http://www.citypaper.net/articles/101801/news.godfrey.shtml
Novel Security Measures
A local man was kept off a recent flight because of a book he was
carrying.
by Gwen Shaffer
Everyone knows it is a bad idea to try and board a plane carrying a
box cutter, a flight manual written in Arabic, or a sack full of
mysterious white powder. But with ultra-tightened airport security, a
book could also prevent you from boarding that plane.
No kidding. It happened just last week in Philadelphia.
Neil Godfrey arrived at Philadelphia International Airport around 9:30
a.m. on Wed., Oct. 10. His brother's girlfriend dropped him off with
plenty of time to spare before his 11:40 a.m. United Airlines flight.
Godfrey was on his way to Phoenix, where his father lives. From there,
the family was planning to head out for a vacation at Disneyland.
It is fair to say that Godfrey -- brother of City Paper webmaster Ryan
Godfrey -- doesn't look unusual for a 22-year-old kid living in Center
City.
His outfit that day was typical: black Dockers, a T-shirt with a logo
for the now-defunct Phoenix Gazette newspaper and New Balance running
shoes. He has a medium build, recently dyed jet-black hair and a quiet
demeanor.
When Godfrey stepped up to the ticket counter, the United clerk
informed him he had been selected for a random baggage search.
"No problem," he replied, going through the usual motions of checking
his bag and getting a boarding pass. Now toting nothing but a novel
and the most recent copy of The Nation magazine, Godfrey hiked through
the concourse toward his boarding gate.
As he passed through the metal detector, an airport security guard
furrowed his brow at Godfrey's reading selections as they disappeared
through the conveyor belt.
On the cover of the book, Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey, is an
illustration of a man's hand holding several sticks of dynamite. The
1991 novel is about a radical environmentalist, George Washington
Hayduke III, who blows up bridges, burns tractors and sabotages other
projects he believes are destroying the beautiful Southwest landscape.
"For the first time, it occurred to me the book may be a problem,"
Godfrey recalls.
He proceeded through the security checkpoint and sat down to read near
his boarding gate. About 10 minutes had passed when a National
Guardsman approached Godfrey.
[...]
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Received on Oct 19 2001
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