Latest scare for the birds

Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 10:01 a.m.

Nerves were rattled. That's for sure.

But now there is a solution to the monthlong mystery surrounding the white powdery substance spread by someone near the parked Mercedes of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman at City Hall.

Initial tests determined the substance wasn't anthrax. That was a relief to all.

Additional lab work now has found the white powder actually was a form of dried bird-droppings, authorities said Thursday.

Goodman, who publicly vowed to go after the unknown prankster with a baseball bat, remains angry.

"This cost the city a lot of money," the mayor said. "They had the fire department, the city marshals and the FBI out there. It was treated very seriously."

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