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March 5, 2010
White Powder Report (and no, there's no snow — thankfully — in the forecast)
Fortunately, the white powder received yesterday at the Brooklyn Supreme Court building turned out to be less harmful than the white powder that's seemingly been falling non-stop from the sky for the past month.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, White Powder Causes Alarm in Judicial Chambers
Thursday a Brooklyn judge’s secretary opened an envelope and found a “suspicious white-powder substance” inside.
The alarming discovery, conjuring up decade-old memories of the anthrax-filled envelopes delivered in New York City after 9/11, prompted a large-scale emergency response and partial evacuation of the courthouse. According to David Bookstaver, spokesman for the Office of Court Administration, the white powder was later found to be “inert.”
The letter was sent to Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abraham G. Gerges, according to various reports. Some have speculated that the threatening package was sent in response to Justice Gerges’ judicial order that on Monday transferred title of the land at Atlantic Yards to the state via eminent domain.
Courier-Life Newspapers, Powder delivered to Judge Gerges' office
Cops are looking for the menace who sent an envelope filled with a suspicious white powder to the offices of Judge Abraham Gerges, the jurist who cleared the last roadblock against the controversial Atlantic Yards Project earlier this week.
...By late Monday, cops were still trying to track down who sent the letter. It’s expected that investigators will be reviewing Gerges’ past and current cases, as well as his history in city government — he was a City Council member from 1974 to 1990 before he was elected to the bench.
Daily Intel [NYMag.com], Judge Who Approved Atlantic Yards Receives ‘Suspicious’ White Powder
Justice Abraham Gerges, the judge who last week gave the green light to the controversial Atlantic Yards development project, which will result in the displacement of Brooklyn residents from their homes over the next few months, received a suspicious white powder at the Supreme Court building on Jay Street today, causing the evacuation of the building.
Atlantic Yards Report, "White powder" sent to Justice Gerges causes evacuation; credible sources apparently include “die from mohter----er”
So, what's up with that suspicious mailing to Kings County Supreme Court Justice Abrahama Gerges that caused an evacuation yesterday of one floor of a court building?
...Without a note or other evidence beyond an anonymous nasty comment on a web site that--like so many--makes little attempt to ensure credible discourse, we have no idea why the "white powder" was sent.
In comparison
Note that this incident has drawn more coverage than the news, contained in a Development Agreement made available only in late January, that developer Forest City Ratner has 12 years to build Phase 1 of the Atlantic Yards project and 25 years to build the project--both with generous options for extensions.
The Local [Fort Greene/Clinton Hill], The Day: Dragons, Werewolves and Suspicious Packages
And lastly, yesterday the Kings County Supreme Court was evacuated when Justice Abraham G. Gerges received a package laced with a suspicious white powder. Atlantic Yards Report dissects speculations that the powder was sent as an anti-Atlantic Yards sentiment, and finds a lot of tenuous assumptions at work.
Posted by eric at March 5, 2010 11:40 AM