Nashville Library Hit with Anthrax Threat,
FBI Investigating
Staffers emptying the book drop at the Madison branch of the Public Library of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, found one return May 15 with a letter taped to it and a note on the book’s flyleaf saying the letter contained deadly anthrax bacteria. The staff summoned police, who closed the branch, shut down the air conditioner, and cordoned off the area.
“The health department then sanitized with a bleach and water solution everything that had come into contact with the book,” PLNDC Public Relations Manager Pamela Reese told American Libraries, “including three staff members. They set up a shower station in the parking lot.”
The incident is the third such scare in Nashville in since February but the first at a library—the others were at an abortion clinic and the Southern Baptist Convention building. The letter contained no indication of why the library was targeted, Reese said. The FBI is investigating. “It will be four weeks before we know for sure,” she added, “but they are reasonably sure it was a hoax.”
Posted May 24, 1999.
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