A funny thing happened on the way to the court house...

L

Letter-perfect

Joined
Mar 8, 2006
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I had to go to the county court house today to take care of some paperwork. I had my two daughters with me, 8 and 11. When we entered the door, I saw the metal detector, and without missing a beat, pulled Cricket from my pocket and said, "I guess you better take him." I handed it to the deputy, who picked it up and immediately started fondling it. He slipped his thumb to the Spyder eye to open it and I said, "That's Cricket."

He said, "I can't let you in with this."

I said, "Okay, I can take him back to the truck."

He said, flicking it open, "I'm not supposed to do this, but I'll just put it in this drawer until you come back."

I said, "Okay, thanks." And then I remembered serrated Native in my purse. "Here," I said, "better keep him, too." He laughed, raised his eyebrows, and placed him in the drawer, and I said, "I have a horse--I need it for the farm and twine and such. I'm going out there this afternoon." He said, "Okay."

Then the 8-year-old went through, and he looked in her sparkly bag and said, "Thank you." And then the 11-year-old went through--after I caught her to make sure she didn't have her pink Ladybug or Benchmade on her.

"I left them at home, Mom."

And so he peeked in her sparkly bag and said, "Thank you." I then handed him my key chain, and he said, "Oh, no, I don't need your keys."

I said, "Well, yeah, you do," showing him the SS Jester and the serrated Ladybug." More laughs.

I walked through, and he peeked in the top of my purse and said, "Is that all of them?"

I said, "I think so," and collected the girls and my purse and went down the hall to finish my paperwork. And then I remembered--I still had my dinosaur bone Kiwi, plain-edge Ladybug, and my old Swiss Army penknife in my purse's side pocket. I just kept walking. When we returned, he opened the drawer to hand me my knives, and I said, "Thanks, again. I just completely forgot about them."

"No problem."

Thank God I left SS Harpy, Spydersaw, and Catcherman at home.

The 8-year-old said, "That was a scary place."

"Why?" I asked.

"I didn't like him looking in my purse."

"You didn't have anything in there for him to see."

"I had my makeup (dress-up stuff). I didn't like it."

And I was feeling a wee bit smug.
 
I know just how your 8-year old feels! I'm a trial lawyer and I'm in one courthouse or another several times each week. Every time I park my car I have to remind myself to take a quick inventory and make certain I have removed and stored all my blades, which typically include a Strider SnG, a Spyderco Military, and either my UKPK or D2 Mini-Griptilian. Then a quick check of my briefcase to confirm I haven't forgotten any others.

Just once, I set off the metal detector at court. I ran my hands down my sides and over my pockets. Forgot the 705! Oops. :eek: I told the deputy I'd be right back, and ran out to the car to hide the knife, and then returned to the courthouse.

Tell your daughter I don't like them looking through my stuff either. :)


EDIT: Oh yeah, and welcome to Bladeforums!
 
Thanks!

Well, I knew we didn't fit the profile so that he needed to be worried about us--we are no threat--well, maybe the 8-year-old. But I'm thankful that no one was behind us, and that he didn't look any deeper in my purse. They are just always there. And I'm glad I wasn't wearing the teeny, tiny ss Police necklace.... If I had to go to such places on a regular basis as you do, I would be running back to the truck all the time.

I never go anywhere without SS Cricket. If I leave the house and it is not clipped in my pocket, we go home and get it.

And I know the 11-year-old was sweating it just a bit--she was checking and double-checking her sparkly purse. And her daddy scolded her for not having one with her....

We haven't given the 8-year-old a knife yet. The world is not ready.
 
The last time I had jury duty, I took great caution to make sure I didn't have any knives on me, even the Squirt on my keychain. So I get there, and the x-ray machine guy was looking at my backpack, and asks "what's that"? I look at it, and I figure it's a pen and pencil. He says "no, that's your pen and pencil, what's that?".

Then I realized it was the Benchmade 43A balisong I put in my backpack a few days ago to show somebody at work. Whoooooops. :o

Luckilly though, they're all set up for that sort of thing there. They stick it in an envelope, give you a ticket, and you pick it up when you leave. First time I went to the courthouse, they made me leave behind my 3/4/5mm allen wrench set I keep on hand for my bike.:confused:
 
The only time I went to the fort worth court house I had my little bitty gray frn Urban light shark (the two inch one). I remembered I had it before I went through the detector and asked if the officer could hold it for me while I was in the trial and he was the biggest jerk about it. He's like NO SIR I CANNOT. You had BETTER put that somewhere else before coming into MY COURTHOUSE. He didn't say anything else, but I could tell he was seething.

What a horrible, deranged criminal I was. I was planning on taking down the whole police force with my two inch folder and he must be really happy he stopped me in my tracks.

It really seemed like he was personally offended that I, the foolish proletarian, dared ask him to hold onto a tiny knife.

Anyway, I ended up putting it in my car. Ironically, the trial was a murder trial where some CCC benchmade bali clone was the weapon.
 
Letter-perfect said:
The 8-year-old said, "That was a scary place."

"Why?" I asked.

"I didn't like him looking in my purse."

"You didn't have anything in there for him to see."

"I had my makeup (dress-up stuff). I didn't like it."

And I was feeling a wee bit smug.
Click to expand...


Your daughter doesn't buy the crap line, "If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't mind living in a police surveillance state," so congratulations about that. You should be very glad.

Why did you first try to rationalize the position of the "authorities," though, and act like it's alright for the police to look at your personal belongings as long as you don't have "anything in there?"

I would encourage her to go right on resenting it; maybe when she's of age, she will vote against the types who perpetrate that garbage on us.


-Jeffrey
 
Artfully Martial said:
What a horrible, deranged criminal I was. I was planning on taking down the whole police force with my two inch folder and he must be really happy he stopped me in my tracks.
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He ought to be really glad you were so psychotic and dangerous that you complied with the order to leave the knife behind. Because if you had refused, there would have been nothing he could do but get slaughtered. :jerkit: What a jerk.

I bet he's the same kind of cop who wonders why people are losing respect for the law and law officers.


-Jeffrey
 
peacefuljeffrey said:
Your daughter doesn't buy the crap line, "If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't mind living in a police surveillance state," so congratulations about that. You should be very glad.

Why did you first try to rationalize the position of the "authorities," though, and act like it's alright for the police to look at your personal belongings as long as you don't have "anything in there?"

I would encourage her to go right on resenting it; maybe when she's of age, she will vote against the types who perpetrate that garbage on us.


-Jeffrey
Click to expand...
I wouldn't have worded it quite like Jeffrey did, but your daughter is quite wise. Sounds like she understands that she was being treated in a manner which is wholey inappropriate. It is unfortunate that most people believe that freedom and liberty are the price needed to pay for peace and protection.
 
Peacefuljeffrey and Ghostrider,

"Why did you first try to rationalize the position of the "authorities," though, and act like it's alright for the police to look at your personal belongings as long as you don't have "anything in there?"

Never. It's not all right. We abhor it. And I didn't make the context clear. The building itself is a big, ugly, concrete tomb (it is scary). The 8-year-old will readily empty her purse on the table in a restaurant and show the world what she has (a rainbow wallet, a folding hairbrush, a bazillion lip glosses, a pen, and a notebook--"Put it away, now."). She had no idea of the double interpretation one could make from her words. Out of the mouths of babes.

It was their first experience with a metal detector. We had a discussion about the whole "security" issue and why they wanted to march us through the metal detector and look in our stuff, and why we don't like it, and why we believe it's wrong. If I had thought quickly enough about it before entering, I would have taken us back to the truck and left everything but the paperwork and avoided the whole thing. There was a sign there--"No Weapons"--I "technically" had at least seven on me--more if they consider my fountain pens a risk as they do on planes. The deputy could have been a real jerk, as Artfully Martial experienced, and the court house could have been better prepared, as Planterz experienced. But he wasn't, and it wasn't, yet he was very polite, and he was willing to work with me rather than make a big stink out of it because he apparently possessed common sense. But do we justify/rationalize the whole procedure? No. Absolutely not. We are not the enemy (another loaded statement : >).

And yes, these girls are far wiser than most people will ever be. We hear this from nearly everyone who comes in contact with them. We let them be children, but they can carry on intelligent conversations with anyone, and they speak their minds. They do not attend public or private school. We are not raising "sheeple." We encourage them to question and challenge things--except bedtime--and we explain whatever they ask, honestly and in as much detail as they can understand. They can and do think for themselves and make it known when they disagree. It is amazing how well they pick up on the subtleties. And most of the time, we are in awe of them. We pity anyone who gets in their way.
 
Some people see this logic:

You have nothing to hide, therefore, you shouldn't object to being searched.

I humbly submit this logic:

You have nothing to hide, therefore, there's no reason to search you.
 
Lost a Spyderco Ladybug to the airport metal detectors.

Couple of weeks ago, we were in Chicago and went up to the top of Sears Tower. Saw the metal detectors and thought "uh oh" since I had a 3" CRKT in my pocket. I just knew it was about to be denied. Went through the detector the first time, and it went off. Stepped back, removed my cell phone, and went back through. Not a sound. Poker face. Small grin after we got past the ticket counter.
 
What I'd like to know, Guyon, is what happens to all those things they confiscate at the airports? I mean, do they have a big yard sale on some tarmac? Or do they hold an auction for the "security" personnel? Or do they just toss them in some bin and let the security personnel rummage through them and take what they want? Perhaps they award them to those security personnel who collect the most for the month. Just where did your Ladybug go?
 
Letter-perfect said:
What I'd like to know, Guyon, is what happens to all those things they confiscate at the airports? I mean, do they have a big yard sale on some tarmac? Or do they hold an auction for the "security" personnel? Or do they just toss them in some bin and let the security personnel rummage through them and take what they want? Perhaps they award them to those security personnel who collect the most for the month. Just where did your Ladybug go?
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I may not be Guyon, but my understanding is that it differs from state to state. You'll see a lot of confiscated stuff on ebay where the state will auction it off. There was an article recently in one of the magazines that talked about it and how much it hurt Victorinox's business.
 
Thats a nice story....When I divorced my first wife, I went to the courthouse to sign the paperwork. I tried going in the front door, but it was locked, so I went to the back entrance. When I walked thru the door, I was greeted by an officer, and a metal detector. It was then that I remembered that I had as I did every day put my benchmade auto in my pocket. My heart was racing as I put it in the tray, and quickly put my keys, and what not on top of it. The officer pulled the knife from the tray, and looked it over thoroughly, and what took only a few seconds for him seemed like an half hour exam of the knife to me. About the time I thought I was going to jail, instead of getting my divorce finalized, he placed it in a drawer, and told me that I could pick it up on my way out. I guess I just took it for granted that I had it with me, because I used it every day just like any other knife. I still don't know why they are illeagle...
 
Yep, that's the thing. I don't even think about having them on me (unless I realize Cricket's not with me and go fetch him--I love that knife). I use them all the time--at least three of them every day. What is really odd to me is that until a couple of years ago, I didn't carry anything. And now I'm trying to figure out what I used to do all these tasks for which I now unconsciously reach for one of my little sharp friends. And they all have their own assigned tasks--Cricket, cigars and general tasks; Jester and Ladybugs, envelopes, tape on boxes, cleaning under fingernails ever so carefully; SE Native, horsie things; Catcherman, cleaning and fileting fish, slicing worms, cutting line; Spydersaw, the whole back yard; dinobone Kiwi--naahhh, he's too pretty to mess up. And I want more...like something dedicated to cutting apples in half for my equine friend--maybe a PE Native. I fear I am too far gone.

And isn't the space-time continuum twisted when they are looking at your knives/stuff? When I handed the fellow Cricket, and while he was opening it, he picked up his cell phone, told me he couldn't let me take it in, and called for another fellow to come up front--a big, burly guy. I am not a big person. Time--just--stopped. I was sure it was going to get (in)tense. Turns out they were watching through the door some guy in the roundabout around the old courthouse. After he gave me my knives back, they made the decision to go get him before he hit someone. I went to get a cup of coffee....

If I do ever fly again, I will probably check my things obsessively right up to "security" to make sure I don't have anything that they could take. I'll just lock up my bug friends in the checked luggage. I would really HATE to have to go online and bid on my own dang things....
 
In PA the courthouses are required to store the prohibited items for you. they have lock boxes behind the security desk. I've been asked "where's the war?" before.
 
Letter-perfect said:
What I'd like to know, Guyon, is what happens to all those things they confiscate at the airports? I mean, do they have a big yard sale on some tarmac? Or do they hold an auction for the "security" personnel? Or do they just toss them in some bin and let the security personnel rummage through them and take what they want? Perhaps they award them to those security personnel who collect the most for the month. Just where did your Ladybug go?
Click to expand...
Well the Las Vegas Airport serves millions of folks a year. Everything they steal...er I mean confiscate...er I mean allow folks to voluntarily surrender is given to the Boulder City who hires two folks full time to sell it on ebay. I've seen the floor to roof room of "stuff" they take and sell. :barf:
 
As for courthouses, I have no prob leaving my knives in the truck or at the checking point till I leave. These are logical rules in a place where criminals are tried & sentenced. I have no problem to an officer conducting a search on me, as long as it is done politely. Again a logical rule and it shows they are staying on top of security.

Is it a interferance of your rights? In a way, yes, but it is to ensure the safety of several other people's rights. As long as things are handled in a professional & polite manner, I am OK with it. The only real inconveniance is I don't have a pocketknife on me in a courthouse and I can retrieve it when I leave. Nothing but a minor speedbump in my day.
 
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