On her way from Bangor, Maine to Chicago, Nancy Oden, Green Party USA elected Coordinator, was stopped Thursday from boarding American Airlines Flight 4643 by National Guardsmen on the grounds that she did not "cooperate" with the search of her carry-on baggage. We spoke to her this afternoon at her home in Maine, where she remains, unable to book a flight to Chicago.
Ms. Oden told us that after she had been issued a boarding pass and had proceeded to the gate and through the metal detector without incident, a young guardsman grabbed her arm and said, presumably into a personal wireless device, "don't let her on," at which point they proceeded to search her carry-on luggage. When the security personnel had trouble opening a zipper and she offered to assist, the same guardsman told her "get your hands out of there." They then denied her entry to the plane on the grounds that she "moved around" during the search and therefore was "uncooperative."
It seemed obvious to Ms. Oden that the National Guard knew who she was in advance and intended from the beginning to keep her off the flight. She stated that although she has been outspoken on social and environmental issues, she has never been arrested and is known to be a peace-loving person.
She told The JP that shortly after the horrendous events of September 11, the Bangor Daily News published an article of hers in opposition to military action and in search of alternative ways to peace, which article is now on the Greens/Green Party USA website at http://www.greenparty.org/911.html. (A search at 1:22 PM CST today of the Bangor Daily News fails to unearth the article or any news of Ms. Oden's treatment at the airport. A further search of the CNN, ABC, the New York Times and the Boston Globe web sites was also unsuccessful. --Ed.)
In her interview today, she stated that her article is the only reason she knows for the shabby treatment she received. American Airlines personnel were sympathetic to her, but the military was in total control of the airport.
Ms. Oden stated that the atmosphere at the airport was like a "block cloud hanging over us... [with] young military men, puffed up and carrying machine guns on the lookout for something out of the ordinary."
She does not know when she will be allowed to fly to Chicago.
Copyright 2001 by Thomas Lowe. Published in The Jackson Progressive, http://www.jacksonprogressive.com. Non-commercial reproduction is authorized as long as the article is unaltered and this notice is retained.