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Newspaper Recovers White Powder Scare

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Aug 18, 2006 7:55 pm US/Eastern

Newspaper Recovers White Powder Scare

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. (AP) ―

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An envelope filled with white powder that was sent to the Time Herald-Record Friday turned out to be a hoax.

"They tested it for biological and radiological and it was all negative," said Middletown 1st Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Duggan.

"It turned out to be powdered bleach."

Donna Henion, an accounting employee at the newspaper, found the powder in an envelope with a Westchester postmark and no return address. The envelope contained only a blank piece of paper and the bleach.

Newspaper employees contacted the police and closed off the accounting office while an Orange County Hazardous Materials team tested the substance.

Employees returned to work when the results came back.

"I wasn't really worried," Henion said afterward. "You can't overreact to a 'what if' ... If it was Anthrax, I probably would have fallen apart."