For the first time in many years, Eugene area shopping centers aren’t inviting kids to trick-or-treat within their walls this Halloween.
Mall officials made this decision out of concern that celebrating the holiday would be inappropriate in light of the Sept. 11 attacks, and that promoting trick-or-treating in their establishments this year is not the best choice.
Some mall employees, however, believe that a recent rash of threatening e-mails may have contributed to the decision.
The e-mails in question, copies of which can be found on the Urban Legends Research Centre Web site (www.ulrc.com.au), have appeared all over the country in several different variations, but the gist of all of them is the same. The e-mails contain information suggesting that just days before the Sept. 11 attacks, someone’s boyfriend (or girlfriend, in some cases) told their partner not to fly commercially on Sept. 11 and not to go to the mall on Oct. 31, causing rumors that malls would be unsafe today.
The Web site states that it was “inevitable” that someone would circulate such information in order to exploit the widespread concern about further terrorist attacks. The site also notes that the e-mails don’t contain any substantial or factual information and therefore should not be considered reliable sources.
The FBI has said that the e-mail predictions are unfounded. FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said the FBI does not consider the chain e-mails “a credible threat.”
Jan Power, spokeswoman for the Eugene Police Department, shared that sentiment.
“Eugene seems to be very low on the threat threshold,” she said.
Power also stated that as far as the police department knows, the e-mails are a hoax and should not be taken seriously. Police will be on heightened alert tonight, as they are every Halloween, but they will not be implementing any special security measures at Gateway Mall or Valley River Center, she said.
Several mall employees, both at Gateway and VRC, think that the e-mails prompted mall officials to decide to cancel trick-or-treating.
Vantah Keo, the store manager at Express Ltd. at VRC, said she received a letter from mall officials stating that the reason for calling off the Halloween tradition was the “inappropriate nature” of the festivities in light of the events that took place on Sept. 11.
But Keo said she believes the letter is not entirely honest, and mall management may have felt pressure to stop the event after hearing the rumors about the chain e-mails.
Ryan Cook, a sales associate at AT&T Wireless at VRC feels similarly.
“I think that it might be a little unsafe,” Cook said. “They (mall representatives) don’t want to put all those young people at risk.”
Though neither Gateway or VRC will sponsor Halloween events, both have made it the individual stores’ prerogatives to hand out candy.
Paul Daniel, the store manager at Gateway’s America The Beautiful Dreamer furniture store said that despite the mall’s official stance, his store will still give out treats. He said he is unconcerned about safety issues on Halloween night, and his employees have not expressed worry either.
Dana Vugteveen, general manager at Gateway, said the decision to cancel today’s events had been discussed since the Sept. 11 attacks but became official a few weeks ago.
He said because Halloween is a day that could involve “mischievous pranks,” mall officials thought children being with their families in their own neighborhoods and getting to know their neighbors was a safer bet this year.
Mall officials say the safety of shoppers and employees is their top concern for the holiday.