OFFICIALS FIELD PUBLIC'S QUESTIONS ON TERROR.

Byline: - Lisa Faught

When Joan Nay received a letter from an address in Florida she didn't recognize, she and her husband joked about whether the piece of mail was laced with anthrax.

Still, when she finally decided to open the letter, she donned rubber gloves and a bandanna just in case. Turns out the envelope held junk mail and not a trace of powder.

But the caper awakened her fears for postal workers, who face strange packages and letters every day.

``I am concerned about the postal workers, the people who are on the so-called front lines of dealing with all this,'' Nay said. ``I'm worried about the people who have to deal with millions of pieces of mail.''

Her questions about how the Pasadena post office is protecting its employees amid a recent spate of anthrax infections on Capitol Hill were answered at a Town Hall meeting of about 100 people at the Pasadena Senior Center on Monday night.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, assembled a panel of public safety, health and postal officials to field questions about threats of bioterrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks.

The panel included Phyllis Bushart, CEO of St. Luke Medical Center, Ernie Mitchell, chief of the Pasadena Fire Department, and Kevin Lake, director of Respiratory Services at Arcadia Methodist Medical Center.

``Certainly the arrival of anthrax at the Capitol has brought home terrorism in a graphic way,'' Schiff said.

But he cautioned against letting fear keep people at home.

``We're all much more at risk getting into the car and trying to get through L.A. traffic,'' Schiff said.

The questions touched on a number of issues, including aid workers being barred in Afghanistan, expanding government power to investigate terrorism and beefing up airline security.

Schiff, who said the challenge for legislators is to balance tougher laws with civil liberties, is working on a number of bills related to Sept. 11, including a move to train local and state law enforcement officers to volunteer as air marshals while traveling on vacation or business.