Free Republic

Collier Sheriff's Office voids ticket given to medical student Earlier reports from authorities said that Kambiz Butt ran the tollbooth without paying. Thursday, September 19, 2002By BRIGID O'MALLEY, bmomalley@naplesnews.com   The Collier County Sheriff's Office has voided the ticket given to the driver of one of the cars stopped on Alligator Alley last week during a terrorism scare, saying the tollkeeper Wednesday recalled taking the $1.50 from the man. "She was very nervous at the time," said Collier Sheriff Don Hunter. He said the tollbooth attendant, who had earlier given a sworn statement that the driver hadn't paid, had spotted...

Eavesdrop if you must, but get facts straight David Porter September 21, 2002 I know how Eunice Stone must have felt. Stone is the woman who was eating in a restaurant near Interstate 75 in Georgia last week when she heard fragments of a conversation that she suspected might have been part of a terrorist plot. The three young Arab men who had been engaged in the conversation were stopped later in Florida and detained for 17 hours while they were checked out by authorities. When you overhear snatches of someone else's conversation, it's easy to reach a distorted conclusion...

<p>The story is over. It's yesterday's headline.</p> <p>Everyone involved has begun to recede back into normal life insofar as they had normal lives. But before it becomes just another strange memory of 2002, a worthy wave goodbye.</p> <p>Eunice Stone of Georgia is reportedly recovering from the chest pains that led her to check herself into a local hospital. The diagnosis was stress. The three young Muslim men with whom she had her now-famous encounter have reportedly announced they will not sue her, which is certainly gracious of them.</p>

Friends and former teachers of Truman High School graduate Omer Choudhary, one of three Muslim medical students detained last week in Florida, have offered encouragement and support in recent days, his father says."Many teachers have called, many high school classmates," said Javed Choudhary of Independence. "The support has been very positive."Even though authorities eventually released Omer Choudhary and his colleagues, the hospital where they planned to continue their studies said they were no longer welcome there. An administrator of Larkin Community Hospital in Miami said the decision was made after the hospital received scores of hostile e-mails.An alternate placement has...

They just showed the toll booth tapes of the Florida detainees on television. According to the newscaster, both cars stopped, and paid the attendant. The tapes show them doing exactly this. I'm not sure what to make of it, but the media is putting the tollbooth tapes into heavy rotation.

DAVIE, Fla. (AP) - Three medical students who were detained as terror suspects on a Florida highway are now being welcomed by the Miami hospital that turned them away after the incident, an American-Islamic relations activist said. Altaf Ali, executive director for Florida's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Saturday that an agreement was reached last week to let the men study at Larkin Community Hospital, where they had been headed when they were pulled over by police Sept. 13 and detained for 18 hours while robots and bomb-sniffing dogs searched their cars. The search, sparked by complaints...

Collier Sheriff's Office voids ticket given to medical student Earlier reports from authorities said that Kambiz Butt ran the tollbooth without paying. Thursday, September 19, 2002By BRIGID O'MALLEY, bmomalley@naplesnews.com The Collier County Sheriff's Office has voided the ticket given to the driver of one of the cars stopped on Alligator Alley last week during a terrorism scare, saying the tollkeeper Wednesday recalled taking the $1.50 from the man. "She was very nervous at the time," said Collier Sheriff Don Hunter. He said the tollbooth attendant, who had earlier given a sworn statement that the driver hadn't paid, had spotted the...

ARCADIA, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday he telephoned the Georgia woman who alerted authorities of last week's possible terror threat to thank her for the warning. Eunice Stone said she overheard three men possibly discussing terrorist plans at a Calhoun, Ga., restaurant on Thursday. Ayman Gheith, Kambiz Butt and Omar Choudhary were pulled over early Friday in southwest Florida and, as the nation watched on live television, were detained for 17 hours as their vehicles and possessions were searched. They were released after no evidence of terrorism was found. As recently as live interviews on Tuesday morning television...

Comments.

Three men detained on terrorist suspicions still under investigation Sheriff Hunter said he had new information on the trio before the medical students appeared on Larry King Live Tuesday, September 17, 2002By MIREIDY FERNANDEZ, mmfernandez@naplesnews.com Just hours before the three men who were detained in Collier County on suspicion of carrying explosives appeared on CNN on Monday night, Sheriff Don Hunter said he had new information on the trio, whose alleged joking comments about a terrorist plot ignited fears across America last week. "We believe the information (in this case) is not over because of other uncorroborated information we have...

AVIE, Fla., Sept. 15 (AP) — Insisting that he and his friends harbored no resentment, one of the three Muslim medical students detained in a terror scare on a Florida highway said today that the situation had been a misunderstanding.The student, Kambiz Butt, 25, said the men simply wanted to clear their names and be allowed to continue their education in the United States."We're medical students; we are not terrorists," said Mr. Butt, flanked at a news conference by the other students, Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar Choudhary, 23. "Our concern in life is to become doctors. We want...