"Airport screeners uncover guns, knives, pets"

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Airport screeners uncover guns, knives, pets
By Judy Nichols
The Arizona Republic


Security screeners at the airport see a baffling slice of humanity.

For Lori Barr, it was the image of a cat skeleton on her X-ray screen.

"Sir, is there a cat in your bag?" asked the 45-year-old lead screener
from Phoenix. 

The passenger said, "Yes."

"He told me the cat was mean and he didn't want to take it out because
it would bite him," she said. 

She managed to stop him before he sent his second cat through the
machine.

Despite the constant publicity about banned carry-on items, screeners
still find scissors, knives and plenty of guns.

"Especially when it's busy like now, or the holidays, with some people
who haven't flown since 9/11," said screener Fred Schum, 60, of east
Mesa. "The well-seasoned traveler is more likely to know what to bring."

Schum, a retired firefighter who screens checked baggage, suggests
people not pack peanut butter, syrup or aerosol bug sprays. The aerosols
are banned; the other stuff is just messy when it breaks open inside
your suitcase, a situation he has seen all too often. 

"The lighter you pack, the easier it is for everybody," said Schum, the
voice of reason.

Packing lighter and arriving early, at least two hours before your
flight, will ease tensions all around, officials say.

At Sky Harbor International Airport, spring is the busiest season of the
year.

With spring training, spring break and winter visitors leaving,
passenger numbers swell to 100,000 to 120,000 a day for weeks. 

The numbers have climbed back up to and surpassed those before 9/11.

The crowds are a challenge for the Transportation Security
Administration, which is authorized for 1,038 workers in Phoenix but is
understaffed by 99 positions.

Sometimes screeners get so busy the managers come out of their offices
and help passengers "divest," the official term for taking your change
out of your pocket, your shoes off your feet and your laptop out of its
case. 

Airport workers in red vests or purple shirts help people navigate, and
other workers hand out Sky Slippers to wear while you're barefoot and
Travel Totes to hold your cellphone, watch, earrings or money clip in
the bins that slide through the X-ray machine. 

"You should divest all the things that cause alarms," said Marcia
Florian, federal security director for the security agency.


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