Another "Security" Overreaction

This is precious.

SOMERSWORTH — West High Street resident Darin Paige thought he was reporting a prank when he called police about piles of flour he found inside his mailbox Saturday evening.

But what he got was a full-blown, two-hour investigation, which shut down a portion of West High Street and brought out the Seacoast's hazardous materials team.

The precautionary response was put in place to make sure the white, powdery substance was not anthrax, a standard procedure that police and fire officials say is necessary in a post-9/11 world.

"We take no chances until proven otherwise," said Somersworth Fire Lt. Mike Clough. "We can't determine what it is by looking, and in the event that it is (anthrax), we need to take our precautions."

Paige, who lives at 214 West High St., called police at around 5:45 p.m. when he went outside to get the mail and found approximately three cups of what he called flour inside and on top of the mailbox. Having a daughter who just graduated high school, Paige thought it may have been a graduation prank and was hoping to report the incident as vandalism.

Yep, three cups of flour. Wonder what that cost?

So, the guy smells flour and calls the police. They then over react and go into full hazardous materials drill. I'm thinking these guys don't have enough real work to do. Three cups of Anthrax powder would be a huge volume, and what made them think that there was any reason that this guy would be attacked so unsurreptitiously with something that is quite difficult to make? If he was being attacked you'd think they would be more subtle.

Further proof that terrorism works very well.