Incident at airport, report about alleged al-Qaida operative in Tappahannock have town buzzing

The Free Lance-Star (Fredricksburg) ^ | 1/2/2004 | MICHAEL ZITZ and PORTSIA SMITH

[cebadams]

A New Year's Eve incident at Tappahannock Municipal Airport had townspeople talking yesterday, but there was little anxiety about reports linking the village of 2,000 to al-Qaida terrorism.

According to the FBI, an illegal alien tried to enter the airport late Tuesday afternoon, then fled.

And the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported yesterday that unnamed sources said a Tappahannock resident has been under investigation for some time on suspicion of financing or assisting al-Qaida.

Airport Manager John McDonald said the Virginia State Police pursued a car that tried to enter the airport grounds, then sped off at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. State police overtook the car and stopped it.

"I don't know what happened," McDonald said yesterday. "They're pretty tight-lipped."

William Lowery IV, co-owner of Lowery's Seafood Restaurant, a Tappahannock landmark, said customers were coming in and talking about the airport incident, but most aren't worried.

"We don't think we have to worry about [the airport] being used to blow up little Tappahannock," Lowery said.

The state police and the FBI confirmed the incident, but said it's no reason for concern.

"He did try to gain access," State Police Superintendent W. Steve Flaherty said yesterday about the driver of the car. "I don't know how, or what turned him around."

"We don't know why he got nervous and left," Flaherty said. "There's nothing to it. No significance. No arrest, no charges at this point."

Supervisory Special Agent Lawrence J. Barry, the spokesman for the FBI's Richmond office, said the man who tried to get into the airport was an illegal alien.

"It had nothing to do with terrorism," Barry said. "It's an immigration matter, and I assume it's been turned over to the INS."

Flaherty said state police special agents assigned to monitor the airport stopped the man, but he did not know how long the vehicle had to be pursued.

He said the man is not considered a person of interest--"certainly not at this point."

Essex County Sheriff Stanley Clarke said yesterday that he was unaware of the airport incident.

Clarke also said he was unaware of any Tappahannock resident being investigated for alleged al-Qaida ties, as the Times-Dispatch reported.

The newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying someone who lives in Tappahannock is being investigated on suspicion of financing or assisting al-Qaida.

The investigation has been ongoing since before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security put a Code Orange, or high, terrorism alert into effect Dec. 21. The story said the investigation is the real reason Tappahannock has been the focus of attention, not supposed al-Qaida "chatter" references to the town.

This came as a surprise to Sheriff Clarke.

"Nobody told us anything about a suspect," Clarke said. "We were just told to keep our ears and eyes open if anything unusual happens and just do our jobs as normal."

State Police Superintendent Flaherty said, "I won't comment one way or another" about the possibility of an investigation into a person in Tappahannock with possible al-Qaida ties.

The FBI's Barry also declined to comment.

Flaherty dismissed national news reports since Dec. 23 that have speculated that al-Qaida may be targeting Tappahannock to show Americans they're not safe anywhere in the heartland.

"It's safe to say Tappahannock wasn't a terrorist target," Flaherty said yesterday.

He laughed about comments on Tappahannock broadcast this week on MSNBC-TV's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."

Olbermann, the news show's anchor, asked Asha M. George, director of the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security, a public research organization, about Tappahannock.

According to a transcript, Olbermann said:

"The latest that NBC sources are producing here is that the most serious specific threats remain the Valdez Pipeline Terminal in Alaska; something about Vegas; Air France flights, again; Aero Mexico, perhaps; maybe British Airways; and this continuing mystery of mystery, Tappahannock, Virginia. Have you got any indication, has anybody got any indication about what possibly could be the interest in a town of about 1,000 people in the wilds of Virginia?"

George replied: "Well, it's not the town itself, it's that that town is near a number of other areas, a shopping center, for example. But, what we have to realize is any place in the United States really is a target or could be a target. It all depends upon what our enemy, al-Qaida or otherwise, really wants to accomplish with a terrorist event. It could be that they want to attack the American heartland or it could be that they want to attack our seats of government, or it could be anything."

George didn't return phone calls from a reporter yesterday.

Flaherty said even though an attack on Tappahannock is not a serious concern, he's glad people are talking.

"We asked everybody to be vigilant, and they are," he said. "And they're sharing lots of information. Thank goodness the majority of it doesn't turn out to be anything. This has to be a team effort, and it is."

McDonald said the state police have the Tappahannock airport under 24-hour surveillance.

Flaherty said the state police have added extra patrols at a number of places around Virginia because of the Department of Homeland Security's heightened state of alert.

"We're doing a lot of things as a result of the orange alert, and we're giving attention to airports even those that are remote, in rural areas," he said.

Staff librarian Andi Markley and staff writer Elizabeth Pezzullo contributed to this story.

To reach MICHAEL ZITZ: 540/374-5408 mikez@freelancestar.com

[cebadams]

Interesting ...

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
3	Canada	175.00	3	58.33	179	0.98	20.00	1

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[Peach]

Wow! This is interesting.

[Moonman62]

"It had nothing to do with terrorism," Barry said. "It's an immigration matter, and I assume it's been turned over to the INS."

They probably gave him a voter registration card and let him go.

[tgslTakoma]

"We don't know why he got nervous and left," Flaherty said. "There's nothing to it. No significance. No arrest, no charges at this point."

Supervisory Special Agent Lawrence J. Barry, the spokesman for the FBI's Richmond office, said the man who tried to get into the airport was an illegal alien.

"It had nothing to do with terrorism," Barry said. "It's an immigration matter, and I assume it's been turned over to the INS."

Incredible!

[cebadams]

No arrest, no charges at this point.

Apparently being an illegal alien is not enough to get you arrested :-(

[sneakers]

Just my 2 cents but, in a village of just 2000 people, everybody knows everybody else (one would assume). If something suspicious was going on, it would seem that the locals would know something. Then again.......

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

The Great Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas, George Washington, James Madison, Martha Custis, Patrick Henry, Henry Clay, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Nathaniel Bacon [just to name a few] all left their marks on the land in Eastern Virginia as well as the rest of the country.

Tappahannock is not far from the place of our nation's birth [obviously IMHO Plymouth Rock does not count.]
ANY attack on a small Tidewater Virginia town would be an attack on the memories and spirits of those who gave so much to give us this great nation. Just My Humble Opinion.

[cebadams]

I've been thinking about this since it was first reported and I guess I'm not convinced yet that U.S. history plays a roll in target selection. Almost any county along the east coast can tie itself back to some founding historical point.

There has to be another reason for Tappahannock to be mentioned.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

You are probably right. I have a vague recollection of mention in the press about an Islamic group centered somewhere in Eastern Virginia.

Regardless....I would perceive an attack on Tappahannock as I described. It is personal now but no where near as personal as it would be.

[Prodigal Son]

Just my 2 cents but, in a village of just 2000 people, everybody knows everybody else (one would assume). If something suspicious was going on, it would seem that the locals would know something. Then again.......

LOL, I bet in a village that small, there's one eccentric fellow everybody else suspects of just about every odd thing that happens around there. I'd hate to be that guy right now.

[Corin Stormhands]

Actually, there's a lot of drug traffic thru Tappahannock. It's accessible by boat from the Chesapeake Bay and it's not that far from I-95 and other major routes north.

[Jimmy Valentine]

This one I can't figure out. This beautiful town sits on the sleepy Rappahannock (sp?) down in good old Virginia.

What terrorists would ever do down there, I don't know. Maybe screw up the peanut crop?

Regards,

[putupon]

What terrorists would ever do down there, I don't know. Maybe screw up the peanut crop?

Easy access to DC, Norfolk, loads of military bases around.

Nice quiet place to work the counter of the 7-11 and funnel money around to support other terrorists, or wait for orders to go do something nasty yourself like throw the remote control detonator as a container ship as it enters Baltimore, Norfolk, Philadelphia, DC.

[hershey]

the shopping mall, obviously.

[cardinal4]

ANY attack on a small Tidewater Virginia town would be an attack on the memories and spirits of those who gave so much to give us this great nation. Just My Humble Opinion.

But its a good one and I wholeheartedly concur..

[DoctorMichael]

"......illegal alien......"

"......There's nothing to it. No significance. No arrest, no charges at this point......"

Huh?

Virginia Bump.

[Rebelbase]

From what I can tell after looking on Yahoo maps and the 2000 county by county election map (in my profile), Tappahannock appears to be the only Blue Zone area of NE Virginia.

[independentmind]

Have you got any indication, has anybody got any indication about what possibly could be the interest in a town of about 1,000 people in the wilds of Virginia?"

Tappahannock is hardly "in the wilds of Virginia." Where do they come up with this stuff?

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Tappahannock is on the Rappahannock River [otherwise known as the Rivah] flowing from Fredricksburg into the Chesapeake Bay. Tappahannock has one of the few bridges (if not the only major bridge) for traffic leading to & from Eastern Virginia. Of course, there are other bridges, but it does involve a bit of a drive.

Possible scenario....Destroy the bridge and follow that with another attack anywhere in Eastern VA. One major escape traffic route destroyed. More delay in getting rescue vehicles to any site in the Northern Neck and citizens away from danger.

Maybe a little farfetched, but the secret is to expect the unexpected and the farfetched.