Your very own suspected terrorist

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
|
| Well, compared to the $50 million Congress just approved to build a RAIN
| FOREST here in Iowa City, Iowa
|
| It should do wonders for the motel business, Jay.
|
| I mean, who'd want to see a rain forest in Louisiana or even worse
| Guatamala? Too hot and sticky.
|

I live near Seattle. My house is within an hour's drive of one of the most
dense rain forests in the world. Not all rain forests are in the tropics.

"C J Campbell" wrote in message
...

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
|
| Well, compared to the $50 million Congress just approved to build a
RAIN
| FOREST here in Iowa City, Iowa
|
| It should do wonders for the motel business, Jay.
|
| I mean, who'd want to see a rain forest in Louisiana or even worse
| Guatamala? Too hot and sticky.
|

I live near Seattle. My house is within an hour's drive of one of the most

IIUC, the one in Washington state is the ONLY true rain forest in the world
(by some strict definition of "rain forest" as opposed to "jungle", which is
something else entirely.

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...
| |
| | It should do wonders for the motel business, Jay.
| |
| | I mean, who'd want to see a rain forest in Louisiana or even worse
| | Guatamala? Too hot and sticky.
| |
|
| I live near Seattle. My house is within an hour's drive of one of the
most
|
| IIUC, the one in Washington state is the ONLY true rain forest in the
world
| (by some strict definition of "rain forest" as opposed to "jungle", which
is
| something else entirely.

There are temperate rain forests in Chile and Siberia.

| I mean, who'd want to see a rain forest in Louisiana or even worse
| Guatamala? Too hot and sticky.
|

I live near Seattle. My house is within an hour's drive of one of the most
dense rain forests in the world. Not all rain forests are in the tropics.

Well, who wants to see a rain forest in Washington State? Too rainy!

The ideal would be a rain forest in Arizona. Then we could go to see
it in the winter.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Yes, we should build one their too.

The ideal would be a rain forest in Arizona. Then we could go to see
it in the winter.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email:

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Cub Driver wrote in message . ..

The ideal would be a rain forest in Arizona. Then we could go to see
it in the winter.

We already have one! It's a fairly popular tourist attraction.

See http://www.bio2.com/index.html

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

So who did you bribe to spend %50 million to bring more guests to your hotel?
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.




"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:yYeQb.132407$xy6.542747@attbi_s02...

Well, compared to the $50 million Congress just approved to build a RAIN
FOREST here in Iowa City, Iowa (I'm NOT kidding), it's relative peanuts I'm
sure...

Scary, though.

Yeah, well, I have my eye on you mister g...

Admittedly, the agent should have done more homework before seeing you, but
on the other hand, it doesn't seem that unreasonable - he is not an aviation
specialist - should he proactively research the legalities associated with
each profession he comes in contact with? Should he know the bar
requirements for law before visiting a lawyer, the certification for a
doctor, accountant and engineer before those interviews?

If your work brings you into contact with a broad array of situations, as I
suspect law enforcement does, a lot of knowledge gathering will, by
necessity, be real time.

Michael


"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

"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.

My first thought was: "That's outrageous!" but then I thought, "...well,
how else are terrorists already in the U. S. going to get caught? People
have to speak up if something makes them suspicious."

That doesn't make it any less of a sad commentary on how great the real
terrorists' influence has grown in this country. My apologies to you as
a fellow citizen.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)