| Mail addressed to Washington, D.C., lawmakers will take an extra one to two days for delivery and screening after an anthrax-contaminated letter was opened in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.
The warning came in an e-mail to Congress members from the House sergeant at arms, instructing workers in Washington offices to leave mail unopened so it could be returned to inspectors looking for traces of the disease that have shown up on letters in Florida, New York and Nevada.
Mail in transit to lawmakers will be routed to inspectors before reaching their offices.
"If there's a package with no return address on it, we're putting it aside (for inspectors) and looking at the postmark on everything that comes in here," said Peter Karafotas, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint.
Karafotas said employees who handle the up to 300 pieces of mail that flow into Kildee's Washington office each day attended a security briefing Monday on what to look for when going through mail, even after it's been screened.
Among the red flags:
Excessive packaging or tape.
Presence of white powder, a liquid or any other medium that could transmit the bacteria.
Incorrect titles or spellings on mail addressed to a lawmaker.
Excessive postage affixed to avoid having a package weighed at a post office.
"Every package we get is already X-rayed, but the issue right now is that this is a substance I highly doubt can be (detected) by X-rays," Karafotas said.
Kildee said his office staff began taking precautions late last week after an outbreak of the disease was reported in Florida, killing one man.
"We started to recognize the possibility of threats and possible hoaxes, so we began taking our own precautions, because I want to protect my staff," he said. "It makes you more cautious, but we're trying to do the normal things and go about our regular activities. We're telling staff if you're not sure something's safe to open, put it aside."
Closer to home, employees in the district offices of Rep. James Barcia, D-Bay City, in Flushing, Saginaw and Bay City have been conducting business as normal since they handle a much smaller volume of mail than the Washington headquarters, typically 40 to 50 pieces a day among the three offices.
"Until the scare there was no reason to take many precautions, and now there may be a reason, but we don't have people in rubber gloves and masks," said Rik Hayman, Barcia's press secretary. "We're keeping an eye out for something suspicious, and we'll call the authorities if we do (find something).
"If things keep on going, we'll take whatever precautions are necessary, and if that includes paying a nickel or 10 cents for a pair of rubber gloves, we'll get them."
Sylvia Warner, press secretary for Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, said her office is asking constituents to contact Rogers' staff via e-mail, fax or telephone instead of letters, to avoid the wait while authorities screen mail headed to lawmakers.
"With the mail slowed up the way it is, it's not going to get here like it normally would," she said.
Outgoing mail from Washington, D.C., will not be delayed.
Warner said Rogers gave staff instructions on handling mail in light of the anthrax scare last week.
"He said if there's any extra postage or they address him with the wrong title, to have it looked at," she said. "We have two people who primarily handle mail, and while they're concerned on their part, they've been very calm throughout this and that everything is being done that should be."
Sen. Carl Levin's office isn't taking any chances either. As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Levin, a Democrat, might be considered a prime target. A Levin spokeswoman said the office receives an average of 4,000 pieces of mail every week, and it has established additional security procedures.
She declined to describe them but suggested that constituents fax messages to the office, (202) 224-1388.
Information from the Journal Lansing Bureau is included in this report. Chad Swiatecki can be reached at (810) 766-6237 or cswiatecki@flintjournal.com. | 
