I’ve eaten plenty of stuff with rice in and I’m fine.

uptight on February 29, 2008 at 11:40 PM

Heh. Are you from Rio Linda by any chance? :)

To jump and say its not terrorist within the hour of it happening was so premature and obviously a call to stop any panic.

johnnyU on March 2, 2008 at 11:12 AM

This probably happens more than any of us care to know.

Innocent looking Castor Beans holding the chemicals when properly used can put Cancer into remission; but used improperly can put human life into complete remission.

Prayers to those who entered the room without knowing what was possibly in the air. Also, those who are responsible may never be found because they may turn up as obituary statistics due to improper handling on their part.

I’ve eaten plenty of stuff with rice in and I’m fine.

Somthing is missing in this story, please let us know if you find more any more detail Ed.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Friday there does not appear to be a link to terrorists.

Apparently there must have been evidence that the people who left the ricin were benevolent poisoners: perhaps one of the well-meaning ZPG crowd….

2. They found it in the room because that’s were it was being refined? (hence the beans in the room)

3. Who was staying at the hotel that should have been home with his wife?

4. It’s actually were the letter to The White House was mailed from. I mean we all know how hotel cleanning staff is.

5. Keith Richards was trying something new.

- The Cat

I can’t imagine where they get their info.

As of now: Several viles of ricin found. Man in coma was found in his room two weeks ago. There was also a dead dog in his room.

He was evicted for not paying his rent (on account of the coma) so another man came to collect his belongings. That’s when the ricin was discovered.

Certainly a strange story, but I doubt people will be dropping dead all over Nevada in the next couple of hours.

Mystery solved.

Now the entire story has changed.

A man found a vile of powder in his room? Not anymore.
Castor beans were found at the scene? Can’t be.

Now a package was mailed to the hotel that contained some traces of ricin. How anyone noticed that, I have no idea.

What is going on? Where all the original stories lies? You know…the ones with the police officer quotes about significant amounts and viles and beans?

Curious.

Everyone that might have been in contact were taken to the hospital.

3 of the people taken in for testing were police officers.
3 of the people taken in for testing were hotel employees.
1 other person was taken in.

Here is where it gets weird: The man that found the ricin was not in a coma – that’s why we know about the ricin in the first place.

The man that is in a coma was found incapacitated in his room.

So either the math is off, the man that brought the vile to the front desk was an employee, or there was ricin found in more than one room.

Three rooms have been quarantined, so far.

Thanks, FR

I’m betting that the perp isn’t Amish.

Pulchritudinous Patriot on February 29, 2008 at 9:30 AM

I’d say that’s a safe bet. What I want to know is if there is any connection to the people who were declaring war and chanting “Death to America” just over two weeks ago…

Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open.”

The thousands of black-clad mourners in the ceremony hall raised their fists in the air, chanting, “At your orders, Nasrallah.”

“He’s not the first martyr, nor will he be the last on this path,” Mottaki said, reading a statement of condolences from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with an interpreter translating into Arabic. “There will be hundreds and millions more” like him.

Afterward, the coffin was carried outside through the crowds of mourners, who marched with it to a nearby cemetery, praying aloud, as some chanted “Death to Israel” and “Death to America.”

“We have lost a hero but this will not shake our will,” said one Hezbollah guerrilla who would identifyd himself only by his first name, Hassan. The 45-year-old said Mughniyeh had been his commander in south Lebanon during the 2006 war. “We are all Imad Mughniyeh.”

Another mourner, Hassan Awdeh, said Mughniyeh’s death “only strengthens us and gives us zeal to complete our path.”

So Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is actively working on developing nuclear weapons, sends a statement of condolences saying, “He’s not the first martyr, nor will he be the last on this path. There will be hundreds and millions more” like him.

People, be prepared for a nuclear strike on Israel and/or the United States. Let their be no misunderstanding of the “path” that Ahmadinejad refers to.

Unfortunately, Mutually Assured Destruction is not a deterrent to Ahmadinejad…it’s an incentive. Sad but true. Welcome to the end times. Be ready.

Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.

I can’t find any links to verify the coma claim.

Step Away From the Buffet.

Excuse my ignorance here, but how bad can it be if the man bringing to the desk, the employees, and the police who responded didn’t even get sick? How is this transmitted? Other than the umbrella gun, has it ever been used as weapon?

sweeper on February 29, 2008 at 9:09 AM

Being in the Environmental, Health and Safety field working mainly in the chemical industry (most of my background is in hazardous materials management/emergency response) there are several factors that go into answering your question:

1) The route of entry the substance needs to take, e.g., inhalation, ingestion, or absorption/injection through the skin. Some substances are more hazardous when inhaled (like asbestos) while some are more hazardous when absorbed through the skin or ingested.

2) Exposure, you have to be exposed to the substance to have a response, in this situation the person bringing the ricin to the front office seems to not have been exposed. I’m not certain but I imagine the route of exposure for ricin would be inhalation, injection, and ingestion. Skin contact (unless the ricin contacted an open wound or sore) wouldn’t be a route of entry.

3) Dose/Response, you have to have a sufficient dose to have a response. While ricin is very deadly in small amounts you still have to have a sufficient exposure (dose) to get a response (sick or dead).

The steps the authorities had taken (decon) are standard procedure in a hazmat incident. This is not to say some of those that came into contact with the ricin (in particular the person bringing the material to the front desk and the person taking the material at the front desk) weren’t exposed and won’t show signs and symptoms of exposure to ricin later, that all depends on the items I pointed out above.

Also, ricin is good for killing a small number of people you have direct contact with (like injecting a ricin laced pellet into someone’s body) but to weaponize it to kill numerous people is much more difficult when you start getting into how to deliver it in an aerosol form in sufficient quantities and concentrations for people to get a sufficient dose.

I hope that answers some of your questions.

Didn’t the Clinton campaign stay here during the caucus? ;)

fourstringfuror on February 29, 2008 at 9:00 AM

Are you kidding? Someone in the Clinton campaign ran up a $25 K bill at the Belaggio.

I heard on Fox earlier that the hotel where this was found is located close to a water treatment plant.

Ricin isn’t very water-soluble. And you’d need a lot of it to contaminate a water supply such that it’d actually do damage to people. That isn’t a very likely scenario.

Also, if not related to terrorism, what exactly does the FBI think is a legitimate reason for a ‘container’ of ricin existing in a vacant hotel room?

Murder.

News reports here in Vegas were quick to dismiss any terrorist activity… how surprising.

Well yeah, because terrorism doesn’t work if you aren’t terrorized. Vegas is a vacation destination. Whether it is terrorism or just murder doesn’t really matter as far as law enforcement is concerned. But if you prance out the “terrorism” word, tourists stop coming to Vegas, which isn’t good.

A substance found at a motel may be the deadly toxin ricin, but authorities said Friday they don’t believe it was intended for a terrorist attack. Lab tests on the substance were pending and seven people were taken to hospitals as a precaution.

“This event does not appear to be terrorism related,” FBI spokesman Richard Kolko in Washington said Friday morning.