- 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 hadnât 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. Thatâs 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 arenât 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 thereâs
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.
- http://www.duncanbanner.com/viewarticle.php?id=2
|
