By Sara Israelsen
A BYU student was in the mailroom where an envelope containing the lethal poison ricin was opened Monday, Feb. 2, 2004 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington D.C.
Elizabeth Lewis, a print journalism major from Humboldt, Tenn., is an intern for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who the ricin-laced letter was sent to. She said she has been instructed not to say anything about the ricin scare.
'I''m not allowed to say anything,' she said, 'but I can tell you I was right next to the letter when it was opened. I was in the mailroom. But I''m fine, everyone''s fine.'
Lewis said she has been told to wait for the green light before she talks to the press in detail.
Lewis is on an internship through BYU''s Washington Seminar.
BYU has 45 interns in Washington Seminar this semester, with 13 of those interns working on Capitol Hill.
Washington Seminar faculty adviser R. J. Snow said he couldn''t fully comment yet, as he is still collecting information.
'None of our people have been affected,' he said. 'We''ll take whatever precautions we need to, but the Senate closed the appropriate buildings, and they have an excellent protection system, so we have heard of no problem.'
On Capitol Hill, all three Senate office buildings were shut Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004 and were to be closed Wednesday, too. They could be closed the rest of the week.