First Bioterrorism Attack on U.S. Soil Happened 20 Years Ago...

[XanaDUer]

Ore. Town Never Recovered From Scare
The Associated Press/October 19, 2001
By Gillian Flaccus
The Dalles, Ore. -- In 1984, followers of the Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh spiked salad bars at 10 restaurants in town with salmonella and sickened about 750 people.

The cult members had hoped to incapacitate so many voters that their own candidates in the county elections would win. The scheme failed, but the episode spread fear in The Dalles and drained the town's economy.

Seventeen years later, there are lots of things this quiet town would like to be known for - its lush cherry groves, its renovated downtown and its grand views of the sweeping Columbia River, among them. But not its role as the site of the first bioterrorism attack in modern U.S. history.

Some townspeople are bothered that the story is being retold as the news media cover the national anthrax scare...

http://www.rickross.com/reference/rajneesh/rajneesh8.html