Not Quite on a Par with Anthrax or Jet Plane Missiles

14 Governors Receive Mail That's Rigged With Matches
By FOX BUTTERFIELD
Published: September 11, 2004

BOSTON, Sept. 10 - Envelopes containing matches that were rigged to ignite when opened have been received through the mail at the offices of at least 14 state governors in the last two days.

The mailings, under investigation by the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security, bear a return address that names two inmates at a maximum-security prison in Nevada. But a Nevada corrections official said it was unclear whether they were the actual senders.

Aides to several governors, including Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, said they had been told by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the case was being treated as one of domestic terrorism, and Jennifer Meith, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Fire Marshal's Office, said that was her understanding as well.

But spokesmen for the bureau declined to comment on a current investigation, although one of them, Joe Parris, said in Washington, "Cases of this nature are generally handled by the local domestic terrorism squads'' - that is, the joint terrorism task forces set up by the F.B.I. in cities across the country.

Because of the Nevada connection, the case is being handled by the bureau's office in Las Vegas, Mr. Parris said.

No one has been injured, although 23 staff members in the office of Gov. Judy Martz of Montana were evacuated on Thursday after one of them opened the envelope sent there. It ignited briefly and then petered out, said Chuck Butler, a spokesman for Governor Martz.

The envelopes are of a plain white business type. Each of those that have been opened contained a blank piece of paper. Matches were attached in such a way that opening the envelope could cause them to ignite, aides to the governors said. Each bore a return address from the Ely State Prison in eastern Nevada.

The governors who were sent the envelopes are Democrats and Republicans alike. In addition to Mr. Romney, of Massachusetts, and Ms. Martz, of Montana, they are George E. Pataki of New York, Rick Perry of Texas, Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, Gary Locke of Washington, Olene S. Walker of Utah, Bill Owens of Colorado, Theodore R. Kulongoski of Oregon, Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, Kenny Guinn of Nevada, Linda Lingle of Hawaii and Janet Napolitano of Arizona.
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