Pasty reports cause anthrax scare at Woodstock bible college

An anthrax scare at a bible college near Woodstock turned out to be a false alarm, but not before the school and hazmat crews shut down the entire front of the campus.

Hazmat crews from Halifax worked through the night, and students say New Brunswick Bible Institute officials told them the alleged anthrax is assumed to be dried glue from an envelope.

The school first announced the threat to students around 3 p.m. Monday afternoon. Soon after, the college ordered dormitory students back to their rooms, locking down the front of the school.

The panic reportedly began when a registrar employee opened an international application letter to find a small pile of white powder in the envelope. Students says the employee called the police, who arrived and quarantined anyone who’d come in contact with the letter.

Hazmat crews were dispatched to the school from Halifax, and students say they didn’t arrive until around 9:30 p.m.

Todd Hill, a first year NBBI student, said most students treated the threat as a mere nuisance.

“First, I just hoped whatever was happening kept happening until after 5 p.m., because I had an assignment to pass in then,” Hill said. “Then, as the night went on and we were stuck in the dorm, it just got more annoying.

“It’s 2010; anthrax threats are so ten years ago.”

Hill first broke the story on his blog, detailing the rumours wafting around the dormitories. He also complains that “now i’m sitting in my room, super hungry. Just about everyone is asleep and theres no food around for me to get ahold of ” [sic].

“I was working in the kitchen during the dinner line when the [school president] came in and told everyone the school was locked down,” Hill said. “I never got a chance to get any supper.”

The school re-opened as of this morning, and classes are on as scheduled.

[Earlier photos were originally misattributed to James Goode.  The NB Beacon regrets this error.]

Short URL: http://www.newbrunswickbeacon.ca/?p=6377

Posted by TJ Milburn on Apr 20, 2010. Filed under Past News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.