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Posted: Saturday, September 11th, 2004 7:41 AM HST

Lingle's office receives rigged letter

By Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) _ Governor Lingle's office received an envelope in the mail Friday that authorities believe was rigged to ignite with a match. A Lingle spokesman says the booby-trapped letter, one of at least 15 received by governors' offices around the country, was not opened and did not burn or explode before it was turned over to the F-B-I. Federal and state investigators questioned Nevada prison inmates earlier today about suspicious letters possibly sent from a prison in Nevada to state capitols and to Nevada's corrections director. Lingle spokesman Russell Pang says the return address on the envelope received by Lingle's office was Nevada's maximum-security Ely State Prison, but it was postmarked September 7th from Las Vegas. Letters to other governors also had similar return addresses. The handwritten envelope addressed to ``Executive Chambers, State Capitol,'' in Honolulu was intercepted by Lingle adviser Lenny Klompus and not opened because staff had been alerted by the F-B-I. (Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved.)