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Make stadium fan search thorough, or simply forget it

Either make fan search thorough, or forget it

By SUE CARLTON
Published October 17, 2005

Bucs ticket in hand, you're anxiously waiting in line to get into RayJay to cheer the home team when you're waylaid by the pat-down police. A brisk frisk and you're through, on your way to the beer line.

No biggie, right?

Before we get to why it is a big deal, consider this: Is this kind of pat-down really an effective way to thwart a terrorist?

A colleague who attended the recent Bucs-Lions game reports that his brief body search consisted of being tapped on the chest a couple of times and then being asked to lift his baseball cap. Others reported cursory waist-and-above searches.

S.I. Rosenbaum, the Times reporter who covered the inaugural pat-down at the game against Buffalo, heard fans joking that they'd carry their contraband in the pockets of their cargo shorts, since no one was going there.

So if it's not a real search that makes anyone safer, why venture onto questionable legal ground and lay hands on thousands of fans before kickoff?

Not that I'm advocating the full-body grope here, or the more thorough search we undergo at airports, where the threat has been made all too real.

In the context of a Bucs game, giving up your right to not be searched without probable cause or reasonable suspicion is just a bad idea. It's conceding, the beginning of an erosion of your rights - even if they do make it as convenient as possible for a bunch of people already in a good mood on a Sunday afternoon.

Me, I'm rooting for Gordon Johnston, the civics teacher and season ticketholder who cried "unconstitutional" and sued last week.

* * *

How's this for justice: Hillsborough Circuit Judge Greg Holder, who successfully defended himself against Judicial Qualifications Commission charges that he cribbed a paper for an Air Force course, is now considering a run for the JQC himself.

The JQC, which investigates allegations of misconduct by Florida's judges, is made up of lawyers and nonlawyers as well as county, circuit and appeals court judges. Circuit judges are chosen to be on the JQC by their fellow circuit judges across the state - some who would probably be happy to see one of their own who came out on the other side get a place on the board.

* * *

For those of you who've asked about the St. Bernard rescued from New Orleans' St. Bernard Parish in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and taken home by Tampa lawyer Pam Bondi, there's news: Noah is officially a Florida resident.

Last month I wrote about Bondi's discovery of Noah, which almost seemed predestined. Bondi, a Tampa prosecutor, was mourning the death of her St. Bernard, Donovan, when she saw a TV news clip of rescued pets at the Humane Society of Pinellas. Among them: a skinny, sad-eyed St. Bernard. She drove to the shelter, cried a little and took him home.

Malnourished, suffering infections, injuries and heartworms, the dog she named Noah needed a lot of medication and a lot of love. At first, he cowered at loud sounds and thought he had to scavenge from the garbage can. It took some time for him to wag his tail at people again. But he's a happier dog now. He has tasted Outback steak, made friends with Bondi's cats and was a hit on a visit to the courthouse where she works.

Bondi was his foster mom for a month. After no one claimed him, Noah officially became her dog. She calls him her angel.

Eleven of the 254 pets the Humane Society rescued from hurricane-ravaged areas have been reunited with their owners. Shelter workers recently took a dog home to New Orleans for a tearful reunion with the family. They also took a cat whose people had relocated to California. The family drove back to Louisiana to get him.

But many other rescued pets still need loving homes.

The shelter is at 3040 State Road 590 in Clearwater. For more information, call the Humane Society of Pinellas at 727 797-7722 or visit www.humanesocietyofpinellas.org

-- Sue Carlton can be reached at carlton@sptimes.com.

[Last modified October 17, 2005, 01:18:14]