local news

Dovey · Senior Member

local news

NuclearLou · Senior Member

-- Edited by NuclearLou at 20:43, 2005-06-05

Date: Mon May 30 10:18 AM, 2005

With all due respect Lou... what happened at the bridge last night does not happen "all the time." You know... just because it doesn't involve something nuclear doesn't mean that it wasn't newsworthy, potentially dangerous and that all those who went to the hospital weren't really sick. This story isn't as important as your cause but still, people were impacted. Your maple syrup comment comes off as a little condescending.

Date: Mon May 30 11:35 AM, 2005

Not as condescending as posting anonymously. I worked at the border. He's right. Way overblown!

Date: Mon May 30 2:29 PM, 2005

quote:
Originally posted by: Anonymous
"Not as condescending as posting anonymously."

Thank you Mr. Anonymous for your attempt at imagining any logical arguement to connect anonymity and condescension. Please tell us the last ten times the bridge has been closed for this length of time because of a health or security scare. Everything does not have to be of nuclear proportions to affect some of us and be newsworthy.

Date: Mon May 30 3:37 PM, 2005

Last ten times...? two three years, You funny. Who said any nuclear ? YOU did MR. Anonymous. Search news yourselvef. WAY OVERBLOWN an full of hot air. Like you.

Dovey · Senior Member

I put this story up because it was a local story.With the new times we live in,I thought it was news worthy.Never did I dream that A would fight with A,then fight again with A.It was not meant for anything than it was,A news story.

kspeer · Senior Member

That's okay Dovey. If they want to fight about it to bring the story to the top, so be it. It's newsworthy nonetheless.

Dovey · Senior Member

quote:
Originally posted by: kspeer
"That's okay Dovey. If they want to fight about it to bring the story to the top, so be it. It's newsworthy nonetheless."

Thank-You,so true......

alwayswatching · Guru

quote:
Originally posted by: phreedood
" Ahhhhh!!!.....Animal in panic........me at the border!!! In Canada......HEEELP!....I am in jail....me unhappy..... gig at a Thai resturant....got sick in car....now me in JAIL!!!!...someone come get me pleeeeease!!!"

Problem solved!

Date: Tue May 31 11:06 AM, 2005

Don't know which you want on top?

RE: RE: local news

quote:

Originally posted by: kspeer
"That's okay Dovey. If they want to fight about it to bring the story to the top, so be it. It's newsworthy nonetheless."

Thank-You,so true......

Date: Wed Jun 1 4:31 AM, 2005

Customs looking for answers after shutdown of bridge
By Rick Pfeiffer
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

A day after a suspected hazardous materials incident shutdown the Rainbow Bridge for almost five hours, Customs and Border Protection agents still don’t know exactly what happened.

What they do know is, during an investigation into three men trying to smuggle $180,000 in counterfeit cash into the country, a half dozen agents suddenly became ill with flu-like symptoms and almost three dozen travelers ended up spending more time than they could have imagined trying to cross the border.

Customs officials said Monday that three Pennsylvania men, identified as Tommy Nguyen, Than Nguyen and Cuong Hong, were stopped Sunday afternoon, as they attempted enter the country by crossing the bridge. All three men are U.S. citizens.

During a secondary inspection of their vehicle, Customs agents found a plastic bag in the area of the rear seat. Inside the bag were 20 bundles of counterfeit $100 bills.

The three men were placed under arrest, but as the agents began examining the money, they began to experience irritation in their eyes and throats. The three arrested men and

then other people in the immediate vicinity of the counterfeit cash also began to get the flu-like symptoms.

“At that time, a decision was made to by Customs and Border Protection to declare the area a possible hazardous materials incident scene,” Customs and Border Protection Public Affairs Officer Kevin Corsaro said.

The bridge was closed and cleared, along with a section of the southbound Robert Moses Parkway from Findlay Drive to the bridge.

That was followed by a swarm of federal, state and local law enforcement and emergency services agencies arriving on the scene. They included the Niagara Falls Police and Fire Departments, the Niagara County HAZ-MAT Team, the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Fire Department, the Niagara County Department of Emergency Services, the Erie County SMART Team, a group of specially trained doctors, Rural Metro Medical Services, the Niagara and Erie County Health departments, the New York State Police, the New York State Park Police, the U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as well as agents from the FBI and the Secret Service.

Thirty-four travelers on the bridge and a half dozen Customs and Border Protection agents were initially isolated after their exposure. Twenty-one people, including the Customs agents, were then quarantined and decontaminated.

The civilians were all released from the bridge after being examined by medical personnel. The agents were taken by ambulance to Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center where officials said they complained of symptoms, including coughing, sneezing and dizziness.

A blood screen of all the agents failed to identify the cause for their symptoms. Medical officials called the blood screens “negative.”

“Our examination indicated no evidence of exposure to any toxins or biological agents,” medical center spokesman Patrick Bradley said.

All the agents were released from the hospital and returned to the bridge.

Customs officials and emergency services and HAZ-MAT teams then swept the bridge administration building. Corsaro said “chemical tracing devices” were used to test the area and the counterfeit money, but the test results were negative.

“At this point in the investigation, the currency does not appear to be tainted with any form of chemical irritants,” Corsaro said. “Additional tests are being conducted to determine the possible cause of the incident.”

Traffic lanes from the United States into Canada reopened at 10:15 p.m., while traffic into the states was allowed to resume about 20 minutes later.

Dovey · Senior Member

I give Lou ,What does this mean,Was a news worthy story.????

NuclearLou · Senior Member

I posted this article early AM and forgot to sign in. I posted this article NOT because it was "news worthy" but because of the implications for Starpoint School students, teachers and parents.

Read the bold type. I'm sure that anyone familiar with the situation will see what I mean.

I didn't post the first story because of the "lack" of factual information in it--these stories always flesh-out a day or so afterward, at least that's what has happened in incidents past, numerous times.

Lou Ricciuti

-- Edited by NuclearLou at 08:02, 2005-06-01

Dovey · Senior Member

NuclearLou wrote:

I posted this article early AM and forgot to sign in. I posted this article NOT because it was "news worthy" but because of the implications for Starpoint School. Read the bold type. I'm sure that anyone familiar with the situation will see what I mean. Lou Ricciuti

same symptoms....I got that

Date: Wed Jun 1 7:24 AM, 2005

Here's a little more--

When the "incident" happened at Starpoint Schools back in December 2004, NO DECONTAMINATION procedure was used. GREAT Niagara County Health Department! They locked the doors to the school for a while, sent some kids to hospital, then the rest went home. The "incident" was treated as a WMD--then not even before tests were done. SO, IF THERE WAS A WMD situation at the schools, what would have happened in isolating any microbe, bacterium, etc by letting the students go home? To the hospital??

I guess that border agents and tourists crossing the bridge are FAR more important than our children. Same symptoms, different day--and different handling!!

So, IF the Niagara County Health Department said YOUR CHILD would have to take some shot because of an "incident"--would you let them? I would not. Period.

Please consider this as my VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE in the Niagara County Health Department during ANY emergency situation. Remember, that within the first hours of the Starpoint "incident" the NCHD was saying that the students collapsed (20 of them) because "of hot lights."

No, no confidence AT ALL. NOW, what if there would be a real WMD incident? Feel safe now?

Louis Ricciuti

Date: Wed Jun 1 7:35 AM, 2005

When the "incident" happened at Starpoint Schools back in December 2004, NO DECONTAMINATION procedure was used. GREAT Niagara County Health Department! They locked the doors to the school for a while, sent some kids to hospital, then the rest went home. The "incident" was treated as a WMD--then not even before tests were done. SO, IF THERE WAS A WMD situation at the schools, what would have happened in isolating any microbe, bacterium, etc by letting the students go home? To the hospital??

WHY NOT TAKE IT TO THE PAPER THEN?

alwayswatching · Guru

Yeah I made the connection to Starpoint too. Before I respond to that I have to ask: do you think they had passports? Ok thats out of my system.

Sudden flu like symptoms seems to be becomming all to common. Tests results were all negative, what tests were done and how long after onset? Niagara county health department was on site: that explains a lot. They tested people from the Lewiston bridge I bet (hi ho hi ho). A new player entered the game,the Niagara County Department of Emergency Services, under whose direction were they there? Maybe they should take a tour of Starpoint.

alwayswatching · Guru

Anonymous wrote:

When the "incident" happened at Starpoint Schools back in December 2004, NO DECONTAMINATION procedure was used. GREAT Niagara County Health Department! They locked the doors to the school for a while, sent some kids to hospital, then the rest went home. The "incident" was treated as a WMD--then not even before tests were done. SO, IF THERE WAS A WMD situation at the schools, what would have happened in isolating any microbe, bacterium, etc by letting the students go home? To the hospital?? WHY NOT TAKE IT TO THE PAPER THEN?

Well faceless one, where were you. This was all over the papers, news stations and this site. A Niagara County Health offical went so far as to state that certian lethal gasses would cause no illness in children. They were almost right, they could have been dead! No no illness if your dead. At least one of the students transported to the hospital, was vomiting blood, yet they were not isolated and the blood was not tested. Several of theses students, that were faking, were non responsive. The officials buried this, like they do everything else that may have a negative affect on tourism. Way to protect us Niagara County!

Date: Wed Jun 1 8:22 AM, 2005

NOT THEN,NOW ,THE COMPARASION<AND HOW THE TWO WERE HANDLED!

alwayswatching · Guru

Anonymous wrote:

NOT THEN,NOW ,THE COMPARASION<AND HOW THE TWO WERE HANDLED!

Set it up, I'll get the info there!

Date: Wed Jun 1 9:34 AM, 2005

NO PROBLEM<COPY THIS%FORWARD IT ON&

NuclearLou · Senior Member

-- Edited by NuclearLou at 20:16, 2005-06-05

Dovey · Senior Member

ok

-- Edited by Dovey at 17:34, 2005-06-01

Date: Wed Jun 1 2:38 PM, 2005

Must have just been the Canadian maple syrup on the pancakes at Starpoint then? Or is it OK to now consider the bridge event and the handling of it as newsworthy? Please let us know so that we will only bring up and discuss the news that everyone feels is worthy.