Island Breath: Why so much security on Kauai?

SUBJECT: AIRPORT SECURITY

SOURCE: JANOS SAMU janossamu@earthlink.net

POSTED: 1 DECEMBER 2007 - 8:30am HST

Elephant traps for Kaua‘i?

by Janos Samu on 11 November 2007

I cannot say I had mixed feelings when I read the report "Lihu‘e Airport set to receive $24 million for bomb detection" in the October 30th issue of TGI. My feelings were very well defined: somebody lost his mind in Hawai‘i.

To improve airport security on Kaua‘i and spend 24 million dollars on checking passengers who leave Kaua‘i to see if they built some IEDs (improvised explosive devices) while on vacation here? Don't forget, they were already screened from the top of their heads to the tip of their toes before flying here. Or to screen Auntie Rose's basket in which she might be hiding some IED's in the lilikoi jam she is taking to Tutu Keoni in Hilo? I am sure that no PMRF employee will try to board a plane with a forgotten detonator in his shirt pocket either.

Is the airport security poor on Kaua‘i? If so, how come we don't hear anything about detected explosives, fake bombs or arrests for security breaches at Lihu‘e airport? For the past 10 years there was not a single report about such problems.
OK, when this top-of-the-line super expensive equipment (which was probably made for Iraq, but was not delivered there due to the exhausted military budget) is installed here, who will operate it? TSA does not even have enough employees. They are trying to hire employees for more than a year, but no luck, otherwise I would not see their help wanted ads every single week.

Perhaps this $24 million would be enough to construct new roads or lanes on Kaua‘i to alleviate the traffic congestions in Kapa‘a and Lihu‘e. Based on our experience where do you expect more fatalities on Kaua‘i? Through IED's or car accidents?

We know that the new airport X-rays are already out that will help screeners see through your underwear, but have we become such a dangerous place that we need these sophisticated devices here? At the same token we can install on Kaua‘i some elephant traps too to catch runaway elephants who might break loose if a wild animal transport plane makes an emergency landing on Kaua‘i. What happened to common sense?

János Samu
808-332-5220
PO Box 527
Kalaheo, HI 96741