[IP] Airport forces girl to remove fake limb

[Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>]

In the US , the TSA rules forbid this dave@farber.net

------ Forwarded Message
From: Truchaos@aol.com
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 14:18:08 -0400
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Airport forces girl to remove fake limb

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32203



                 Airport forces girl to remove
                  fake limb
                  'It is quite clear when I lift my pants
                  that I wear a leg prosthesis'

                  Posted: April 23, 2003
                  4:28 a.m. Eastern


                  © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

                  A teen-age athlete and her family are outraged
                  after airport security officials forced the girl to
                  remove her prosthetic limb in public.

                  Kathleen
                  O'Kelly-Kennedy,
                  Australia's tallest
                  female basketball
                  player, says she
                  was humiliated
                  when forced to
                  prove her right leg
                  was a prosthesis in
                  front of dozens of
                  other horrified
                  airline passengers.

                  "It is quite clear
                  when I lift my
                  pants that I wear a
                  leg prosthesis,"
                  O'Kelly-Kennedy told the Melbourne Herald
                  Sun.

                  "I had also given it a few whacks so there was
                  no doubt that it sounded like a false leg. It was
                  too much that security staff then chose to frisk
                  me, from ankle to hip, in front of dozens of
                  other passengers. I had already taken my shoes
                  off, which made standing difficult, and I was
                  not even offered a seat."

                  The 16-year-old Luther College student from
                  Croydon, Victoria, says other athletes ­
                  including some in wheelchairs who just
                  competed at the 12th National Junior Games
                  for the Disabled ­ were also given extra
                  scrutiny at Adelaide Airport.

                  Kathleen, who was born with a shortened leg,
                  says the whole experience made her feel like a
                  criminal.

                  "Wherever I go, I know I will always be a bit
                  different, but I don't let it affect me," she told
                  the paper. "But what happened on Sunday puts
                  my difference in a whole new and negative
                  public light."

                  She adds it was the first time she was subjected
                  to such embarrassing airport security.

                  "I was once taken aside for a check at Hobart
                  but that was in the privacy of a closed room
                  and with sensitive security staff."

                  Kathleen's father witnessed her humiliation,
                  and demanded an apology from Chubb
                  Protective Services.

                  "It was sad after a great week in South
                  Australia that some kids left in tears or angry at
                  how they had been treated at the airport," Terry
                  Kennedy told the Herald Sun.

                  A spokeswoman for Chubb apologized for any
                  inconvenience to passengers, but said the
                  company was committed to heightened
                  security at all airports since the Sept. 11 terror
                  attacks in the U.S.

                  The company's website indicates "Chubb is
                  staffed with aviation specialists who know the
                  industry and have hands-on experience at
                  airports."


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