« Front Page More News »    Posted February 3, 2004 | 9:09 p.m. ET Suspicious Powder Tests Negative At Southern Connecticut P&DC Negative. That's what the Connecticut State Public Health Laboratory found after testing a granular substance leaking from an envelope sorted last night at the Southern Connecticut Processing and Distribution Center in Wallingford. The substance tested negative for ricin and anthrax. "I'm pleased that we were able to resolve this issue as quickly as we did," said Todd Hawkins, manager of the facility. "I certainly understand the concerns of our employees during a time like this and I appreciate their patience as we worked to learn the facts. Our 1,100 women and men do a great job of providing great service to our customers. I'm proud of them." Additional tests were conducted following an "inconclusive" preliminary field test by the Connecticut State Police Emergency Services Unit. Hawkins applauded the actions of the employee who identified the suspicious mail and took the proper steps in reacting to it. Those steps include: Package – don't handle it. Isolate the area. People – evacuate the area around the package and notify your supervisor. Plan – contact the Inspection Service, police and community first-responders. USPS and health officials had been monitoring the health of employees at the facility since the incident was reported yesterday.	If you’re looking for USPS News Link, it’s available only on the Postal Service intranet at blue.usps.gov/news/link. Link is a publication for USPS employees. If you’re an employee and would like to subscribe to the e-mail version of Link, send an e-mail with your name and work location to uspslink@usps.gov.