Keene's "Unidentified Flying Objector" charged, jailed

From NHfree.com
Manchester, N.H.
6/11/05

Right on schedule and true to his word, 35-year-old Russell Kanning of Keene, New Hampshire attempted to board his flight at Manchester Airport Saturday...without showing I.D. or submitting to a pat-down.

The "Unidentified Flying Objector" and 15 of his supporters found themselves slightly outnumbered by police, TSA "suits" and FBI agents, at least two of whom surveyed Kanning's home all morning and politely followed his car to the airport.

Entering the security checkpoint clutching a Bible and a copy of the Declaration of Independence, Kanning spent four minutes conversing with security and state troopers. A TSA employee stood in the metal detector to block his way. Kanning showed his boarding pass and requested passage to his flight but refused to show I.D., remove clothing or submit to a patdown.

"That's the way it used to be done; we fought 40 years of Cold War without needing those things," said his wife Kat Dillon, who watched with mixed feelings from twenty feet away. "But now we have all these alphabet agencies that take more of our money; they still stop our pilots from arming themselves and still don't protect us very well."

Six media representatives including a Manchester TV crew documented Kanning's progress - or lack thereof - as state troopers flanked him, held him loosely by the arms and escorted him away from the checkpoint. After Kanning promised them he would continue peacefully trying to board his flight until arrested or allowed to do so "the pre-911 way", officials placed him under arrest and took him to a small "law enforcement center" near the airport entrance.

Mike Fisher, a friend of Kanning's who witnessed the arrest, says the bearded NHfree.com activist was charged with criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor. Then they transported him to Rockingham County Jail, where he will remain for at least two days...until arraigned at Derry District Court Monday morning. Fisher says his understanding is that the Class B charge means no there will be no additional jail time for Kanning. Fisher himself is no stranger to civil disobedience. He earned statewide chuckles last month for performing a manicure without a license - in front of the licensing board. His penalty - a Class A misdemeanor charge and a 30 day suspended sentence - was harsher than Kanning's.

Harsh or not, Kanning's sacrifice is meant to draw attention to what he calls an out of control "papers please" approach forced on travelers by government. He's urging Washington to end its involvement in airline security, pointing out that D.C. commandeers billions for it while forcing pilots to go unarmed and using bailouts to prevent airlines from being held accountable.

"In a free country," he adds, "you do not need government permission to travel."

Kanning is a member of NHfree.com, a loose-knit organization set up by local Free Staters and conservative/libertarian New Hampshire natives. It currently runs the state's most active political forum, where the next arrest is already being planned.

From the original press release:
What: Civil disobedience against ID requirements under federalized airport security.
Where: Manchester Airport in New Hampshire
When: Saturday, June 11 @ 12:30
Who: Russell Kanning of Keene, NH, supporters from NHfree.com
Why: To draw attention to the recent and continuing loss of privacy and freedom due to federalized airport security and National ID.
How: By approaching a TSA checkpoint with a ticket but no I.D., refusing to show I.D. and refusing to cooperate with the I.D. requirement until arrested or allowed to board the plane.
Contacts: Russell Kanning: (603) 357-2049, Kat Dillon (same number), Mike Fisher (603) 498-7935, NHfree.com

Very interesting story. He is a confused man. He certainly does not need Govt permission to travel. He can get in his car and go. But, if he's getting on a plane with me, he needs to show ID. That's not asking permission. That's just a small way to help insure airline safety. I don't know why these people make it out to be such a big deal.

Manicurist have licenses in some states. They should be allowed to do it without a license as long as the public knows they don't have one. I would rather have some way of knowing that the manicurist has clean tools. People pick some strange things to get upset about if you ask me.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

Actually you need a license to drive a car.

Will you be ok with the REAL ID act?

and the main question is.... how is showing a ID to a rent-a-cop making flying safer? All of the terrorists on 9/11 had IDs. Did it stop them?

Are you against that? (I realize it doesn't mean you know how to drive, but it's supposed to.)

I'm undecided. I doubt it, though. I have plenty of things to be mad about already. Actually, I may be at capacity.

Why make it easier for them? Seriously, showing ID and asking permission are two different things. Why is it a big deal?


Besides, they need to know who to notify if the plane goes down.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

No I am ok with that because in theory you have to take a test.

Maybe we should just give DNA swabs at birth?

Maybe we could just have checkpoints on every corner? What is the big deal with that?

they can get that from the computer. which has my info from my ticket.

Does this mean you wouldn't have a problem if someone lied? I realize that fake IDs are easy enough to come by. But, what's the big secret? Is it too "Big Brother" for you?

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

getting on a plane. I guess the thought now is that some terrorist on the no-fly list could buy a ticket in the name of Bob Jones and board the plane. If it went down Bob Jones would be notified he was dead, which would certainly shock Bob Jones. But that is biggest issue I can think of (at least on domestic flights). Asking for ID in no way makes the plane safer (again, for domestic flights. I think we ask Iranians for ID). Security checkpoints make the plane safer. So I think the ID thing is really going a little too far. Other than simply bothering people it does little good. But it's also not a large enough issue for me to care.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.