Posted on 04/04/2002 6:50:19 AM PST by 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.
"Those who would sacrifice their liberty for temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security." - Ben Franklin
So you're happy with the facts that:
1. Our airports now resemble armed camps, with tableaus indistinguishable from airports in a dictatorship.
2. The whole process is pointless for increasing security, and is just done for visual effect. (I can tell you half a dozen ways to defeat their pitiful efforts.)
3. Seven year old Caucasians are being screened and having their shoes tested (happened earlier this month to my son). Yessir, boy, that's going to catch a lot of terrorists.
I stand by my previous implication. Those who believe that the "feds know best" and anything goes to "increase security" are unthinking sheep.
Common sense is grounds for termination. It will not be tolerated!
But no, overpaid K-Mart cashier clerks, with government badges is NOT the security that I wanted. Criminal procecution of a senior that has a wrapped up pocket knife in his carry-on bag is not security. Groping my wife and kids is not security. Random baggage checks, random strip searches are not security.
WHICH IS IT? Give me my rights. Permit me to contract my own security. Simple.
Safer for whom? I don't think it's "safer" for me that I have to fly unarmed in the presense of those who seem able to get weapons through security at will.
Arm the passengers, and stop all this nonsense.
I use an 16 inch 1898 Turkish baynet to dig up weeds in my yard. I tell the neighbors that it is a mail-order gardening tool. My 65 year old Mom wants one.
We'll never have secure airports until we turn into a complete police state, which you seem perfectly happy with. You also ignore the following:
1. Terrorists with knives will never again take over a plane to crash it into something. That didn't even work all four times on 9/11. The passengers and crew will never let it happen again.
2. The solution is not to "secure airports" because airports don't crash into buildings. The obvious solution is to secure the airplanes - allow pilots and crew to be armed, and possibly to have federal marshalls or other law enforcement on the flight itself.
Whether you like or not, the current security at airports is nothing but a charade designed to make people (like you apparently) feel better. Didn't you see the newspaper articles a few weeks ago about how the investigators could get guns and knives through security with relative ease, even after 9/11? The current arrangements are not increasing security significantly, but they are certainly conditioning our people to accept police state measures.
As Red Foreman said: we're a society of rules, if it wasn't for rules we'd still be a bunch of monkies throwing crap at each other from trees.
Don't put words in my mouth. That was uncalled for.
If I have misunderstood you, I apologize. You could prevent that, however, by addressing some of the points I raise instead of just repeating "we have to follow the rules to have security!" over and over in different terminology.
Well I agree with you on this one. Of course I don't believe in a police state. I absolutely believe in "the right to bear arms" but I just think on planes it should be law enforcement and pilots. Maybe after seeing 9/11 happen in front of my eyes has made me leery of passengers.
NO! Stop making up stuff. Your implication that I would endorse such an idea drops your intelligence a few points.
Let me buy my security and you buy yours. If you want to fly naked on Virgin Airlines so that you are safe, you should be able to do it. If someone wants long lines, consultations with attourneys, psychologists, and retina scan badges valid only on day of purchase at American Airlines, you should be able to do it. If I want to want to fly Southwest Airlines with no security check point, locked carry-on storage containers, plain clothed armed security, armed pilots, and a complimentary bag of roasted nuts, I should be able to do it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.