Posted on 09/12/2007 9:53:33 AM PDT by hipaatwo
Good choice on their part.
Second longest interstate in the country, according to the web.
What happens if it is shut down for repairs for a week or so?
See post# 149 and subsequent posts. It appears that the authorities asked the questions, and even searched his car when they found his name matched a name on the terror watch list, and apparently they got satisfactory answers.
Any real car dealer did, and likely did so after the sale. Lots of paperwork has to be submitted to local, state and federal authorities with every sale. It’s very tightly regulated in Florida, at any rate.
Yeah. My bad. I hadn’t read down through the whole thread, yet.
In the course of the discussion, it occured to me that a great tack to take would be an artistically interested, “Oh, really? How are your shots coming out? What’ve ya got, so far?” Take the approach of being interested from the technical side of photography as a hobby, and try to get a look at exactly what the person is photographing. If they’re using a digital, it’d be no trouble for them to show off some of what they’ve got.
If they’re show me panorama shots of the scenery, or zoomed in shots of unique non-structural architectural details, I’m not likely to think that’s any big deal. If, on the other hand, they’re taking pictures of foundations, pilings, trusses, or other key structural elements, THAT’S when the warning bells would start going off.
I see the guy was on his way to Buffalo supposedly. The Lackawana area, perhaps? Color me curious :)
Jersey police: No reason to hold motorist
A New Yorker on an FBI terrorism watch list was questioned along the Interstate 80 bridge over the Delaware River Monday afternoon and then released, according to New Jersey State Police.Imrah H. Ahmed, 25, told officers he had stopped so his wife could feed their baby and was admiring the Delaware Water Gap scenery, police said.
Passing truckers had reported a man with Middle Eastern features taking photographs of the bridge, triggering police interest.
Ahmed's car was searched after a background check showed his name on the federal list, police said, but no camera was found, and Ahmed was allowed to continue along his way.
"We conferred [with federal anti-terror authorities] and there was no further reason for detention," said Capt. Al Della Fave, of the New Jersey State Police.
State and local law enforcement authorities in Pennsylvania said they later were told New Jersey police had detained and then released a suspect who'd been taking photos of the bridge.
So the earlier reports appear to be inaccurate on at least two counts: (1) he wasn’t found taking pictures of the bridge but rather was just pulled off on the side of the road near the bridge; and (2) they police didn’t learn after they let him go that his name was on the watch list but rather performed an additional search when they realized his name was on the list but let him go when there was no reason to detain him.
When I replied earlier in the thread based on the initial story that the overreactions about the police not doing as much as they should have might be unwarranted, I was characterized as having a September 10 mentality, and needing to take another toke, or otherwise dismissed with rather insulting comments. (For what it's worth, anybody who has read my posts in the past would realize that such comments are rather silly.) Now that the updated report indicates that the police reacted appropriately by searching his car when they found his name matched a name on the terror watch list and decided not to detain him further when they found no indication he had broken nor was planning to break any laws and found no camera, it appears even clearer that the police did their job and the criticism of their handling of the situation is an overreaction.
For those of you who posted comments to try to bring a reasoned perspective to the thread, thanks for the contributions to the discussion.
I’m in California. The dealer did not submit our name for a homeland security check. Perhaps because we didn’t pay cash and/or didn’t purchase a vehicle that was really expensive had something to do with our transaction. Further, several of the 9/11 hijackers spent time in Florida and that may have prompted measures for tighter regulation there.
California, who knows? All I know is, your dealer does a butt-load of paperwork after you leave the dealership.
See the link on post #26. It says a trucker called it in. Let’s hope that being on the “watch” list means they are still watching him.
They cannot access the terrorist watch list in minutes, but they can access your car registration.
According to this article in last week's Washington Post, that's a very good question!
"the watch list...contained more than 720,000 records as of April...It is growing at the rate of more than 20,000 records a month...auditors found that 38 percent of the records contained errors...The review found that nearly half the initial name matches against the watch list proved worthless...The inspector general's staff also identified 20 watch-list records on suspected or known terrorists that had not been made available to front-line screening agents such as Border Patrol officers, visa application reviewers and local police officers who use the list during routine traffic stops"
If all that's true, it makes the watchlist sound like a nearly useless bureaucratic moneypit.
“...claimed he was on vacation with his family...”
If he’s on a watch list, how’d he get the OK to come in for vacation? WTF?
From human back to ape.
I wonder if he has a last name? Interesting that the camera the truckers saw was "not found" by the PO-lice...
I would really like to know how someone on the terror watchlist got into this country on vacation!
Oh wow! Those Soviet era vehicles with the absurd whitewall tires.
I was deployed to Uzbekistan in 2003-04. Took a road trip outside the compound at Karshi-Khanabad and photographed a huge radar site with those whitewall tire GAZ-35 trucks all around. Made the mistake of having the film developed locally. The S%^# got censored.....! Along with anything else the authorities thought to be demeaning to Uzbekistan.
But my pix of the massive Registan Mosque in Samarkand came out just fine.....
“catch and release” bump
Not sure if you’ve seen this..haven’t read the whole thread.
Because he lives in New York. I guess he didn't have to apply for a visa to drive from New York to New Jersey or Pennsylvania.
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