Posted by JRM on November 28, 2001 at 09:21:14:
In Reply to: Forget Terrorists, I'm afraid of the Lawyers. posted by Gary on November 27, 2001 at 11:00:50:
OK, I normally don't do this (vbg), but I gotta seriously rant here.
Last night I went to pick up some friends at the airport, and there flight arrived around 10:30pm. The Fresno Airport is a joke, and they're trying to make it more like LAX, but it isn't. Heck, there aren't even jetways, you exit the plane outside and walk in. But anyway, the place is completely torn up because someone thought it would be a good idea to reroute all the traffic. But that's not what got me.
The normal MO here in Fresburg is to park in front of the baggage claim, one person goes to meet the folks inside while the other person babysits the car. You can stay parked there as long as the car is occupied. Or I should say, "you used to be able to." We were met by a soldier in full gear with an M-16. He told us unless we were actively loading luggage, i.e. physically putting it in the car, we couldn't remain stopped. So I asked, "so where do we wait?" The answer to that one is "you can't. The entire airport is a security zone, so you just have to circle around till you see your party." WTF???? There isn't a return loop. So I have to exit the airport, drive around, and enter again. Oh, and it's all left turns so it takes forever.
And inside, they've got even more draconian crap going on. They've got a line of armed guards to keep those not exiting "the secure zone" from the baggage claim. They wouldn't let a five year old girl run by and hug her daddy. She had to wait until after the baggage showed up (forever), and he was cleared through the little guardpost. That's BS!
It's nice to know that the mission of terrorists has now been accomplished by our own government at taxpayer expense. What a waste.
JRM
--What's even scarier, is that the military is guarding the airport, but the local city cops are guarding the military base. Whoever thought that one up????