True love prevails despite anthrax scare

By Lauren Rivera
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN ) -- On Friday, the eve of her wedding, Amanda Boone could finally put her engagement ring on her finger.

It wasn't that her fiance was procrastinating, or had gotten cold feet. No, the ring was held up in the mail, courtesy of an anthrax quarantine at a New Jersey postal facility.

At the Hamilton Township postal processing facility in New Jersey, the 23-year-old bride-to-be's eyes welled with tears as her intended, Thomas Cramer, signed his name on the package-release form, awkwardly opened a cardboard box and pulled out a jewelry box.

Then Cramer slipped the ring on her finger, a token of his love that he said "wasn't cheap."

"It finally feels official," said Boone as she gazed down at the three-quarter carat, heart-shaped diamond.

The package was special for another reason as well.

The ring was the first parcel to be released from that postal facility, which serves the Trenton region. The facility was closed October 18 for decontamination after investigators determined that the anthrax-laden letters sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, the New York Post and NBC News were all postmarked in that processing center.

Two New Jersey postal workers have since recovered from inhalation anthrax. Three others were diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax.

Cramer, 30, had sent the ring through the mail because he wanted to surprise his fiancee. To disguise the package, he sent it to his father in Ohio, who sent it back to his son in a different box.

Unfortunately, the package became stuck in the Hamilton facility when anthrax was found there and it was closed down.

"As it worked out, the surprise didn't really work," Cramer said.

Happily, the package was registered and insured. At a town hall meeting in late October on the anthrax situation, Cramer explained his dilemma to postal officials.

Trenton postmaster Joseph Sautello and North New Jersey Postal Inspector Anthony Esposito easily found the package, sanitized it, and delivered it the day before the wedding.

"It's the first piece of mail to be released and it's cause for celebration," said Esposito.

The next release of registered mail items is scheduled for Monday. General mail items must still be sanitized and are to be released over the next two to three weeks, according to New Jersey postal officials.

"My stepfather advises her to get the ring appraised," said Cramer as he escorted his fiancee off to pick up their wedding cake.