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.
Sorry you can't have a dialogue with people without insulting them!
I guess you haven't watched a House or Senate session on TV lately! The only thing missing is the trees and their loving huggers.
The "El Al" myth get way too much play around here. El Al profiles. They profile profusely. End of story. Further, they require at least a 24 hour advance check in so they can do a background security check on all passengers. On El Al, Bubbi and Zeda (Yiddish for gramma and grandpa) are allowed on the flight with their fingernail clippers and even a paring knife if they've packed one. They've been profiled and checked. That Moslem gut who just traveled from the West Bank? Well... he might not make his flight this week while the police get a few answers out of him on his recent.. ahem... associations. Common sense prevails.
But there's the logistical scale: El Al sends out about 50 flights per day worldwide compared to our - what? - two or three thousand? If the United States wanted to implement El Al style security, the combined numbers of the FBI, the INS, and the BATF would still not be sufficient to get the job done. Our solution? Let's pretend we're doing something by strip searching gramma, grandpa, and little four year old freckle faced Sally Jones from Whitebread, Wisconsin. Meanwhile, politikal korrektness dictates that we let every third M.E. Moslem go unchecked lestwe be accused of "profiling."
Screw 'em all. I'll stay home, drive, or take the train, in that order of priority.
I didn't imply that you would endorse the idea. I don't care what or who you endorse. But you seem to be taking this personally and thats your problem.
And occasionally a teacher would ask to borrow "one of you boys' knives" during class and think nothing of it. And in the South even having a gun in your car was okay since boys going shooting or hunting after school was no more unusual and caused no more alarm than going golfing or fishing.
This wasn't that long ago. It's a different world now.
ALL security comes at a sacrifice of liberty and convenience, that's how it works. That's how security works. So the question isn't will we lose liberty in exchange for security, the question is how much will we lose compared to our gain. And frankly, not being allowed to have knives in your carry-on luggage is no big deal. You can still bring knives on your trip, but it has to go in your checked luggage.
And anybody who thinks it'll never happen again: BS. One thing all criminals know is that the fastest way to end protest is to make somebody bleed, a few stabbings on the way will give you control of the plane. If the bad guys can get knives on the planes 9-11 could happen all over again tomorrow. Sure they might get a 25% success rate instead of 75%, but only losing 1 tower of the WTC isn't much of an improvement to the situation. Remember the only reason it was 75% and not 100% was that these guys were encouraging people to use their cell phones and make their final fairwells. The people on the 4th plane were compliant until they got word from the ground that they weren't the only hijack victims and what had happened to the others. No cell phone calls and we actually find out what the 4th target is the hard way.
I will agree with you if you will agree that the new fed thugs have to obey the 4th Amendment.
Drive whenever possible. In addition to driving whenever possible, I now send the airlines my itinerary for each trip along with how much they lost in revenue.
Say, there's a reasonable response.
Same mentality used when advising that all Republicans want to starve children & throw the old into the street.
"how about if everyone carried weapons on board - that includes nutjobs"
NO apology!
I'm with you. I've flown a bunch of times since 9/11, and each time I go through my belongings and remove anything metallic--scissors, nail files, clippers, pocket knife. It's more than just complying with the law -- who wants to be hassled when it's so easy to think before you board?
(Of course, brainiac here wore a navy blazer with brass buttons home for Easter. That got me time in line and a feel-up by the local gendarme.)
Fellow Conservatives, we have lost the fight if this becomes the mantra of the American people.
Governments have killed, terrorized more people in recorded history than all the rag heads combined. If you surrender your liberties to any government in exchange for their pledge of your security then you deserve what you get. Just don't presume to surrender my rights.
That being said I'm not sure all of our new airport security measure are necessary or even helpful. But the way to get rid of them ISN'T to protest their fair and even application (sorry but no matter how you slice it everybody should have all the security meassures applied equally, I believe in profiling to help focus attention where it belongs, but people that don't fit the profile should be allowed to break the rules), but to actually work to get them removed.
Even if simple, reasonable measures, that already existed before 911 were enforced, we may not be talking about it now. The government failed us to some degree, now most people place their trust in the same government to save us. They might, but the cost to liberty may be too high.
Er, you do realize that you've just destroyed your own argument, right?
The success rate against passengers who know that hijacking is no longer about clowns wanting a free ride to Cuba (but are otherwise unprepared) turns out to be, not 75%, but 0%.
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