The Norman (Okla.) Public Library was evacuated for just over an hour February 25 after a grayish-brown, crystalline substance was found there. Sealed in a plastic baggie inside an envelope, the substance was found behind some magazines, and was reported to local authorities, according to the February 26 Norman Transcript. Norman police shut off ventilation to the library, evacuated some patrons through fire exits, and collected remaining patrons in a meeting room, including 45 children who had been attending a story hour.
“Everyone responded quickly and in an orderly fashion,” library branch manager Susan Gregory said in the University of Oklahoma’s Oklahoma Daily newspaper. “It’s quite possible that it was a hoax, but out of sheer caution, we called the police.” A bomb technician took over the substance, and the employee who found the baggie was not taken to the hospital. Norman police reported that apparently no public exposure to the substance occurred and that field tests police proved negative for methamphetamine and cocaine.
Preliminary results of tests by the Oklahoma State Health Department were negative for anthrax. The scare in Norman was the most recent in a series of similar false alarms set off by the fear of terrorist activities in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
Posted March 4, 2002.