Three elderly people with knives arrested at Palm Beach airport

Drudge | April 4, 2002 | AP

[SLB]

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - (AP) -- Three passengers in their 70s were arrested and later released in separate incidents at Palm Beach International Airport for allegedly trying to board flights while carrying knives.

Security screeners found the knives in carry-on luggage during routine checks early Wednesday, airport sheriff's deputies said.

Authorities charged each traveler with carrying a concealed weapon, a first-degree misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to a year in the county jail and a $1,000 fine. The FBI declined to press federal charges.

According to sheriff's records, Harold Shepard, 71, of New York, told deputies he was not carrying knives. Officers said they arrested Shepard after finding a knife with a 7 ½-inch blade in a box that was taped shut. He was later released from jail on $250 bond.

In the other incidents, Elizabeth Napleton, 76, of Illinois, and Stanley Reinhart, 79, of California, were issued notices to appear in court and allowed to board their flights. Authorities did not release their hometowns.

Napleton told deputies that she had meant to check the briefcase containing the knives, but later decided to bring it on the plane, authorities said.

Reinhart was stopped while carrying a steak knife with a 5-inch blade packed in his shaving kit, authorities said. Reinhart said he had just driven across the country and had kept the knife to cut his food while he was staying in hotels.

[SLB]

The airport security checks have hit the point of being just plain stupid.

[areafiftyone]

Why the heck did they have to go and carry knives for. The excuse for cutting food is ridiculous. Most hotels will give you a knife if you want it. That was a dumb thing. Listen I don't care if they are senior citizens - everyone has to obey the rules in the airports there should be no exceptions. I don't care how old they are. They should have known better.

[neutrino]

Can't do profiling, now, can we?

Madness. Pure and simple.

[11th Earl of Mar]

My 74 year old father in law just flew into Michigan last week from West Palm. He discovered while packing for his return trip that he had a pocket knife in his carry on luggage on his flight to Michigan. But security did not catch it. Feel safer now?

[chiefqc]

While it is important to perform certain scans, it is just plain stupid not to have common sense.

But then again for the most part when does the federal goverment have to make any sense.

[Ward Smythe]

According to sheriff's records, Harold Shepard, 71, of New York, told deputies he was not carrying knives.

The other two look like mistakes. But this guy was lying...

[Goetz_von_Berlichingen]

Harold Shepard, 71, of New York,
Elizabeth Napleton, 76, of Illinois,
Stanley Reinhart, 79, of California.

Yup, they sure do fit the profile of the hijackers from 9/11. Part of the elaborate Grey Panthers international terrorist network.

This confirms CIA / FBI suspicions that the AARP is secretly funded by al-Qaeda.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Those folks just lost their 2nd ammendment rights because the penalty for those misdemeanors carrys the chance of a year in jail.

[csvset]

Whew! I'm glad these desperados were rounded up. Has Tom Ridge been notified? I wonder if this was a condition red? /sarcasm.

[scottiewottie]

You can never be too safe! Those gray panthers are setting us up the bomb!

Check in their dentures too, have you seen their carnage at the buffet table? Years of experience there! Don't step in their way as they move for the brownies and soft-serve.

You can't stop them! You can only hope to contain them!

[scottiewottie]

Rumor has it that Elizabeth took all her grandchildren to see "Harry Potter". Stop her now before she corrupts another generation.

[ethical]

The excuse for cutting food is ridiculous.

Nope. My 94 year old friend always takes her knife with her on trips to cut fruit. A lot of old people got a thing about their knifes, they sharpen em themselves and are particular about what knife they cut their food with.

[Joe Bonforte]

"Listen I don't care if they are senior citizens - everyone has to obey the rules in the airports there should be no exceptions. I don't care how old they are. They should have known better."

Bahh, bahh. Feddds make roools. Musttt obeyyyyy. Bahhhhhh. Dooooo notttt questionnnnn themmmm. Bahhhh.

[scottiewottie]

Depends! Could have been a "senior moment" or "somes-timers disease".

[SLB]

I don't care how old they are. They should have known better.

How old are you? My 87 year old mother would not hesitate to do these things for the past 10 or 15 years. Her excuse? The hijackers were young Arabs, I hardly am young or an Arab.

You have to realize how the elderly utilize their thought processes. Maybe you would rather we just euthanize all at age 65 rather than pay social security?

[Lumberjack]

Damn this crap. People carry knives because they are tools. Most of us grew up with pocket knives *always* in our pockets, and I'm more than certain that was the case with each of these harried citizens. This is just too plain simple stupid to be justified by even the most ardent JBT supporter.

Not that it won't be, of course.

[Ward Smythe]

Depends!

;-)

I have "senior moments" in my 40s. But the box the knife was in was "taped shut." It's not like he just tossed it in. I'm not implying he was a terrorist, just not using good judgment.

[areafiftyone]

YEA THATS RIGHT!! Look I don't like the idea of rules either but in order to make it safer we need them in place. Its funny how we ranted about airport safety after 9/11 and now that its in place and is picking up on alot of violations we start complaining about rights. We either want safety or we don't. WHICH IS IT?

[tracer]

The security checks in this case were not all that stupid -- when you consider that police academies around the world routinely use elderly men and women over 70 as key elements in their edged weapon defense classes....