Not Sure How "Safe" I Would Feel...

[monsterkitty]

monster kitty - did the chaperone have an in loco parentis letter? if so, i think she would have had grounds to be in the room.

if not....a good lesson for the chaperone/parents in the future.

i think a lot of americans take things for granted that they really probably shouldn't.

Yes, she had a notarized letter. However, the TSA agent said that even her parents would not have been allowed in the room with her. This policy has since changed and parents are now able to stay with a child who has been pulled aside for screening. This wasn't the case when my niece was pulled to another room. At that time neither parents nor guardians could be near the child.

 

[toto2]

I agree with the need of security , but arent we consudered innocent until proven guilty ? I guess security should not mean not having a minimum of respect and being polite to a minimum and to say we are sorry when we are wrong.


Anfor those who say that it would be too expensive to search anyone...the war in Irak was started for "safety" reasons. I guess that security at home is not important for this administration , since they are willing to give many millions of $ in overcharge to Haliburton to "rebuit" Irak !

 

[bicker]

I agree with the need of security , but arent we consudered innocent until proven guilty ?

Searching someone isn't a presumption of guilt, so that's not relevant.

 

[toto2]

Searching someone isn't a presumption of guilt, so that's not relevant.

That is exactly what I am saying. Treat people with respect. This person seem to have treated like someone who had somethinf to hide an was guilty of something !

 

[bicker]

I said that searching someone isn't a presumption of guilt.

Regardless, for all we know, the folks involved in this incident fabricated parts of their story or perceived disrespect when there was none.

 

[wvrevy]

I said that searching someone isn't a presumption of guilt.

Regardless, for all we know, the folks involved in this incident fabricated parts of their story or perceived disrespect when there was none.

Exactly! And the reports of events in Abu Ghraib were simply exagerrations of acts that were no more harmful than fraternity pranks!



Gee....I wonder why people are so inclined to automatically distrust the current government stance in this country?

 

[OhMari]

I got a Patriot Act story.

My dd just traveled to Costa Rica with 3 friends. They all attend Northern Michigan in Marquette MI. They drove down to Chicago to catch a flight at O'Hare. They all made it through international security with no problem. They had to stop in Miami to catch a flight to Costa Rica. They flew American Airlines International. When they got to Miami, one of the girls were restrained in Miami. She missed her flight that night to Costa Rica.

Why? She checked out a book at Northern Michigan University Library on Terrorism. She is a Criminal Justice Major and wrote a paper for class on Terrorism. They called her school, called teachers, called the library. As I said, she missed her flight-Homeland Security detained her for 12 hours. Because she bought her ticket on-line, she missed her flight and had to purchase another ticket. American Airlines only made her pay 1/2 after she told them of her e-ticket situation.

So be very careful what you check out at a library-Our Patriot Act allows our government to watch what you are reading also.

 

[bicker]

Regardless, for all we know, the folks involved in this incident fabricated parts of their story or perceived disrespect when there was none.

Exactly! And the reports of events in Abu Ghraib were simply exagerrations of acts that were no more harmful than fraternity pranks!

No, those were real.

Do you see the difference? Evidence versus Internet-driven mob mentality.

 

[Figment2]

Another Patriot Act story which I intend to write someone about. In early February I had to put my comatose, 99 year old aunt in a nursing home.

I had to complete a Patriot Act form so they could do a background check.

I'm in banking and understand the need for something like the Patriot Act - I felt this went too far.

Cyn

 

[FayeW]

It's the same thing with my mom every time she flies and I also suspect it's because of the country she was born in. We're usually separated when we go through security at the airport and she's taken for extra screening. We make sure to get to the airport early because we expect it to happen.

Yes, this is exactly the reason. His CDN passport shows his country of birth as Lebanon. As stated in the OP, they are aware that this can (and does) cause some problems, and they always arrive at the airport several hours before their departure to allow for this. As ducklite said, an apology and a ride back to the terminal would have gone a long way to appease them. It seems like he were grudgingly released, since they wouldn't even take them back to where they started from!

In terms of this family, they were only in Florida to depart on the cruise. In future they will make alternate vacation plans that allow them to fly directly from Canada to their destination, without stop overs in the US. This is precisely why my husband does not use his military passport as ID when we cross the border. He has been to Afghanistan, UAE, Africa, Russia, etc. Although he has been part of the Canadian contingency many times on US lead missions, it may just be too tempting a target for border security.