Edison First Day Brings High Price! - New Jersey Postal History ...

Gene Fricks & Jean Walton ~ TRENTON P&DC - Anthrax Site Gets New BeginningFig. 6. A letter sent from Hightstown, NJ to DC. Note the yellowed paper. The roundedcorner at lower right is seen on irradiated mail to government offices, as a governmentcontactor slits open the corner of mail, checking it for powders, reminiscent of disinfectedmail that was perforated or slit for decontamination. Inbound mail to a number ofgovernment offices is still irradiated today. Many postal facilities now have state-of-the artdetection devices.ENDNOTES:1 http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/bioter/detect/antdetect_letters.html [March 29. 2005] A very thorough study of all thecases of anthrax poisoning, and the source letters, has been done by UCLA’s Department of Epidemiology, School ofPublic Health. The pictures which follow are also from this site.2 Miller, Rick, “Stamp Cave closed because of anthrax spore contamination”, Linn’s Stamp News, Nov. 19, 2001, pp 1,26. For other Linn’s articles related to anthrax, see Dec. 3, 2001 [p.1, p.28], Dec. 17, 2001 [p.26], Dec. 24, 2001 [p.1,10], Jan. 28, 2002 [p., pictures of Trenton facility contributed by Sid Morginstin, & p.15], Feb. 18, 2002 [p.1, 10],Nov. 25, 2002 [p.8], Dec. 30, 2002 [p. 8], Mar. , 2002 [p.10], Mar. 11, 2002 [p.10], Jun. 30, 2003 [p.26], Nov. 19,2003 [p.39], Apr. 11, 2005 [p.6], and Apr. 25, 2005 [p.43]. Coin World also carried an article on Jan. 28, 2002 bySusan L. Maltby in her “Preserving Collectibles” column.3 USPS News: Press Release no. 01-093, Nov. 6, 2001: http://www.usps.com/news/2001/press/pr01_093.htm , Apr. 17,2005.4 Miller, Rick, “Anthrax: new chapter in history of disinfected mail,” Linn’s, Dec. 3, 2001, p. 28.5 William Sandrik of Ballston Philatelics [P.O. Box 3277, Arlington, VA 22203 [http://www.ballstonphilatelics.com/],who collects disinfected mail, was kind enough to share his knowledge on this material, and reports that labels do existon some of the mail that passes through Washington, D.C. agencies, and which is still irradiated today.6 Hotchner, John M. in “U.S. Notes”, Linn’s, Apr. 11, 2005, p.6.7 “Fulfillment center reopens” Linn’s, Dec. 3, 2001, p.1.8 Linn’s Stamp News March 4, 2002, p. 10.9Redding, Robert Jr., “Brentwood reopens after anthrax cases,” The Washington times, December 23, 2003http://www.washtimes.com/metro/20031222-115722-9568r.htm , April 17, 2005.10 Linn’s indicated [Apr. 25, 2005, p.43] that this facility was given a new name - the John K. Rafferty P&DC - when itreopened. This is incorrect. The building which houses the Trenton P&DC postal facility is known as the John K.Rafferty Post Office Building [http://www.llsdc.org/gpo/gpo000417.htm, Apr. 25, 2005], a name it acquired in 2000,but the Postal Facility was not renamed. When the Brentwood facility in D.C. was reopened, it was renamed theCurseen-Morris Mail Processing and Distribution Center, after Joseph Curseen Jr. and Thomas Morris Jr., the twopostal workers who died from inhalational anthrax there. [See Redding, Robert, Jr. ob cit.]Vol. 33/No. 2NJPHWhole No. 158107May 2005