Just what was that white stuff covering vehicles?

[Guest guest]

> KD Weber wrote:

>

> ED NOTE: Undoubtedly barium a la chemtrails!

>

>

http://www.duncanbanner.com/viewarticle.php?id=2261 & PHPSESSID=304aa5f79b18f2b339\

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>

> 12/19 - Just what was that white stuff?

>

> Written by: Toni Hopper/The Duncan Banner

>

> [image]

>

> What was that powdery substance covering vehicles throughout

> Stephens County on Wednesday?

>

> Was there a volcano eruption somewhere in the world, dropping

> ash on Duncan?

>

> Maybe it was some unknown chemical sprayed from an airplane as

> it flew over southern Oklahoma during the early morning hours.

> Was it acid rain? A terrorist attack? Fairy dust?

>

> As questions about the mysterious “dust” began coming into The

> Banner office and became a topic of conversation around town

> Wednesday, my investigative instincts kicked in.

>

> I heard a patron at Duncan Public Library make an odd remark.

> I had an animated discussion with several library aides.

>

> “It’s those al-Qaida terrorists,” an elderly gentleman

> surmised. He grabbed up his books and started to leave, loudly

> warning everyone, “Don’t lick your windshields.”

>

> Everyone laughed.

>

> Then library employees Kim Dickson and Jackie Wilmoth asked me

> to follow them outside to the parking lot. I was astonished to

> see their cars covered in the powdery substance. Dickson even

> snapped pictures of her vehicle.

>

> I began to feel like one of those forensic investigators on

> the television show “C.S.I.”

>

> I recalled seeing similar white spots on my vehicle earlier in

> the day. At the time, I hadn’t given them a second thought.

> Now my curiosity was winning out, and I needed to know: What

> was that stuff?

>

> Not only were the patrons and library employees wondering,

> apparently the discussion also was occurring at many locations

> throughout Duncan. Students at Red River Technology Center

> reportedly discussed it, and diners at various restaurants

> mused over their lunches about the powdery substance.

>

> Calls came in to The Banner. After all, people at the paper

> reportedly know everything.

>

> Veteran Air Force flight engineer Darrel Cooper was one of

> those callers. His main reason for calling was to request we

> find someone to analyze the substance.

>

> “I live up on Greenbriar, eight or 10 blocks north of the

> hospital,” he said. “I think it’s from an airplane. I didn’t

> want to taste it. I know, when I was in the Air Force, they’d

> use their toilets in flight. Before they’d land, they’d open

> the valve and dump it.”

>

> Cooper continued, “I don’t think that’s what it was. I’m just

> curious. It’s all over around my house, on the lid of the

> trash can. And all the cars in this neighborhood.”

>

> He also speculated the substance had been carried into Duncan

> by an airplane on a flight pattern across the community. But

> when I told him Dawn Price, a Comanche County health worker

> from Fort Sill, also reported it on her car, Cooper was

> stumped as to how a substance from one plane would cover such

> a wide area.

>

> Price, too, stopped at the library Wednesday morning. She said

> her vehicle was clean as late as 11 p.m. Tuesday. On

> Wednesday, she discovered the substance on her car. She, too,

> hadn’t given it much thought — at first.

>

> People shopping at Wal-Mart between 11 p.m. and midnight

> reported their cars were clean when they entered the store,

> but they found the vehicles covered with the powdery substance

> when they got back outside. Cokie Kifer felt sprinkles on her

> head when she was walking into Wal-Mart around 11:30 p.m.

> Tuesday. She assumed it was rain.

>

> Associate Editor Jeff Kaley and I conjured up the scenario of

> a massive fire somewhere in the community, which might have

> dumped ash around during the night.

>

> There were no such reports from Tuesday evening.

>

> Cooper scoffed at the fire idea. He said a simple cotton swab

> and analyzed test would prove his theory that someone might

> have dumped something from an airplane.

>

> “Maybe they had something they couldn’t land with. I know I’m

> not going to taste it,” he said.

>

> Several people concurred with his notion that the substance

> might have been a chemical powder. That’s the power of the

> subconscious terrorism threat Americans have shared the past

> year.

>

> Ryan City Clerk Diane Williams said, “Years ago, we felt very

> secure and comfortable. Since Sept. 11, that isn’t true.”

>

> Cooper suggested, “Call the EPA. You know, with all this stuff

> going on in the world....”

>

> Other folks offered simpler, more logical explanations, like

> my son, Tim; Kaley’s wife, Karen; and Marlow firefighter Jimmy

> Worthley. They said the substance was just dirty rain.

>

> Their theory: Late Tuesday night, a light rain storm that was

> a mixture of moisture and dust passed through parts of the

> community. Such occurrences aren’t unknown in this part of the

> world.

>

> But that just seems too easy an answer — and it doesn’t have

> the intrigue of other suggestions.

>

> Consequently, I’m not convinced and until someone, like a

> legitimate chemist, can prove to me what the substance is, I

> think there’s more to it than just a brief rain.

>

> Of course, my mother always said I had an overactive

> imagination. Must be all those books I read.

>

> You draw your own conclusions.

>

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