Residents express fear and anger, tourists keep on gambling in face of anthrax scare

Thursday, Feb. 19, 1998 | 8:37 a.m.

"What are the symptoms of anthrax?"

"Which road do I take out of town?"

"Are my children safe?"

"Everybody needs to take a deep breath and calm down!"

As reports filtered out about the arrests of two men on charges of possessing a deadly germ, residents flooded the phone lines of local radio stations Thursday seeking answers, advice, comfort and, as the day wore on, vengeance.

People were responding to the remote - but still terrifying - chance that this desert valley could have come under biological attack. Radio hosts, in turn, played one part news source and one part counselor as the worried calls came in.

"A lot of people were calling our station for information on what to do, whether they should be alarmed, what the symptoms of anthrax are and whether they should get out of town," said Kevin Malone, news director of KVBC-FM radio. "We kept telling people: Don't be alarmed, the FBI has assured us that none of this has been released."

The talk station went wall-to-wall anthrax coverage, suspending its usual syndicated shows, commercials, traffic reports and weather updates.

In the morning, the callers were mostly from those worried about their personal safety or that of their children.

The FBI had just confirmed anthrax may have been in the Mercedes Benz that two men parked outside a medical office. The Mercedes was wrapped in plastic and shipped off to Nellis Air Force Base for testing after agents arrested 46-year-old Larry Wayne Harris of Ohio and 47-year-old William Leavitt of Nevada.

But as the day wore on, and fears subsided, the mood turned increasingly to anger.

"Most of the calls have been very 'anti' the suspects," said Sam Greenfield, an afternoon drive host on the talk station KXNT-AM. "Most of the calls have been: They should be strung up. One person said: 'I would like to find out if this really was anthrax by putting the suspects in a room and opening the vials."'

Other callers, however, urged caution, saying that the men deserve due process rights, as frightening as the alleged act was. But such sentiment was drowned out by comments like the one from one man, who told KXNT, "I can't believe this is happening a block from where my children sleep."

Despite talk of anxiety, about 20 toddlers played in a preschool yard across the street from where the arrests occurred the night before. "Hey, Mr. government man," a little girl yelled at a TV reporter.

In the casinos, the news hardly was enough to interrupt the gambling.

"It kinda makes you a little apprehensive," said Cecile Lebedow of Kelowna, B.C., who heard about the incident earlier in the day. "But I don't think it would stop us from coming to Las Vegas, or stop us from gambling."

Locals, though, still worried about their precious tourism industry.

"I know out-of-towners don't want to hear about this kind of thing," said Marge Zielke, a Las Vegan playing a quarter slot machine at the Main Street Station Hotel and Casino downtown. "Tourists come here to have fun. I just hope the city takes care of its people."