Silver symbol of troubled times

Crawford Smith, dressed in coat and tie, stood in line at the Hampton Home Depot on his lunch hour to buy four rolls of silver duct tape.

He thinks his life might depend on it.

“I wanted to take precautionary measures,” Smith said, adding that he heard Tom Ridge, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, tell Americans last week to stockpile certain items in case of a terrorist attack involving chemical, biological or radiological weapons.

Besides, Smith said, “in case there isn’t an event, duct tape is something I can use later. I bought enough for myself and for my daughter; they have small children. After 9/11, I don’t think we can underestimate what can happen. I’d rather err on the side of being safe.”

Smith and a few other area residents have gone to stores in the past few days to prepare for a possible terrorist attack. They’ve been spurred by Homeland Security officials’ recommendations advising Americans to prepare for a possible attack by stockpiling food, blankets, water, flashlights and other items.

In addition, those officials said, people interested in surviving a terrorist attack should buy plastic sheeting and duct tape, so they can seal off an area inside their homes to protect themselves against air contaminated by biological, radiological or chemical terrorism.

Never in American history has simple duct tape assumed such prominence.

Though the Homeland Security Department mentioned it as only one item to stockpile, it has emerged as a symbol of American readiness or lack thereof.

After the Bush administration’s warning to begin stockpiling, some experts in germ, chemical and radiological warfare scoffed at the idea that someone could insulate themselves from harm with some plastic sheeting and duct tape.

Critics of the administration questioned if the warning was a way of scaring people and raising support for an Iraq invasion.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), a critic of American security efforts, has made duct tape his favorite sound bite.

“We have to do better than duct tape as our response to homeland defense,” he says.

Most shoppers at Home Depot and other stores dismissed the idea of buying duct tape, plastic sheeting and the other items, saying they don’t consider the danger imminent. They also said they don’t think duct tape is a sure-fire defense.

Don Richardson, of Hampton’s Beach Hardware, said his store hasn’t seen an increase in sales of duct tape, plastic or other items on the Homeland Security list.

Ditto for Wal-Mart, said spokesman Tom Williams.

Home Depot hasn’t exactly been besieged, but sales are definitely up, said Jackie Tate at the company’s home office in Atlanta. She called it “a spike in duct tape sales.”

The Hampton Home Depot sold 11 rolls of plastic sheeting one day last week -- a normal week’s sales -- and 26 rolls since the administration’s announcement, said sales clerk Jason O’Conner.