[Sca-cooks] Threat Levels at Airports

[Elaine Koogler]

Kathleen A Roberts wrote:
> On Thu, 10 Aug 2006 10:09:11 -0400
>   Elaine Koogler <ekoogler1 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>    I also got checked
>   
>> out thoroughly 
>> to Pittsburg (on my 
>> a year ago when I flew to Michigan...I had my coronet in 
>> my carry-on and 
>> the screeners were concerned about this metal object 
>> with sharp 
>> points...despite the little balls on the end of each 
>> point!  I 
>> personally think they were just curious...wondered what 
>> that "thing" was!
>>     
>
> we got held up leaving ireland (couple years before 9/11) 
> because an x-ray of our suitcase revealed something of 
> 'interest'.  they requested the presence of husband at the 
> desk.   so i'm sitting and sitting in dublin airport 
> wondering if we were going to make the flight back home or 
> not.
>
> he comes back looking a bit sheepish.  seems they saw one 
> of his souveniers that had the outline of a giant bullet 
> or iddy-biddy torpedo.  definitely shell shaped.
>
> it was a flask he bought in dublin,  cylindrical with 
> several small cone shaped thimble cups held in place with 
> a leather strap on top for 'sharing' the waters of life 
> with friends.  once revealed, the inspectors thought it 
> was pretty cool and all left friends.
>
> so you see, the most innocent of things....
>
> and don't get me started on the woman in atlanta wanting 
> to swab our replica of the armagh chalice (pulled out of 
> the packing and box, mind you) for gunpowder residue or 
> some such.  PUH-leeze!!!!!!!!
>
> airports were crazy long before this.
>
> cailte
>   
I hear you....back before 9-11, in fact probably ten years before, I was 
stopped in the Atlanta airport at the scanner because I had a 
chemotherapy continuous feed pump on.  It was a metal box with a metal 
cylinder inside through which the tubes passed from the pouch containing 
the medication (also inside the box).  The tubes ran to a porta cath in 
my chest.  They insisted that I disconnect the pump so they could take 
it apart.  They persisted even when I presented a letter from my doctor 
identifying the machine and its purpose.  The only way I was able to 
convince them not to make me take it out was to tell them that if they 
persisted, they would have to provide me  a sterile environment, along 
with the syringes of heparin flush so that I could take it out and put 
it back in without the danger of introducing a deadly infection into my 
system.  When confronted with a situation that could lead to a lawsuit, 
they backed off.  Sigh. 

Kiri