ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, April 26, 1997               TAG: 9704280081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-5  EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: MCLEAN
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SUSPICIOUS RED LIQUID TURNED OUT TO BE - LEAKED STRAWBERRY JUICE POSTAL WORKERS WORRIED IT WAS A DANGEROUS SUBSTANCE

The McLean post office was evacuated about 11:30 a.m. after a worker saw the liquid on a package.

Red liquid leaking from a package at a suburban post office on Friday turned out to be from strawberries.

The McLean post office was evacuated about 11:30 a.m. after a worker saw the liquid and feared it was the same substance mailed along with a threatening letter to a Jewish service organization in Washington, D.C.

But closer inspection revealed someone had mailed a package of strawberries to an address in suburban McLean, and the strawberries had leaked onto other mail in a sorting basket at the post office loading dock, said post office spokesman William Brown.

Capt. Larry Collier, spokesman for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, said one postal worker had difficulty breathing because of excitement after the discovery. That person and another worker, who broke out in a rash after seeing the red liquid splashed on a 6-inch-by-4-inch package, were taken to a clinic for treatment, Brown said.

Brown would not release their names.

``All indications are that they did the right thing,'' said Doug Bem, spokesman for the Postal Inspection Service, which investigated the package.

Twenty people were evacuated from the building for about 11/2 hours.

FBI terrorism experts are investigating a mysterious red substance that led authorities to quarantine 108 people inside the international headquarters of B'nai B'rith in Washington for more than eight hours.

FBI officials said the gelatinous material was in a petri dish mailed to the building. The foul-smelling package was discovered in the mail room Thursday.

FBI and Secret Service agents went to the McLean Post Office, but left along with fire officials when it was clear the substance was not harmful.

Postal inspectors made the identification after interviewing a woman who received the original package of leaky strawberries in the mail Friday afternoon, Bem said.

The original package, apparently already leaking, was delivered anyway with the regular mail. Its contents had leaked onto other parcels in the same bin, Bem said.

Postal workers are supposed to report any suspicious packages and can call for emergency help if they suspect any threat, Bem said.

In light of the incident at the B'nai B'rith building, workers were especially watchful, Bem said.

Asked whether someone should have noticed the first package before it was delivered, Bem said, ``That is something we are looking into.''

LENGTH: Medium:   60 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ASSOCIATED PRESS. Fairfax County firefighters hold a 
          suspicious package outside the McLean Post Office on Friday 
          morning.