As of 5pm, Tri-State Airport in Wayne County resumed operations. The airport had been evacuated since after 11 this morning.My guess is this will turn out to be a false positive. Why? Because of something that happened to me back in 2003.
The Transportation Security Administration reports that two containers of liquid in a passenger's carry-on bag tested postive for explosive residue around 9:15 this morning. A second test was confirmed at 11:25. TSA is waiting for further testing to determine the exact substance.
NBC News reports that federal screeners found four containers of liquids inside a woman's carry-on bag during the screening process this morning. Larry Salyers, Tri-State Airport Director, tells WSAZ the woman is of Pakistani origin, lived in Jackson, Michigan and most recently lived in the Huntington area. She is being detained for questioning.
A federal official says the containers were make-up bottles, and it's not known yet exactly what was inside. However, the official says the woman did seem to have legitimate reasons for traveling and did not fit any suspicious behavioral profile.
The trace analyzers detect minute amounts of explosive material. But they can also give positive readings on items that have come in contact with fertilizer, recently dry-cleaned clothes, and even hot dogs -- anything with nitrate compounds.
In February I had gone to Dallas to finish work on an album my group had recorded, and on Sunday morning attended church with a friend. While walking into church I walked through some grass that had been recently fertilized (I remember smelling it). Later that afternoon as I passed through security at DFW the screeners asked if they could test my briefcase. I said sure, and when the did, all sorts of alarms started going off. It was testing positive for explosive residue.
They immediately made me sit in a holding area (my wife couldn't even come over and talk to me) and they did a search of the briefcase. As I sat there waiting for them to finish it occurred to me what had probably happened. After church I changed into my casual clothes and in so doing touched my shoes which had been exposed to the fertilizer. I didn't wash my hands (my bad) and picked up the briefcase to go to the airport. I probably got some of the residue on the briefcase.
After about a 20 minute wait and questions from a number of TSA supervisors, they finally figured out I wasn't trying to blow anything up and let me go. It didn't really bother me because I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. I rightly figured that I'd just have to sit there and let them do their thing until they were done and then I'd be let go. That's exactly what happened.
Needless to say, I now wash my hands before picking up my bags to go to the airport.
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