Powder scares at 2 LDS temples, Catholic plant

"We are working to find out what it is and hopefully it's harmless," Becerra told the Deseret News.

Firefighters said they did not see anything of a threatening nature with the envelope.

Because the annex is a separate building, the temple itself was not evacuated. However, church security did not allow anyone to come or go while hazmat teams were there. A portion of North Temple was also closed to traffic.

"At first, we thought it was maybe picketing again," said Poulsen Udall, who was inside the temple at the time.

He was referring to mass protests outside Temple Square last week against the LDS Church's backing of Prop. 8. Similar demonstrations were held outside LDS temples in California and New York.

"It's a sad thing that all of this is going on," said Udall's wife, Pauline.

At the LDS Church's temple in Westwood, Calif., the grounds were closed Thursday afternoon after an employee there opened an envelope similar to the one at church headquarters in Salt Lake City.

"They received an envelope with a suspicious white powdery substance," Los Angeles police officer Karen Smith told the Deseret News. "It's been cleared and there was no hazardous material."

In New Haven, Conn., workers at a printing plant for the Knights of Columbus opened the envelope containing white powder. Hazardous materials teams responded, Korten said, and took it to a lab to be tested.

"We do not yet know what was in that envelope," he said.

The Knights of Columbus did not know if it had been targeted over Prop. 8.<

"We've got a great deal of pretty vulgar communication from people who are not happy with our role to help pass Prop. 8," Korten said. "Whether this has any connection or not, we don't know."

The LDS Church declined to speculate on whether Prop. 8 had a role in the hazardous materials scares.

"We're working with local law enforcement and the FBI," church spokesman Scott Trotter said.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com