Government Officials Continue to Encourage "Tipsters"

September 21, 2002

Source: The Washington Times

On September 21, 2002 The Washington Times reported on "the incident surrounding the Georgia woman who called police last week after overhearing three men apparently talking about committing a terrorist act in Miami [FL] has raised concern among government officials that her experience might discourage other tipsters. Eunice Stone's tip proved to be a false alarm, but authorities, including Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, commended Mrs. Stone for her actions. Some Muslim groups called her a racist, saying she acted on her prejudice against the men, who are of Middle Eastern descent. Several days later Mrs. Stone, 44, was hospitalized with chest pains, possibly brought on by stress related to the name-calling and threats of lawsuits that followed the news of her phone call. 'I was really surprised at how critical people were of her actions,' Mr. Bush told reporters earlier this week. 'So I called her up on Saturday morning and said, 'you did exactly what the president of the United States has asked people to do.' Muslim groups argue that government and local police agencies need to 'fine-tune' their policies with regard to tips and other information they may receive from citizens on Muslims or other groups."