TACOMA — Powder on a letter addressed to the Sequim Police Department helped to set off a terrorism scare Tuesday that shut down a huge U.S. Postal Service distribution center for more than 12 hours.
A white powder found with the Sequim-addressed envelope and others in a mailbag tested negative for any biological substance.
But in between the discovery of the powder shortly after midnight and an all-clear signal Tuesday afternoon, the huge distribution center was evacuated and cordoned off, and a National Guard weapons of mass destruction team was summoned.
A total of 94 people were evacuated from the postal clearinghouse, which handles millions of pieces of mail daily to and from the North Olympic Peninsula and elsewhere in Western Washington.
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