Your very own suspected terrorist

Gee, you still use checks over there?

Well, some places still honor them.

And cash is still accepted nearly everywhere, too, although we see less and
less of it.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The public school system & media here in the usa is breeding nothing but
rats.





"Michael" wrote in message
m...
I have often wondered, with GA under increased scrutiny, how long it
would be before one of us was investigated as a suspected terrorist.
I never thought I would be first.

I came home from the airport last night to find a business card stuck
in the door of my apartment. It had the embossed gold emblem (which
costs quite a bit extra - I guess, unlike the company I work for, the
federal government isn't exactly watching its pennies) of the FBI, and
a note on the back asking me to call. I did, but of course everyone
had gone home for the day so all I got was voice mail.

In the morning, I left another message - seems nobody was in the
office at 8:30 AM either - and eventually got a call back. The
special agaent (what is a special agent, anyway, and how does he
differ from a regular agent?) informed me that he needed to speak with
me personally. At first he didn't want to tell me what it was about,
being vague about having to investigate a complaint, but when I
pressed him he broke down and told me I was under suspicion as a
terrorist! I nearly cracked up.

I suppose that had I actually been an international terrorist, I would
have immediately driven to the airport and taken the next flight out
of the country. Or, given that the Mexican border is only a few hours
drive South, I could have left that way. Then again, I suppose I
would have done that the previous evening, the moment I saw the card.
But since I'm not a terrorist, I simply made an appointment to meet
him at work.

He showed up at the receptionist's desk later that morning. He wore a
suit and tie and carried a briefcase, so he didn't look out of place.
I escorted him to my office, told him to take a seat, and closed the
door. He showed me his ID, and we got down to business.

The agent had NOT done his homework. He didn't know how old I was,
where I was born - anything. Since I am a naturalized citizen, I know
I have a file at the INS - but he didn't, and didn't even bother to
check. After we got through the basics, the story came out.

Seems that someone at my apartment complex had pegged me as
suspicious. I was getting packages and magazines with aviation
markings, and some of them were marked as hazardous materials. Of
course for shipping purposes, aviation paints, primers, dopes,
preservatives, and adhesives are all considered hazardous materials.
Yup, you guessed it. The stuff I had shipped to do my annual this
year (and it was a big annual) made me a terrorism suspect. A dark
tan (we don't have much of a winter in Houston, and I tan easily) and
a beard sealed the deal.

I told him about my airplane, and the annual I was doing. I even
showed him a picture. Like most people, he was amazed that the plane
was a 1965 model, and noted that they seem to hold up better than
cars. No, they don't - they require lots of care. Thus all the boxes
of parts, primers, paints, lubricants... He examined my pilot and
flight instructor certificates, and seemed confused. He said he
couldn't find an expiration date on my pilot certificate. I had to
explain to him that unlike flight instructor certificates, pilot
certificates don't expire. He carefully noted the numbers on his pad,
but I could see his heart wasn't in it anymore.

A few minutes later, I escorted him out of the building. I guess my
moment of glory as a suspected international terrorist was over, so I
returned to my desk, wondering how much tax money was wasted on this
nonsense.

Michael
The pilot formerly known as a suspected international terrorist

deleted

A few minutes later, I escorted him out of the building. I guess my
moment of glory as a suspected international terrorist was over, so I
returned to my desk, wondering how much tax money was wasted on this
nonsense.

Michael
The pilot formerly known as a suspected international terrorist
^^^^^^^^

Uh huh, right.... Has Jay got your mug shot? Just so we can all be on
the lookout for you.

Seriously, Mike, I'm glad you got the guy straightened out. You might
explore the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). Unless you already have the
information, I think you are entitled to know who tipped off the FBI. You
might want to give him or her the same information you gave the
investigator.
As a former employee of the US government, I was the subject of
numerous background investigations related to sensitive jobs I worked on. I
had a right to, and did, request and receive a report on those
investigations, the statements made, and the list of people questioned.
The reports consisted of photocopies of the actual forms, notes and
letters pertaining to the investigations. In some cases, the material was
redacted to conceal names of certain people who were not germaine to the
investigation.

The sad thing is that if they spent that same money toward preserving REAL
rainforests it might actually have some real benefit to the world.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:N4gQb.132988$xy6.545923@attbi_s02...
WHY has Congress approved a rain forest for Iowa? It doesn't make any
sense...

No one here knows. This lame-brained idea has been proposed as an
environmental and educational tool by a wealthy businessman from Des
Moines.
He's been shopping the idea around for four or five years now, with little
success or interest from local developers.

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:3YfQb.4665$U%5.27293@attbi_s03...
It has been my experience, both as a businessman, and as a credit union
board member, that banks will accept ANY signature, even ones with a
different name.

Signatures are not required around here, except on government checks. Your
account number is all they really want there. Everyone simply uses rubber
stamps with their acct # and maybe some boilerplate legalese.

Ok, rant on, Off topic:
Meanwhile, here in the Socialist Republic of Wisconsin, the DNR continues to
buy up any piece of land inhabited by any animal other than a human, all in
the name of protecting the environment and it's resources. At the same
time, deer are so over populated that Darwin is pulling new diseases out of
his hat in a futile attempt to control them, turkeys have become the number
two road hazard (behind deer of course), sand hill cranes now produce more
noise pollution than all the airports combined, more crop damage than
Wisconsin's thunderstorms and tornadoes, and have become so friendly that
pairs of them routinely return to peoples back yards each spring to hatch
their young. They have actually spent money to re-introduce rattlesnakes
into south western Wisconsin, and wolves into northern Wisconsin!! I would
much rather have them attempt to create a rain forest, they've been
wayyyyyyy too successful protecting the environment here.
--
Jim Burns III

Remove "nospam" to reply

"MRQB" wrote in message


The public school system & media here in the usa is breeding nothing
but rats.

What label would we have applied to the neighbors of Muhammed Atta had they
raised the same question on August 11, 2001?

I agree that it's a sad state when we have neighbors spying on each other,
but this sort of thing is *normal* in Smalltown, USA. The difference there
is that everybody knows everybody - and the same concept can be applied to
neighborhoods anywhere. Get to know your neighbors and you'll start to
figure out what's normal and abnormal. Had Michael's neighbor gotten to
know him, he would have known the purpose of all those mysterious
aviation-related mailings and hazardous materials shipments.

That it has become more and more rare for neighbors to actually get to know
each other, in my opinion, is even more sad than your rats.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
____________________

In article N4gQb.132988$xy6.545923@attbi_s02, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

I'm dumb-founded. Even though it will probably bring more guests to my
hotel, I think it's the dumbest idea I've EVER heard.

oh heck, we can come up with dumber ideas than that...

--
Bob Noel

So it doesn't matter that the TIPS program was killed, there are enough
people who are either scared, informers at heart, or wannabe special
agents to do all the reporting the government could wish for.

Dave Reinhart


Michael wrote:

I have often wondered, with GA under increased scrutiny, how long it
would be before one of us was investigated as a suspected terrorist.
I never thought I would be first.

I came home from the airport last night to find a business card stuck
in the door of my apartment. It had the embossed gold emblem (which
costs quite a bit extra - I guess, unlike the company I work for, the
federal government isn't exactly watching its pennies) of the FBI, and
a note on the back asking me to call. I did, but of course everyone
had gone home for the day so all I got was voice mail.

In the morning, I left another message - seems nobody was in the
office at 8:30 AM either - and eventually got a call back. The
special agaent (what is a special agent, anyway, and how does he
differ from a regular agent?) informed me that he needed to speak with
me personally. At first he didn't want to tell me what it was about,
being vague about having to investigate a complaint, but when I
pressed him he broke down and told me I was under suspicion as a
terrorist! I nearly cracked up.

I suppose that had I actually been an international terrorist, I would
have immediately driven to the airport and taken the next flight out
of the country. Or, given that the Mexican border is only a few hours
drive South, I could have left that way. Then again, I suppose I
would have done that the previous evening, the moment I saw the card.
But since I'm not a terrorist, I simply made an appointment to meet
him at work.

He showed up at the receptionist's desk later that morning. He wore a
suit and tie and carried a briefcase, so he didn't look out of place.
I escorted him to my office, told him to take a seat, and closed the
door. He showed me his ID, and we got down to business.

The agent had NOT done his homework. He didn't know how old I was,
where I was born - anything. Since I am a naturalized citizen, I know
I have a file at the INS - but he didn't, and didn't even bother to
check. After we got through the basics, the story came out.

Seems that someone at my apartment complex had pegged me as
suspicious. I was getting packages and magazines with aviation
markings, and some of them were marked as hazardous materials. Of
course for shipping purposes, aviation paints, primers, dopes,
preservatives, and adhesives are all considered hazardous materials.
Yup, you guessed it. The stuff I had shipped to do my annual this
year (and it was a big annual) made me a terrorism suspect. A dark
tan (we don't have much of a winter in Houston, and I tan easily) and
a beard sealed the deal.

I told him about my airplane, and the annual I was doing. I even
showed him a picture. Like most people, he was amazed that the plane
was a 1965 model, and noted that they seem to hold up better than
cars. No, they don't - they require lots of care. Thus all the boxes
of parts, primers, paints, lubricants... He examined my pilot and
flight instructor certificates, and seemed confused. He said he
couldn't find an expiration date on my pilot certificate. I had to
explain to him that unlike flight instructor certificates, pilot
certificates don't expire. He carefully noted the numbers on his pad,
but I could see his heart wasn't in it anymore.

A few minutes later, I escorted him out of the building. I guess my
moment of glory as a suspected international terrorist was over, so I
returned to my desk, wondering how much tax money was wasted on this
nonsense.

Michael
The pilot formerly known as a suspected international terrorist

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 22:59:09 GMT, Bob Noel
wrote:

In article N4gQb.132988$xy6.545923@attbi_s02, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

I'm dumb-founded. Even though it will probably bring more guests to my
hotel, I think it's the dumbest idea I've EVER heard.

oh heck, we can come up with dumber ideas than that...

You got a public zoo there?

Don