Cecilia Beaman is a 57-year-old grandmother, a middle school principal and part-time terrorist. She was busted by the TSA for attempting to sneak a 5 1/2 inch bread knife with a rounded tip and a serrated blade onto an airplane.
Luckily, the TSA foiled Granny’s hijacking attempt.
From KOMOTV:
On the trip home, screeners with the Transportation Security Administration at Los Angeles International Airport found it deep in the outside pocket of a carry-on cooler. Beaman apologized and told them it was a mistake.“You’ve committed a felony,” Beaman says a security screener announced. “And you’re considered a terrorist.”
Beaman says she was told her name would go on a terrorist watch-list and that she would have to pay a $500 fine.
…
She says screeners refused to give her paperwork or documentation of her violation, documentation of the pending fine, or a copy of the photograph of the knife.“They said ‘no’ and they said it’s a national security issue. And I said what about my constitutional rights? And they said ‘not at this point … you don’t have any’.”
That’s right, Granny. You’re busted, You have no rights. That’s what you get for trying to hijack a plane with a bread knife. By the way, using the 37 school children you were “escorting” as a cover for your terrorist ways just isn’t right. —MEGHANN MARCO
‘This Is Not Right’ [KOMOTV]
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@Fuzz:
I accidentally did this in 2000 with a steak knife flying from Thailand to India. They took the knife, and said I could get it in India.
Yeah, that’s something that comes in handy in India — a STEAK knife.
HeySuburbia:
wow – you can bring knitting needles, rounded butter knives, and scissors 4-inches or less in your carry-on … but only 3 oz of personal lubricant…guess i’ll have to change my in-flight plans…
But why does the personal lubricant entry go right into talking about “eye drops”? Guess I need to brush up on my German internet porn…
[www.tsa.gov]
When granny hijacks the plane with her deadly weapon, I would definitely be the one who would tackle her.
I’m takin that bitch down.
@Buran: Oh please… is it so hard to remember to check your bags and pockets before you leave for the airport? You remembered your tickets right? Wallet? Passport/ID?
How about a little forethought then? Gee, should I store this item I know I’m not supposed to fly with in my carry-on bag?
Memory has nothing to do with it.
@MercuryPDX: I had my very first run-in with these guys yesterday. (Last time at the airport for me was fifteen years ago) They wouldn’t let me go toi the agte with my husband to meet his daughter, so I waited at the exit gate. Each and every time I peered down the corridor to see if I could spot them, he ran over and clipped the little ribbon barrier on, like I was planning to make a run for it. When an exiting passenger stopped to ask him a question, he panicked and screamed so loud security peole came running…turned out he had her ticket, was supposed to give it to her, but he couldn’t just tell her pass through and come around, he had to go to defcon four. I can’t believe people aren’t rioting at the airport.
@acambras:
LOL
it was a round-the-world trip for University hitting lots of countries. On the list of things to bring, they had knife and fork, just in case the restaurant we went to was dirty. Well, that beingf university days, I had partied for 3 days prior to leaving, and was drunk, packing at 3 in the morning. I saw “knife and fork” on the list, reached into my utensil draw, grabbed ‘em and through them in my bag.
The really funny part is that I made it from Canada to the US to Japan, then to China, then Thailand before they actually caught them on the x-ray. I had totally forgot about them, so I was rather surprised myself when she asked me to remove the knife from my bag. I was all like . . “what knife?” . . . ya, those were the days.
Procedure should not trump common sense.
The TSA agents I have encountered are all bumbling monkeys drunk on the drop of power that their ill-fitting uniform grants them.
When they hassle two year olds over chocolate milk, 90 year old men over their shampoo, and grandmas over butter knives, there is something seriously wrong.
@VA_White: Granted, this was a bread knife (big and sawlike), not a butter knife…but still an over-reaction to an “oops, didn’t realize I had that”
Ya’ know, if a 57 year old Grandmother is so BAD ASS as to be able to take over a plane with a butter knife, I’ll go wherever she wants go (Cuba, Egypt, Topeka, etc).
is it just me or does shit like this make you want to root for the terrorists? well if there were any… please spare me your fear mongering retort and simply realize that if someone wants to take down an airplane they will. to borrow from a comedic friend… we can’t keep weapons and drugs out of prison and there, they search in your ass. so what makes you think we can stop terrorists?
If a butterknife is dangerous enough to take over an entire airplane, shoelaces are just as dangerous. Anything and everything is a potential weapon, so them freaking out about a butterknife is just inane. If they overreact about a butterknife, why don’t they just go ahead and ban EVERYTHING? Pens and pencils are just as dangerous as knives. A miniature umbrella, CDs, anything. It’s not the item that makes the person a threat to the plane… it’s the PERSON. Security needs to use more common sense.
A few years ago I was going through security at the Las Vegas Airport and I had forgotten my 3 inch “open assist” (like a switchblade) pocketknife deep in a pocket of a carry-on. I hadn’t carried it on going to Vegas, that’s why I forgot the knife was in there. I was returning from the SEMA auto show and had multiple large bottles of sample carwash and wax in the carry-on as well. Good thing that was before the 3oz. liquid rule. Oh, they were nice about it, I had to show them how to open it and they were like, “What’s a little girl like you doing with a switchblade?” I was like, “I’m from Texas.” They said, “Oooh” and let me mail it back to myself (for a pretty penny, mind you). But there was a guy behind me with some sort of money clip that they deemed dangerous and he made a scene, they confiscated the money clip and held him up at security for a while. It’s more about being respectful of the people and the process. If you try to make a scene, the TSA will always win.
The article states that it was originally published in 2005. I have no idea why KOMO republished it, especially since the TSA’s web site seems to imply that butter knives are allowed.
Of course, I’m not sure you can really trust that list. It says that tools under 7 inches are allowed, but signs at SeaTac International say that all tools are prohibited (yet the 7 inch rule is posted at Reagan National).
in 2003 i had a brief layover in atlanta…they confiscated my tweezers!
@chimmike:
How tiresome. She was an old lady and she made a mistake and so what? Confiscate it but don’t treat her like a criminal. Oh, she is a criminal? She shouldn’t be. It won’t be long until we are all criminals, unless we can prove otherwise.
I’ve accidentally gone thru the security checkpoint at YVR with not one but TWO knives in my backpack (and neither of them was a bread knife). The security personnel asked if it was my bag, asked me if they could search it, located the two knives and asked me if I knew they were in there.
In all honesty, I forgot when I packed it – I do a lot of hiking and backpacking and neglected to empty my bag before packing for my flight. Fortunately the security team allowed me to mail the knives home – together worth over $100, the “postage and handling” fee was $35.
It was a simple mistake I’ll never make again, not because I don’t want to raise alarms but because I’d rather not risk losing them. I’m certainly not a terrorist for forgetting to unpack a knife and I’m sure I’m not the first nor 100th person who has done so.
Why wasn’t grandma treated the same way?
This woman is a middle school principal. If she is anything like school administrators these days, then she has made a career out of punishing others for petty, zero-tolerance BS rules. Looks like she got a taste of her own medicine.
Makes me wonder who she voted for. I would laugh my ass off if two years ago she was glad Republicans were being so strict because it “made her feel safe”
Security’s a sham, Bush is a Nazi, TSA is utterly incompetent and useless, what else is new?
I think the TSA gets a bad rap. Where else in the country can people with zero life skills gain employment? Especially now that McDonalds is trying to clean up their image of being a glue trap for the blue collar worker. Bless the TSA and their army of incompetence.
Maybe she was going to fly United and wanted to hook up some jam muffins for the kids during the wait.
I have carried (by mistake) a small razor knife in my carry on several times since 9/11 and no one caught it. I found it myself a couple years ago by going through my computer bag before a flight to make sure I didn’t have just this kind of “contraband” in there. Kind of suprised me when I realized just how many times I must have gone through security with the damn thing.
On a similar note, in first class they still use metal knives that match the description of the knife in the article as well as actual glassware. How easy would it be to break a wine glass and use as a weapon?
” Where else in the country can people with zero life skills gain employment?”
The DMV?
Oh I heard the Bush administration’s also hiring.
For all those kids expelled for taking aspirin to school, violating their Zero Tolerance policy, or the kids arrested for forgetting a pen knife or baseball bat was in their parked car (again, Zero Tolerance, for weapons), I hope Granny gets the chair.
Then they can bring her back to life, ask her if she still supports Zero Tolerance, and keep on frying/reviving her until she admits, “No.”
Then everyone can get together, share cookies and milk, and chuckle over what goofy fun Tough Love is. Now that she’s Scared Straight.
@TheBigLewinski: The TSA folks … gave me three options:
1. Leave it and proceed to my flight.
2. Go back to the counter and check my backpack.
3. use the USPS Priority Mail service outside the gate to mail the item back to my home.
People forgetting (or not being aware of) items which are forbidden on board planes is surprisingly common, and it’s extremely rare for such people to go on a terrorist watch list. It’s easier for the TSA and for passengers to deal with the contraband in one of the three ways listed — that’s happened to me, friends, and family members.
I don’t feel sorry for this old woman.
Regardless how ridiculous TSA’s regulations are, they have been around for years. Every time you enter an airport, the speakers repeatedly telling passengers to remove banned items out.
She wasn’t born yesterday.
Incidents and idiots like this would make other travelers’ experience even worse.
[flickr.com]
[www.tian.cc]
@Tian: Why don’t we then just shot people that make mistakes and inconvenience others. Fascist!
Don’t you know? Rights are only for the inocent. Once you are suspected of commiting a crime you loose all your rights. You should have thought of that before being suspected of comting a crime!
@hoo_foot: Way to generalize without a shred of concrete evidence.