Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Flap About Flour

I know I should really treat this seriously, but I would be really embarrassed about reporting plain baking flour as a suspicious substance.
In the end, it was plain white baking flour, leftover trail markers placed by a local group of runners. "We have determined that these were clues left by organizers of a race to help runners know they were following the correct trail," said Dick O'Connell, U.S. Marshal for western Arkansas. "In what's called a 'hash run,' runners follow markers of things like flour or shaving cream to navigate."

Maybe I'm a bit naive but I really don't think terrorists are going to hit Fayetteville. Instead of hauling out all the emergency personnel I would have gone up and figured out for myself what it was. Yeah, people are telling the officers they did a good thing by calling out hazmet, but I know that a lot of people are snickering behind their backs.
No criminal charges are likely because there was no malice or mischief involved, Gabbard said. "We did suggest that future routes avoid federal properties, and they've said that authorities will get a heads-up next time they're setting up a course," he said.

I might also suggest that people get a grip and don't over-react.

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