Public should think
safety at airports
By Violeta Rocha
Reporter

   Security measures at airports after Sept. 11 are still active because of terrorism and actions of immature passengers.
   I understand people were afraid to fly and others were impatient because security measures caused delays after Sept. 11. But after three years of such measures, some passengers cause problems and delays trying to fool the system.
   I get concerned how some people have already forgotten that safety is the main reason for these measures. In only the first two months of the year, immature actions have put police to work.
   Samantha Marson, 21, British student, decided to play a joke at Miami’s airport.
   “Hey, be careful; I have three bombs in here,” she told a transportation security administration screener at the checkpoint.
   Marson was arrested and charged with a second-degree felony for making a false report about a bomb.
   In Britain, Marson’s father Jim, 75, said, “I’m sure Samantha will accept that it’s a silly thing to say, but she’s the sort of girl who might have thought it would make people laugh.”
   Obviously, airport security didn’t laugh, and she didn’t either after being jailed for two weeks awaiting trial.
   In another incident, Dale Robbin Hersh, 52, an American Airline pilot, was held and fined after he raised his middle finger as airport security staff in Brazil took his photo.
   Hersh might have been upset about the order from Brazil to photograph and fingerprint all U.S. citizens entering the county, a tit-for-tat response to U.S. actions.
   His action could result in as much as a two-year jail term.
   People must take security seriously, no matter what country they are in. Security is not a game or a challenge.
   Political figures have attitude problems, too. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., attempted to take a plane from Albuquerque for the Democratic    presidential campaign when he had a penknife confiscated.
   “We must look dangerous,” he joked when he was forced to go through a metal detector along with other passengers.
   His action caused a one-hour delay.
   Edwards should know police don’t have time to joke or to judge if people look or do not look dangerous.
   Some people don’t want to cooperate with security, but when tragedies happen, the government will be blamed for not ensuring the safety of citizens.
   Waiting for three hours is tedious, but we live in a complicated world where dangerous things can happen at any minute with the most insignificant thing.
   If I can help by being patient and obeying security measures, I’m willing.