"I don't know if she thought my mom had a bomb in her Depends"

[kpete]

Daughter: DIA security roughed-up mom, 83
Bernice "Bea" Bogart, 83, is shown at her youngest daughter's Tennessee home Wednesday night. Bogart will turn 84 next week.

By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
March 31, 2006

Sally Moon had to cool off for the better part of this week before she could see straight enough to write a complaint about a security agent's treatment of her elderly mother at Denver International Airport.

At first, she couldn't settle on the right words to use. "Horrific," "mind-boggling" and "outrageous" were a few that came to mind.

Anyone could see that Bernice "Bea" Bogart, 83, was a fragile woman, Moon said. Bogart had breast cancer surgery in 1997, a total hip replacement after a fall in 1999, a major stroke in 2004 that caused dementia, and is hard of hearing.

So when Bogart, who was in a wheelchair, was required by airport security on Saturday to stand against doctor's orders and undergo a rigorous screening by a testy female screener, Moon got furious.

"I don't know if she thought my mom had a bomb in her Depends or what," Moon said.

more at:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_4585114,00.html

[Kali]

1. I have heard Denver was bad

on travel forums.

[LostinVA]

17. Seattle is really bad

Too late for the story -- but I was told to shut the fuck up (yes, literally) or I would be going to jail... all because I questioned why my SO was forced to go into another, longer line. We had special security privileges, but she said only the person who paid for the tickets could do through it... wtf??? (not true, btw)

I complained... got a form letter.... now, I get flagged every time I fly.... that, or all the demonstrations, email writing, DU posting IO do...

[Buddyblazon]

45. I live in Denver.

I travel out of DIA for business at least 6 times a year. And have for the past 4 years.

DIA is well planned efficient airport. I can get from the curb to my gate in 15 mins. I wish all the airports were designed like DIA.

I have been stopped. But not anymore than in other airports that I go through to come back. It's never taken me more than 45 mins to get to my gate, and that's been because I messed around in the main terminal before going through security and bording the train to the individual terminals.

The times I've been stopped, it was generally a 5 minute thing...max.

But obviously...there are some assholes out there. I think this incident may be a rarity more than a norm.

[peacebird]

2. Unbelievable. Just ridiculous - what ever happened to using common sense?

A frail elderly lady in a wheel chair.

Obviously a terrorist threat....

:sarcasm:

[LisaL]

3. The screeners love those. I am not surprised. Women with babies,

old ladies, etc.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. And while they are busy harrassing law abiding citizens

the hijackers don't even get noticed.

[Ian David]

6. Who needs hijackers when 96% of our freight isn't inspected

Iran could ship an entire armored regiment of tanks right into New York Harbor.

Or probably drive them across one of our porous borders.

[kath]

14. Is CARGO on airplanes being inspected yet??

I know that, at least until recently, it wasn't. What a fokkin' joke to harass the shit out of passengers while god-knows-what could be flying in the cargo hold.

This, plus the lack of inspection of shipping containers coming into our ports, is an absolutely ridiculous situation.

[Ian David]

16. In the years since 9/11 we've only learned one thing...

Americans have stinky feet.

[grace0418]

51. That screener probably doesn't want to have to *do* actual work.

If you approach people who are suspicious you might have to actually deal with a real situation and perhaps put yourself in danger. It's much easier to harrass people who are clearly no threat and can't fight back. Sounds like the way BushCo runs things.

[Ian David]

5. Who better to use as a suicide bomber?

1) Who would suspect her?
2) How much longer would she live anyway?
3) Doesn't someone else pack her bags for her anyway?

It would probably be more humane than setting her out adrift on an iceberg, I suppose.

In fact, instead of sending our young kids off to war, why don't we send the elderly instead? Didn't 55% of them vote for the war anyway?

:sarcasm:

[stillcool]

8. Jumpin' Jehosephats!

there's a man with a plan!!!...:rofl: :rofl:

[oneighty]

9. Yes the hollow tube wheel chair

framing could be jam packed with C-4, oxygen cylinder too.

Do not try this at home.

180

[Tigress DEM]

36. Negatory on that. FEDs are in charge now. Incompetence required.

It's like they are trying NOT to catch any terrorists that might show up, just so they can get some real "terra" going on.

:banghead:

:shrug:

[Ilsa]

7. Thanks. I emailed it out to my friends that are frequent flyers. nt

[SeattleGirl]

10. I cannot tell you how pissed off I am at what happened to that woman!

It hit me especially hard because my mother has had serious health problems off and on starting back in 1994 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Mom in fact is in the hospital right now (different problem, as the cancer has never returned). I tell you, of that little bitch had treated my mother that way, I would have been so in her face! And yes, I probably would have been arrested and barred permanently from flying ever again, but NO ONE messes with my mother like that.

[blondeatlast]

11. Unbelievable--except that my mom frequently got hassled too.

82 years old, could barely walk with a walker (she refused a wheelchair) and it seems she was frequently picked on by the screeners. All the while she was as nice as she could be.

This is so damnedly inefficient it makes my blood just boil.

I hope the same thing never happens to their elderly INNOCENT parents. OTOH, karma can be quite a bitch. Don't think karma has scruples enough to distinguish between second and third parties.

:mad::mad::mad:

[LostinVA]

20. And my 86-year-old stroked out grandfather

In Frankfurt (Germany), the German security people were very nice, let him sit in a chair while in line, didn't make him stand at all, were just wonderful. We landed in Philly and had to go through security AGAIN to get on another plane... they were horrid: made him stand, take his belt and shoes off, etc. He peed all over himself. He cried. My grandmother started crying. I thought my mom was going to get arrested. She complained... now she gets flagged whenever she flies. Because of this, or all the emails she send sto Liddy Dole?

My Gf's last name is Johnson, he looks like a frail, 86-year-old stroke victim, and always wears his Navy baseball cap. A lighthouse keeper, Coastie, and Navy veteran -- served in WWII, Korea, and Vijetnam,... support our troops...

[jbnow]

28. What a sad story

In Germany he was treated respectfully and then gets here and is treated so poorly. The frail elderly don't like being made to expose their fraility...he use to be a strong, vibrant man and then they make him feel/look like a stupid old man, stripped of dignity. Way to show kindness and respect.

For some reason that really got to me. I felt sad and angry for him.
To your grandfather: I am sorry Mr. Johnson, you deserved far better.

[LostinVA]

40. Your first paragraph almost made me cry

Because that's exactly what it was like. Even though he was elderly, he was always strong... until the stroke. Even now, he hobbles around, refusing any help. They did it to him in front of hundreds of people. It was horrible. And we couldn't do a damned thing. It happened in front of his wife, his daughter and SIL, and his granddaughter and partner. I think that may have been worse than the strangers' eyes on him... and they were so callous.

Versus the very nice, very professional very "Aryan" looking young man in FRankfurt then eased him out of the chair to be wanded and walk through the metal detector.

Thank you! I'll tell my Mom you said this....

[peacebird]

47. My heartfelt thanks to your grandfather for his service, LostinVa.

Karma is a bitch, my friend - may those rabid animals in Philly taste it well. A friends mom told me in high school that I never had to try to "get even" with people who did me wrong. She said the universe would take care of that. Karma - what goes round, comes round again. I have lived long enough to see the truth in her words.

Many thanks Mr. Johnson, and may you be treated with the dignity you deserve in the future.
:hug:

[Karmakaze]

12. I don't know what to say...

"If you've read this far, I'm surprised," she wrote in closing. "But if you have, you can now toss this letter, send me one of those form letters indicating you take these kinds of complaints 'very seriously' and are going to investigate the matter, blah blah blah, and get back to more important activities."

Moon can expect a response from the TSA's Office of Civil Rights, Denver TSA spokeswoman Carrie Harmon said.

"When we receive complaints, we take them very seriously, we investigate them and we address any personnel issues as appropriate," Harmon said.

Their platitudes are so old and predictable that it set up this hilarious juxtapostion. I'll bet they take complaints seriously and investigate them! I bet Harmon takes LUNCH seriously and investigates it!

What needs to be done is a boycot of airlines. Make THEM put pressure on the TSA to clean up its act.

[bobbieinok]

13. I totally sympathize......BUT if I were a terrorist, I'd use a wheelchair,

a walker, a baby, a kid's ice cream cone, a doll, whatever

b/c terrorists don't care about people, they just want to get their bomb in place

[sproutster]

15. blah read the posts - stick it in cargo

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bobbieinok]

26. you misunderstood me

I meant that IF there are terrorists targetting planes, they will use anything......that's why they're terrorists, right?????

didn't the resistance in France use kids on bikes, etc, as messengers in the hope they would be viewed as 'non-threatening'?

and then, of course, if the Nazis were doing their 'job' correctly, they stopped everyone, even the ones obviously incapable of being a threat.......they viewed everyone as the enemy, which is where some in the govt now appear to be

I guess part of what I'm trying (not very well) to say is that EITHER you take 'terrorism' completely seriously and clamp down on everyone and everything OR you decide there are certain things you will/can not give up for some pie-in-the-sky 'security'

[jbnow]

29. I know what you mean

though a terrorist using a wheelchair isn't likely to be a frail lady.

But even if they had reason to suspect she or the chair was being used they should never make someone so frail walk alone, she could have been assisted with an arm through her arm as she walked. Her arms did not need to be yanked up beyond her comfort level. She could still have been treated with respect and consideration however seriously they take terrorism.

[Tigress DEM]

35. And the "trend" to put people who have objected to abuse...

or people who are pacifists on a "watch list" isn't really targeting terrorist like behavior in the screening or monitoring of people who could potentially be a danger to our country.

[shanti]

30. puh-leeze

don't drink the koolaid

[Tigress DEM]

34. Since WHEN did Americans become the ENEMY of America?

I suppose the same justification was used in Vietnam when the war really did include such things as you mentioned.

However, if the administration really cared about our safety:

1. It would pay first responders enough to do their job.

2. It would have competent Americans inspecting people and cargo. (Competent as in people who can follow a process to verify a doctor's note about a person incapable of standing for a screening rather than resorting to screaming threats to family members.)

3. It would have stayed in Afghanistan and captured Osama or at least detained his family to shame him into giving himself up instead of letting them fly out of US air space before other American citizens could fly private planes without getting shot down.

By the way, jacking up old people at the airport isn't grabbing the wheel from the crazy people. It's becoming the nut behind the wheel driving the car. Inspect any and all if you must, but remain respectful and excercise due diligence in not physically harming someone with said inspection..... it's about as logical as getting a FISA warrant. Do what needs to be done, but don't abuse people with the power of the government and justify it with "9/11" ... "Terra" etc..

[hopeisaplace]

18. This is horrific. Absolutely horrific.

My hubby and I are not planning any vacations in the US anytime soon.
This sort of thing is preventing me from traveling to the US, it really
is.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

19. It's very likely

that there was a "bomb" in her depends.

:hide:

[hopeisaplace]

25. LOL!

[derby378]

21. Okay, I'm calm and composed now. Fuck the TSA.

I hope that TSA Gestapette gets fired and has to find honest work for once.

[jillan]

23. sickening!

Heartbreaking.
That poor woman.

I don't know if I could have had as much composure as her daughter did.
Unbelievable. I really feel sick after reading that.

[Vidar]

24. Surprised they didn't pressgang her into the Marines.

[hedgehog]

27. I wonder how much of the problem is caused by how other

passengers treat the security personnel? After you've been sworn at by the fiftieth self important executive type for making him or her stand in line, you may lose sympathy for all humanity. It's not right, but it may be what happens. Just watch how some people treat airport personnel and you start to wonder why the security people or ticket agents don't shoot a dozen passengers every day themselves.

[Tigress DEM]

37. Yeah, but mature people don't take it out on defenseless elders.

If someone can't take the shit they get in their job, then they don't belong in that job. Any job that involves interaction with customers is going to generate this effect.

When the airport search rules are bizzare like "find the chicken in outer space" a mature security person would sympathize with the customer, but still get the job done. Listening would have prevented the problem anyway. It wasn't as if they were trying to get out of the search, only not cause injury by the search.

[sproutster]

39. Why is this an ok justification?

If you are polite, and nice... whatever... How much of these issues would go away.

Why do people who choose to work with people NO LONGER HAVE to have common decency and some flipping respect?

Why the hell is this an OK reason to treat another human like crap? I'm so flipping tired of it.

Last night I called for pizza and the guy was totally old school. Nice, curtious, and I just got the "he likes people" vibe. I can't remember the last time I have run into that in human service positions.

[hedgehog]

46. I'm just suggesting she treats everybody that way

Old, young, probably even her co-workers for all I know. It's not justified, but it's understandable. All too often people in service positions get treated like crap, so it's understandable if some of that comes flying back st the general public. It's just too bad it doesn't hit the people who threw it in the first place.

[NMMNG]

31. She doesn't fool me

She's obviously a terrorist, albeit very cleverly desguised.




Moron TSA staff. :eyes:

[Extend a Hand]

32. we flew in to Denver in

Dec. 2001. We almost missed our flight home because the screeners spent almost 30 minutes screening our son--who was 10 years old. sheesh.

[jbnow]

42. Insane. Was your son scared?

When mine was a bit younger then that he broke a bottle of juice helping me as we were checking out at the grocery store. A man in uniform came over and looked at his eyes with a flashlight to make sure the shattered glass hadn't hit his eyes. Very nice but my son thought he was being arrested breaking the jar for a second.

That's what came to mind when I thought of your 10 year old being screened for so long. (What can they do that takes so long for a child?) That he might have been scared they thought he did something wrong.

But here is what makes this so stupid. In Dec 2001 my same son was all grown up. He was flying home after Christmas and in his carry on luggage had a couple 6 packs of beer sold in our area not sold in the state that he lives on. Glass bottles of beer. I warned him they would never allow that, a bottle could be smashed and made into a weapon. It could have something besides beer in it. They would just take it away from him. With the certainty of youth he said there wouldn't be a problem. Naive.

But he was correct. He even changed planes two times, he wasn't challenged at all. He is not a terrorist but how did they know. Why would they let people bring glass on a plane.

At the same time a friends husband was flying. Because of his profession he has a sort of briefcase he carries some sensitive tools in. You can't see into it with x-rays. He knew they'd have to open it. They didn't bother. He could have had anything in there.

Feel safe?

[suffragette]

33. They had actively prepared so they wouldn't have to go through this

but even that didn't help.

Bogart was holding an orthopedic card saying that she had a metal plate in her hip.

Having been assured that Frontier and the TSA staff would not require Bogart to leave her wheelchair, Moon turned her back to put her mother's bags through the X-ray screener.

Moon said she was horrified when she turned around moments later to discover that her mother had been selected for additional screening and was out of her wheelchair and hobbling through a large glass- walled corridor.

"There were no grab bars," Moon said. "What I could see really was her fingers trying to hang onto a little ledge."


Their treatment of her was just vile.

Edited for formatting

[Mnemosyne]

38. It just gets more reprehensible and ludicrous each day.

I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its
buildings of concrete are, but rather how well its people have
learned to relate to their environment and fellow human beings.
--Sun Bear of the Chippewa tribe

That poor woman.:grr:

[LibDemAlways]

41. I witnessed something very similar in Seattle.

A hunched over woman, who looked to be 90 and not at all aware of what was going on, was pulled aside in her wheelchair, had her shoes yanked off, and was ordered to stand. She just looked at the TSA Nazi blankly. Two big guys were then called over to hoist her up and hold her arms out while she was wanded up nd down. The woman's daughter, who was a senior, too, was taken aside and given the full-on bra, feel up treatment when she tried to protest her mother's treatment. It was horrible.

[annabanana]

43. There's a Monter on the Loose!

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost
'Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

http://www.steppenwolf.com/lyr/mnnster.html

[pacalo]

44. Surgeons tell breast cancer patients NOT to raise their arm(s)

on the affected side(s) until the drain has been removed. My mom went through a double mastectomy & she couldn't have lifted her arms if she wanted to.

This makes me want to cry:

The screener allowed Bogart to sit down for a moment and then instructed her to stand up and lift her arms, Moon said. Bogart could barely raise her arms due to the breast cancer surgery and so the screener lifted them higher herself, Moon said.

[Rex]

48. Why does this woman hate us for our freedoms?

C-4 in the depends; Rice says it is a possibility to see mushroom clouds if we don't check every elderly persons disposable diaper!

[dogday]

49. A Bomb In Her Depends Says It All

There comes a time and a point where this shit has to stop...

[peacebird]

50. the airlines are crying for business, doing bankruptcy protection

and I - who used to fly a LOT - I no longer fly unless I cannot get there any other way.

It is simply not worth the hassle. I am driving to Florida for a long weekend. It will be infinitely more pleasant to drive in my Prius with my hubby and cousin than to subject us to the nightmare that is our transportation "security" system at airlines.

Used to be I would have flown in a heartbeat. Now - I will only fly if going to the opposite coast or to Europe.