Saturday, April 19, 2008

No TWIC for homeless guy

Does this kind of stuff make you crazy too? I gotta have a TWIC card, even though I never have to enter a secure area, meanwhile, some homeless bum takes a nap inside a Unitied Parcel Service cargo plane that is parked in a secure area of an airport, and they just write him a ticket. The Sacramento Bee reports it this way:

Security personnel at Mather Airport made a surprise discovery Monday night -- a homeless man sound asleep inside a cargo plane. A sheriff's summary released today does not indicate how long the 44-year-old man had been sleeping or how he gained entry into the area off Truemper Way. Deputies were called about 11:40 p.m. after United Parcel Service security guards found him. The security guards then checked the plane and "found it to be clear of suspicious items," the summary states. The man was issued a citation and deputies gave him a ride to a nearby light-rail station, where he was released from custody.

A friend who is a pilot for UPS sent me this email today about the same story:
The IPA and its Security Committee are awaiting additional information from UPS Security on the discovery Monday night of a homeless man asleep inside of a UPS A300 at Mather Airport in Sacramento. Media reports suggest the 44-year-old man followed a fuel truck through the gate and onto the ramp. He then boarded a parked A300 where he apparently stayed for one or two days. However, a sheriff’s summary does not indicate exactly how the man gained entry into the area. It's unclear if maintenance crews or UPS security actually found the man. However, Sheriff deputies were called to the scene and “found it to be clear of suspicious items.”

They just let him GO?? There are dive boat operators in Key West trying to figure out where to install a TWIC card reader on the bridge of their 45' dive boats, because god forbid some terrorist highjacks a Hatteras and trys to blow up Sloppy Joe's Bar; meanwhile, some bum sets up housekeeping inside an empty Airbus at a major airport, and the authorities just write him a citation?

Go figure...