Anthrax-Free Hart Senate Building to Reopen

— -- The Hart Senate Building is anthrax-free and will reopen Friday. Tighter baggage security may cause airport delays. Firefighters are protesting a "politically correct" memorial. Punxsutawney Phil gets a security overhaul. Sept. 11 families find sympathy online.

Senate Building Safe From Anthrax

W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 16 — The Hart Senate Office Building has beendeclared free of anthrax and will reopen Friday for the first timesince October, when an anthrax-tainted letter was opened inMajority Leader Tom Daschle's office, The Associated Press learnedtoday. An e-mail memo being circulated in the Senate says the Centersfor Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency havecertified that the building is safe after weeks of decontaminationprocedures. "We expect the Hart building to reopen at noon on Friday, Jan.18, 2002," said the e-mail memo, which was addressed to allsenators and Senate staff. The memo was confirmed by two Senate staff sources and by anelectronic message from the Senate sergeant-at-arms. "The cleanup achieved the goal of eliminating viable anthraxspores detected in the Hart building, and that it is now safe andclean to release to the Architect of the Capitol for rehabilitationand subsequent re-occupancy," the message says. A Daschle spokeswoman referred questions to Capitol Policespokesman Dan Nichols, who did not immediately return telephonecalls. A letter opened in Daschle's office on Oct. 15 exposed more thantwo dozen people to anthrax spores and led to the closure of theHart Senate Office Building. Cleanup and testing efforts included floor vacuuming, wiping ofdesks, tables, walls and other surfaces, sample swabs taken frommonitor screens and air conditioning grills, air sampling and theuse of chlorine dioxide liquid, chlorine dioxide gas andanti-bacterial foam. "Senator Daschle's suite where the anthrax spill occurred wasfumigated successfully with chlorine dioxide gas," a second memofrom the Senate sergeant-at-arms office says. The chlorine gas has been removed and rendered nontoxic, thesecond memo said. Senators will be briefed Thursday on the reopening, the memosaid.

—The Associated Press

More Delays From Baggage Screening Law?

D E N V E R, Jan. 16 — Across the country, more airline passengers couldfind themselves standing in line or sitting on planes delayed atthe gate when a federal law requiring the screening of all checkedbaggage for bombs takes effect Friday.

The law requires airlines to use any of four methods: handsearches, bomb detection machines, bomb-sniffing dogs or thematching of every piece of luggage to a passenger on board a plane.

Currently, less than 10 percent of the 1.4 billion bags flown indomestic airliners' holds annually are screened for explosives bysuch methods.

For security reasons, airline officials declined to comment onhow they plan to comply on Friday. But airport officials around thecountry said most airlines apparently will use bag-matching.

The technique is designed to prevent someone from checking a bagwith a bomb and never boarding the aircraft. The approach alreadyis used on international flights.

The precaution means that if a passenger fails to board a plane,or gets off just before takeoff, airline workers will have to climbinto the hold to remove his or her luggage. That could createdelays in pulling away from the gate.

The measure would also fail to stop a suicide bomber. Inaddition, plans call for requiring the bag match to be done when apassenger first boards a plane, and not done a second time for aconnecting flight, said a government source, speaking on conditionof anonymity.

Passenger advocate David Stempler, president of the AirTravelers Association, said that concession would mean only anincremental improvement in security. But he said it could go a longway toward reducing the possibility of long check-in lines.

"Direct checking would cause enormous lines and delays forpassengers at a time when we're trying to get people back onairplanes and get the airlines healthy again," Stempler said."Long lines at airports would have turned a lot more people awayfrom air travel."

The baggage searches could also contribute to delays. Forexample, passengers will have to be present during hand searches oftheir luggage, Denver airport spokesman Chuck Cannon said.Passengers will be taken to private rooms or screened-off areas forsuch searches.

"If the result is a slight increase in security and a hugeincrease in passenger processing times, it's going to bedetrimental," said aviation consultant Nick Lacey, a formerdirector of flight standards for the Federal AviationAdministration.

The stepped-up security after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacksresulted, at least initially, in long lines and hours-long delaysfor travelers.

Under the new law signed by President Bush in November, airlineswill be responsible for security until Feb. 17, when the burdenshifts to the federal government.

Airlines, airports and the government also are determining howbest to meet a year-end deadline in the law to screen all baggagefor explosives with $1 million, van-size explosives-detectionmachines. About 160 are in use, and at least 2,000 more will haveto be bought by the government, FAA officials have said.

San Francisco airport spokesman Ron Wilson said all airlines athis airport have indicated they plan to use bag matching to meetFriday's deadline. "It's either do that or don't fly," he said.

Kevin Dillon, director of New Hampshire's Manchester Airport,warned of the danger of relying too heavily on baggage screening.

"We should also be focusing on other things — immigration laws,passenger profiles, interrogation techniques," he said. "Thereare so many things this country needs to be looking at in terms ofaviation security."

—The Associated Press

Petition Protests Firefighter Statue

N E W Y O R K, Jan 16 — A Brooklyn firefighter is petitioning the FireDepartment to drop plans for a controversial statue.

Steve Cassidy, of Engine 236, faxed the petition to firehousestoday asking firefighters to protest the sculpture based on aSept. 11 photo of city firemen Dan McWilliams, GeorgeJohnson and Billy Eisengrein raising a flag amid the rubble atthe World Trade Center.

The firefighters are white. But the statue depicts thefirefighters as white, black and Hispanic men.

The Fire Department issued a statement today saying that thosewho gave their lives that day were of many races and ethnicitiesand the decision was made to honor everyone — not any specificindividual or individuals.

Cassidy said the petition will be sent to Mayor Bloomberg. The mayor's office declined to comment on the petition.

The $180,000 statue is being paid for by Forest CityRatner Companies.

A clay model of the statue, created by StudioEis in Brooklyn,was unveiled late last month. Studio director Ivan Schwartz saidthe decision to portray different races was made by the FireDepartment, Forest City Ratner, the studio and the foundry.

But many current and former firefighters are calling the statuean example of political correctness run amok and an attempt torewrite history.

—The Associated Press

Groundhog May See Shadow, Security

P U N X S U T A W N E Y, Pa., Jan. 16 — When Punxsutawney Phil pops his headout of his hole on Feb. 2 to tell people whether or not they willexperience six more weeks of winter, the famous groundhog may seemore than his shadow.

Because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, security will bestepped up at Phil's home, Gobbler's Knob.

"They'll be checking people a little more, naturally, the wayconditions are," said Barney Stockdale of the PunxsutawneyGroundhog Club.

People with backpacks or bags will be subject to search whenthey go to Gobbler's Knob.

"We'll have a good contingency of troopers there this year toensure everyone's safety," said State Police spokesman JamieLeVeir.

The tight security on Groundhog Day won't be the only new thingin Punxsutawney this year. The Punxsutawney Borough Council onMonday voted to allow a charity to serve beer downtown during thefestivities, despite objections that the fund-raiser wouldencourage drinking and rowdy behavior.

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will put up a tent large enough tofit 1,200 people and charge $10 admission.

Groundhog Day organizers banned drinking on Gobbler's Knob in1996.

—The Associated Press

Sept. 11 Families Turn to Web Site

B O S T O N, Jan. 16 — There are still days when Helen Simpkin hardlyfeels like getting out of bed, when the dark blanket that fell overher life on Sept. 11 is too heavy to push aside.

On those days, there's a place to turn where everyone knows justhow she feels.

Simpkin, 35, sits down at the computer in her Cottekill, N.Y.,home and logs onto the network that's been her lifeline since hersister Jane's flight crashed into the World Trade Center.

With a few keystrokes, she joins hundreds of people in similarpain at the Families of Sept. 11, a nonprofit advocacy organizationformed by and for the survivors.

"It's absolutely vital," Simpkin says. "Even on the worstdays, I know at least I can go on the Web site and talk to otherpeople who are feeling the same way as me."

Members share news clips and legal advice, suggestions onvisiting Ground Zero and navigating the red tape of charities andgovernment agencies.

The Web site — http://www.familiesofseptember11.org — alsooffers simple words of solace and support to newfound friendsbrought together under the most tragic of circumstances.

"There were some heartbreaking messages around Christmastime,"says Marilyn Trudeau of Lincoln, R.I., who lost her daughter, AmyJarrett, a flight attendant on United Flight 175. "One motherwrote about taking out the Christmas decorations and the emotionsarising within her as she was trying to do the normal things you doat Christmas."

Families of Sept. 11 Inc. began at an October meeting ofvictims' families in Boston. Carie Lemack, 26, of Framingham, stoodup and announced plans to create an online community of families, asecure place where mourners could go and speak openly about theirpain.

"We realized that we needed to get together and help each otherout because there was no benevolent group looking out for us,"says Lemack, whose mother, Judy Larocque, was a passenger onAmerican Flight 11.

In the months since, the group has grown to include more than300 survivors in 26 states, and it has become much more than asimple e-mail chat.

The family members have become increasingly outspoken on a rangeof political issues, including the distribution of compensationfunds to victims' families and the debate over whether to create amemorial at Ground Zero.

Lemack is vigilant over who participates in the dialogue.Prospective members first join the Yahoo e-mail group and get apassword, and then they have to pass Lemack's muster. She asks themto identify whom they lost in the tragedy before agreeing toactivate their account.

"It seems intrusive, but it's essential that it only be open tofamily members," she says.

Once in, they can read and send messages for the whole group — often as many as 30 per day — or they can send mail directly toindividual members.

"It's grown so fast, and there's so much to do," says Lemack."Now we have to deal with a lot of the logistical stuff. Little bylittle we'll get there."

Already, their public suffering has earned them access tolawmakers like Sens. Edward Kennedy and Patrick Leahy. Both havemet with members to discuss the organization's political agenda.

Seeking more visibility in Washington, the group is in theprocess of opening a headquarters in Falls Church, Va. But for now,day-to-day operations are still run from Lemack's mother's house inFramingham.

On Dec. 20, Kenneth Feinberg, who oversees the victims' fund,announced how the victims' money would be distributed, promptingsome outraged responses from members of the e-mail group.

Many of them stand to get little or nothing after insurance anddeath benefits are subtracted. Some reserve the right to filewrongful-death lawsuits against the airlines and have exchangedlawyers' phone numbers.

The organization's Web site also provides members with links togroups offering emotional support as well as charities.

"When I'm having a bad day, I let people know and I get a bunchof e-mails back," Simpkin says. "It's a place I can go andthere's other people out there that can understand just what I'mfeeling."

She hopes the relationships she's made through the group willendure after the shock and sadness of Sept. 11 has started to heal.

"It's a very bittersweet experience because I've connected withsome amazing people," she says. "Out of this tragedy of losing mysister, I have this family of people that I'll never forget."

—The Associated Press