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Author Topic: An Oscar Is A Weapon? Tom Doyle Expert Film Handler Posts: 176 From: Bristol, CT, USA Registered: Nov 2002 posted 03-25-2004 12:07 PM                     http://www.durangoherald.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/04/news040318_3.htm The Durango Herald (Durango, Colorado) March 18, 2004 Leaving Durango: Visiting Oscar-winner delayed By Patricia Miller Herald Staff Writer Oscar-winning director and producer Maryann DeLeo missed her flight out of Durango on Monday because she wanted to carry the Oscar she had won only two weeks earlier onto the plane. "There was a fiasco at the airport," said Calvin Cook, who is married to Durango Film Festival Executive Director Sofia van Surksum. "They wouldn't allow her to carry it through security." Van Surksum is in Jordan, making her way toward Baghdad. Mike Fierberg, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration in Denver, was sure the screeners at the Durango-La Plata County Airport did the right thing. "I've never held an Oscar, but I'm told it has a heavy base," he said. "If you held it upside down, you could inflict substantial damage with it. … "I admit it would not be a terribly logical thing for an Oscar winner to do," he added. DeLeo won her Oscar on Feb. 29 for the documentary "Chernobyl Heart," a film about children born after the 1986 nuclear plant disaster. She came to Durango for the film festival. Fierberg said the lengthy delay DeLeo went through was because local screeners were consulting "the higher-ups" - several levels of them. They went "pretty high up in the organization," he said. Ron Dent, director of aviation at the Durango-La Plata County Airport, said, "I can't comment on security matters, though I'd like to. There were some red faces here." Fierberg outlined optimum techniques for transporting valuable items through security. "If I had an Oscar, I'd spend a couple of hundred dollars and make a custom case. Then I'd gate-check it," he said. Gate-checking is when passengers carry valuable luggage to the plane themselves. Then airline employees put it in the baggage hold. The passengers can collect their luggage as soon as they get off the plane. Fierberg offered hockey analogies to show the dilemma security officials can face. "If Peter Forsberg, who's the Colorado Avalanche center, wanted to get on the plane with his hockey stick, we wouldn't let him because it could be used as a weapon," he said. Continuing his hockey analogies, Fierberg talked about the Stanley Cup, which is as close as hockey comes to the Holy Grail. "The league has made a special case for it, and it always travels as checked baggage. People do everything they can to make sure it gets extra TLC," he said. Festival staff said Wednesday that DeLeo and her Oscar were finally allowed to fly after a great deal of discussion and careful packaging. Fierberg was sympathetic to the beleaguered filmmaker. "God bless her," he said. "I understand that it's probably the first time she's traveled with it," he said. "I apologize if we caused any inconvenience, but please understand we have to put security first."  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-25-2004 12:40 PM                        Why don't they outlaw fists on planes as well? I could do so much damage with my fists of fury. And if I had a pen, I could stab someone in the jugular. OMG we're all gonna die! If we keep this crap up, the terrorists have won.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Seo Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 530 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-25-2004 12:47 PM                     I think that Mr. Fierberg has a point. A uniform application of security regulations is the only fair one, and necessary in this day and age. Even though Ms. DeLeo would not intend to hijack a plane with her Oscar, it could conceivably fall into the wrong hands. I also agree that she should have a custom case made for it. If I won an Oscar I wouldn't just go tossing it into my carry-on luggage!  |  IP: Logged Jeremy Fuentes Mmmm, Dr. Pepper! Posts: 1168 From: Corpus Christi, TX United States Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-25-2004 01:14 PM                     But even if she had a carrying case for it and had it gate-checked, couldnt it still fall into the wrong hands. Like Joe's perhaps??  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 03-25-2004 01:41 PM                     Everyone needs to stop being such sissies and start standing up for themselves, then we wouldnt even have to worry baout any of this stuff.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-25-2004 05:26 PM                        Ehhhh, I would think if you were carrying a multi-pound statuette that could easily be used as a club, and you suddenly decided to start "standing up for yourself," you'd be on the fast track to jail no matter what country you were in.  |  IP: Logged Floyd Justin Newton Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 559 From: Phoenix, Arizona, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 03-25-2004 07:27 PM                     Hey Joe-- If your ass itches.... well, SCRATCH! We won't look. fjn  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 03-25-2004 08:36 PM                  Butt! Where would he start since he's ALL ass? >>> Phil  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 03-26-2004 03:22 AM                     quote: Ehhhh, I would think if you were carrying a multi-pound statuette that could easily be used as a club, and you suddenly decided to start "standing up for yourself," you'd be on the fast track to jail no matter what country you were in. I didnt mean you should go out and start problems, that is not standing up for yourself. Without getting into a political discussion, so many people rely on the police and airport security to protect them. Start protecting yourself and terrorist have lost.  |  IP: Logged Dick Vaughan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1032 From: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: Jul 2000 posted 03-26-2004 04:50 AM                        There has to be some degree of common sense.Many things could be used as a weapon, are they going to stop people taking anything on board? I could carry on my laptop and strangle someone with the power cord. I could attach my camera body to a 500mm lens and turn that in to a club. And what about bottles of booze ? Surely watching numerous westerns has shown how dangerous a bottle of whisky can be in a brawl but you can still take your litre bottles of duty free booze on a plane.  |  IP: Logged Daniel Wright Expert Film Handler Posts: 163 From: Okmulgee, Ok , USA Registered: Oct 2003 posted 03-26-2004 08:45 AM                     When I flew from Seattle to Tulsa last August I had a frying pan in my carry on. There was no room for it in my suitcase, when they X-rayed my bags security took it. they claimed it could be used as a weapon.  |  IP: Logged Dave Williams Wet nipple scene Posts: 1836 From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA Registered: Jan 2000 posted 03-26-2004 10:00 AM                        Joe, You need to build a special case for those fists of yours. Try boarding a plane with them encased in special cases and see what they do. Claim that you are a quadruple black belt in tie kwan doe and graysee joo jitsoo and that your hands are considered lethal weapons so you have to wear the special cases on them. Ciao Dave  |  IP: Logged

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