part of the family of nations," Steves said. "I happen to be an American, and I want to travel."

Lauer believes an airplane may be the safest place to be.

"That gig has been burned already," he said of using airliners as terrorist weapons.

"Before 9-11, we had Oklahoma City. Before that, the largest mass murder was someone blowing up a school in the 1800s. It’s always happened, it will happen again," Lauer said. "We just don’t know when, where, why or who."

There was other news Tuesday. A Georgia boy was playing baseball in his yard. The ball hit the 7-year-old’s chest and he died of cardiac arrest.

What are the chances? Dr. Mark Link of Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston said there are five to 10 such deaths each year.

We could worry all day long. Or we could listen to the FBI, use some common sense, let our kids play ball and go on with life.

Contact Julie Muhlstein via e-mail at muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com, write to her at The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206, or call 425-339-3460.