A gay bar in Iowa was sent a letter that purported to contain the lethal disease Anthrax.
A bar in Des Monies called The Blazing Saddle was sent a homophobia letter, which contained a powder, which the sender reported was anthrax.
The powder was revealed to be foot powder, however, the threat was taken very seriously by local law enforcement. A local man, Eric Reece Wiethorn, 49, has since been arrested for posting the letter and has been charged with first-degree harassment.
The letter reads:
“It’s time for all the faggots and dykes to die on Capital Pride night!
“Your secret enemies are going to blow up your destination for going to hell tonight, and were going to eat roast faggot the following morning.
“This is your punishment for sinning against God, and hopefully you’ll die from the anthrax on this letter!”
Speaking to the Des Moines Register, co-owner of The Blazing Saddle said,
“I opened the mail up thinking it was a thank you letter, it turned out to be a hate letter.
“[It said] faggot this, faggot that… and a white powder popped out, so I thought ‘call the police now’, because you don’t know.
“We were locked down until hazmat came and examined it, it turned out to be talcum powder.
“It’s very childish, very hateful, and I though this city had grown up more than that.”
He added: “We get hate mail like this every once in a while but never powder.”
There have been a number of attacks using Anthrax in the past, one of the most notorious was the 2001 Anthrax attacks which targeted news media offices and two US Senators.
