Sun, Mar 02, 2003
California Sells Items Confiscated At Airports
Remember that little pocket-knife taken from you by airport
screeners the last time you flew out of LAX? Check www.ebay.com. There's a
real good chance you'll be able to get it back.
For a price.
The richest state in the nation is apparently so hard up for
cash that it's auctioning off items taken from passengers flying
commercial in the new reality. And, since the items were
confiscated by employees of the TSA, a federal agency, Washington,
DC gets a cut, too.
How Much Did Your Knife Go For?
The Marketplace Decided
Robb Deignan, spokesman for the California
Department of General Services, said on Friday the items that have
been confistated since November are legion in number. In fact, he
says, there are so many that California doesn't have the time or
manpower to return them to their owners. Besides, what would the
Postal Service think?
"The most common items are probably Swiss Army knives and
corkscrews," Deignan told one reporter. "This (program) only
expands as long as people don't leave these items at home. This
program could be over tomorrow ... This is not necessarily
something we want to be in the business of doing." So far,
California has raised about $16,000 on the web.
While cash-strapped California -- which is facing
a $35-billion budget shortfall -- is happy to profit from the
auctions, the earnings stress that for some people messages about
heightened airport security simply are not sinking in.
The auction program also is doing a brisk trade in much larger
tools that could obviously double as lethal weapons. Deignan noted
his department has even auctioned hatchets.
"I really don't know what people were thinking," Deignan said.
"Maybe they were going to chop a cord of wood for mom when they got
back to Minnesota."
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