ARRESTS UP IN ATLANTA AIRPORT RESTROOMS

http://www.sierratimes.com/rss/newswire.php?article=/news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070412/ap_on_re_us/airport_indecency&time=1176362636&feed=us ^ | April 12,2007 | Daniel Yee

[mborman]

ATLANTA - At the world's busiest airport, plainclothes officers patrolling public restrooms in search of luggage thieves have instead uncovered a rash of other, more sordid crimes.

The new restroom dragnet has led to the arrests of more than 30 people in three months for indecent exposure and public sex acts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Airport restrooms apparently have become such popular meeting places for men looking for sexual trysts with other men that they have been suggested several times as meeting places in personal ads on the Web site Craigslist.

"Hey ... I'm stuck at the airport from 5 p.m. and I'm looking for a good time ...," one ad reads. In another, the person posting says he is stuck at the airport for three hours in the evening and is looking for "discreet, quick action."

The new patrols were started to stop theft, not catch people in sex acts, police officials say.

Officers started monitoring the restrooms after figuring out that thieves were pulling bags off baggage-claim carousels and taking them into toilet stalls to comb through them.

"We're trying to provide a safe environment for everyone at the airport," said Officer Joseph Villafane, a police spokesman. "We're not out to get all that — it's just we encounter it."

Among those arrested is Ed Wall, the board chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. An officer said he saw Wall having oral sex with another man. Wall, who has temporarily stepped down from his post, has maintained his innocence. A court date has not been set.

The other court cases are pending.

James Cates, a clinical psychologist, said airport indecency arrests usually involve people getting caught performing sexual acts. He said it illustrates compulsive behavior known as exhibitionism.

"They're not a lot different from any compulsion ... it's just that this kind of behavior can be offensive to people and can be traumatizing," said Cates, who counsels and performs psychological testing on sex offenders and people with sexual disorders. "They've got to have the thrill and as they keep not getting caught or reported, the thrill gets less and less. It has to become more risky and daring to keep the thrill up."

Still, some say the airport police should have better things to do than stake out restrooms.

"Police have far better things to do with their time than to arrest people for this," said Kenneth Sherrill, professor at Hunter College of The City University of New York. "Being 'sex police' in bathrooms strikes me as a perversion of rational law enforcement activities."

Atlanta's is not the only airport to have had restroom-related arrests. Former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was ordered to pay $35,000 in damages to a custodian who said he shoved her and exposed himself to her in a bathroom at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in 2000. A year later, a county judge in Michigan was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport for allegedly exposing himself to an undercover officer, although a district attorney decided not to prosecute.

The Atlanta airport police efforts may be working, as new personal ads have on Craigslist have warned people to be careful.

"Do NOT do anything at the airport," one posting from March 29 reads. "If you want to hook up, do it outside the airport! Have fun but be smart about it. It's not worth going to jail for the night and having your face put on the news."

[Neoliberalnot]

Yep, the crap-eaters favorite place for deviant behavior; filthy public restrooms. In the small city in which I live, there are frequent busts of queers having sex in the restrooms where the kids play sports. I know, I know, as long as it is between consenting deviants its ok.

[New Perspective]

We’re getting some serious headwind..........

Ya, and I bet the flight to Colon Panama is very popular.

[Red Badger]

That would be with some serious tailwind..........

[TenthAmendmentChampion]

The same thing goes on here in Fresno. Roeding Park is a well-known hangout for gay men's encounters, despite being billed as a family park. Nearby are Chaffee Zoo (which recently received over a million dollars for upgrades and repairs) and Story Land, a children's play place maintained by the Rotary Club. Gays hook up there in the washroom, and the police "can't do anything."

When I lived in Phoenix the news had periodic stories about sweeps in McDowell Mountain Park which surrounds the Phoenix Zoo/Botanical Garden, another family place. My husband and I used to eat lunch in the park on nice days, but we finally stopped going there. We'd see guys sitting alone in a car, waiting for their hookup to stop by. Same situation, and the police did nothing. (It never ocurred to me that they had arranged a meeting on the Internet!)

[New Perspective]

That would be with some serious tailwind..........Ahh yes, and with "Gear Down" as well.

[Vigilanteman]

"Police have far better things to do with their time than to arrest people for this," said Kenneth Sherrill . . ."

Airport potties are gross enough as it is. If these perverts have money to fly, then they have money to pay a hefty fine and make the policing self-supporting.

When my kids were little, I packed baby wipes in the carry-on. Probably, I should start doing so again . . . if they don't get confiscated by some overzealous TSA employee.

[lonerepubinma]

In Boston the State police tell me that the favorite trick at Logan is to have one fella walk into the bathroom carrying shopping bags with handles. He is followed into the bathroom by another who then places his feet into the bags. When the State police walk in to check things out all the see is two feet and two shopping bags.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Among those arrested is Ed Wall, the board chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. An officer said he saw Wall having oral sex with another man. Wall, who has temporarily stepped down from his post, has maintained his innocence. A court date has not been set.

Hmmmmm... the head of MARTA.....

MARTA Chair Arrested For Sex Acts

Police mug shots of Michael Pettry and MARTA chairman Ed Wall. Both men were arrested after being caught performing sex acts in a restroom at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport on Tuesday, Mar. 13, 2007.

ATLANTA (AP) -- Ed Wall, board chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, has been arrested after an undercover police officer said he saw him performing sex acts in an airport bathroom with a man he met over the Internet.

Wall, 43, and the other man were engaging in oral sex in a handicapped bathroom stall Tuesday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, police said. But they left the door slightly ajar, allowing the undercover officer to see them.

Police say the other man is Michael Pettry, 25, of Indianapolis. The two met through a Web site and arranged to meet at the airport, police said.

Both Wall and Pettry have been charged with public indecency.

Wall's lawyer, Steve Sadow, said Wall has been "falsely accused."

"He is innocent and did not commit any crime," Sadow said. "This false and malicious allegation is a direct affront to chairman Wall's good reputation, and he intends to vigorously defend himself in the court of law and the court of public opinion."

The arrest could be a setback for MARTA, the often embattled transit system that has seen some good news lately. The authority has posted an operating surplus for the first time in a decade and is rolling out a new fare system and fleet of refurbished rail cars.

"It's just disappointing," said Ernie Brooks, president of MARTA's employee union. "It's a bad reflection on MARTA leadership for sure. It seems like it's two steps forward and three back" for the transit system.

MARTA officials sent an e-mail to Wall's fellow board members late Wednesday informing them of the arrest and Wall's claim of innocence.

Wall, who is married with three children, was appointed to MARTA's board in 2002 and is in his second year as board chairman.

[Muzzle_em]

My spouse flies out of that airport a lot.
I can only imagine what he would say or do if he walked into the men’s room and witnessed this going on.
I think he’d projectile vomit on the spot, followed by a stream of profanity loud enough to be heard within a 1 mile radius.

[Muzzle_em]

Never send a child in alone to use these ‘public’ toilets

That is the first thing I thought when reading this.

[Red Badger]

Definitely flying by the seat of your pants.........

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I’ve been in that airport a bazillion times. I’ve been in the bathrooms in A, B and E. I’ve never seen anyone hanging about looking for some action.

The guy mentioned in the story at the head of this thread and in the related story I posted above is the HEAD OF MARTA - the train/transit system in Atlanta. He apparently made an appointment with a guy from Indianapolis IN ADVANCE. It was not like he was hanging around the johns looking for action.

AND....... they tied up a handicapped stall to do it.... which should be actionable by law, just as tying up a handicapped parking space when not handicapped is.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

See the story I posted above. It was “oral sex”.

[rabidralph]

You can pretty much assume that if there’s a toilet in a public place, there are men having some sort of sex in it. I remember back in the ‘80s, the police were running sting operations on toilets in a shopping mall in northern Va., because so many men were using it for sex with each other. More recently, rest stop restrooms along the interstate have become the place for gays to meet.

[Red Badger]

Your thread was hijacked, or didn’t you notice?.........

[DocRock]

[New Perspective]

Joey, have you ever seen a grown man naked? How about we go to Atlanta? Just let me get out of this COCKpit.

[Red Badger]

Have you seen Gladiator?..........

[peeps36]

The public restrooms are a favorite hangout for filthy creeps. I won’t touch anything in these bathrooms because you never know what you might catch.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

My question is...why are gay men drawn to having sex in bathrooms all the time? Some fixation with bodily functions or something? I can think of no place more disgusting than a public restroom in an airport, bus terminal, train station, shopping mall, etc.

(No one has to answer this; it’s rhetorical.)