Springfield workers get an early Halloween scare

October 15, 2008
By Greg Bishop
Guest Columnist

The city of Springfield received an early Halloween scare on Monday, October 6, 2008, causing a municipal building to be locked-down for a period of time.  A packaged delivered with bulk mail contained a white powdery substance and appeared to be part of a marketing campaign from a Washington state software company. 

Springfield's Municipal Building was not the only place affected by this marketing stunt gone wrong. Internet reports indicate a hospital out of Colorado also went on lock-down October 6th.  They too received a package from the same company that had a suspicious white powder inside.  

The white powdery substance was discovered by Springfield city employees who then notified police. Springfield police confirmed the notification. After being analyzed by law enforcement, the substance turned out to be mainly sodium based with very light traces of noxious material.  No one fell ill because of the substance.

According to GWI Software, the company associated with mailing, the substance was part of a summer-time marketing campaign.  "Snow Wonder," known as "the best manmade snow on the market" was the substance used accompanying the slogan "Does the effectiveness of your service desk melt like a snowball under heat?"  GWI Software, the company taking responsibility, apologizes for the scare.

In a requested statement from GWI, CEO Daren Nelson says the campaign "worked closely with the manufacturer of SnoWonder, [the] mailing house and the United States Post Office to ensure that the marketing piece adhered to all current mailing regulations." 

Nelson says unfortunately "limited number of the packets containing the non toxic polymer powder (Sodium Polyacrylate) did appear to fail" resulting in the lock-downs of at least two buildings across the country.  GWI ended their "Beat the Heat" campaign.

In 2007, promotions for the cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters" went terribly wrong prompting a cross country bomb scare.  Several Light-Bright style devices were discovered in Boston causing law enforcement to send out bomb squads.  The devices were harmless and only gave more publicity for the Adult Swim cartoon.

Law enforcement figured out the situation in both the Springfield and Colorado scares last week. But seven years after the deadly anthrax attacks of October 2001, a cloud still lingers over the events that lead to increased concerns of suspicious powder in the mail.

Bruce Ivins, a Department of Defense bio-chemist and the man being blamed for the anthrax attacks, reportedly committed suicide several months ago, just as the FBI was preparing charges.  Steven Hatfill, the original suspect, was awarded over $5 million for damages for false accusations.

Law makers in Washington DC recently drilled FBI director Robert Mueller about their investigation into the 2001 attacks, asking questions the FBI could not answer on the spot.  Patrick Leahy, who was targeted in the 2001 scare, boldly stated he does not believe that Ivins was the only one behind the attacks. 

More that 30,000 incidents involving scares from suspicious powder, liquids, or chemicals have occurred since the 2001 anthrax attack.  So far this year the FBI reports that several dozen people have been convicted under federal hoax and domestic terrorism laws.  

Greg Bishop is a fulltime student at UIS and the host of Saturday Session with Bishop on 970 WMAY.