(BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala.) March 10 -- It's one of those rules parents try to enforce every time their child goes to the bathroom, especially if that bathroom is public.
"Always wash their hands and use sanitizer," said Rudolph Scott, a father of two boys.
"We kind of have a rule that you want to wash your hands for at least 10 seconds under running water," emphasized Cecil Evans, mother of three.
But with word spreading about possible contaminated soap dispensers at area rest stops, some parents are bending their rule.
"I think I'll have to go to the store and get some hand sanitizer," admitted Scott. "It does make me nervous."
It all started Monday, when an employee who was cleaning the men's bathroom at the Alabama Welcome Center on I-10, noticed something strange inside the soap dispenser.
"It didn't look quite right and it had an odor to it," explained Tony Harris, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation. "We put out an advisory for all bathroom areas and welcome centers to be on the lookout for anything unusual."
The employee claimed the soap smelled like acid, so the Alabama Department of Transportation shut down the rest-stop and sent the soap to a lab for testing. The next day they learned a similar substance was discovered inside a men's bathroom at a Chilton County rest stop.
"It would be premature to speculate if the incidences are related," Harris continued, "but the substances are being tested."
For safety reasons ALDOT contacted surrounding states and told them to check all of their soap dispensers. Today, the Florida Department of Transportation discovered something suspicious inside a weigh station truck stop bathroom in Marion County, Florida. They turned their finding over to the FBI.
Marion officials would not reveal what they found inside the truck stop restroom, but they did tell us the bathroom is now closed to the public.
Test results could come in as early as Tuesday evening. NBC15 News will let you know the findings as soon as they come into our newsroom.
