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On alert, even if threats are highly unlikely

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Tom Jackson

tjackson@tampatrib.com

Published: September 23, 2009

Finally, a reason to be grateful the Pasco National Tennis Center hasn't been - and probably never will be - built: One less target for radical fundamentalist followers of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to sneak into carrying a backpack stuffed with ball bearings wrapped in C-4 plastic explosive.

Also not to be downplayed: the ongoing failure to deepen the Hudson Channel sufficiently to accommodate anything besides shallow-draft vessels, the lack of a large-scale public transportation system, and the absence of a combination high-rise hotel and convention center.

And Pasco County lacks the international airport favored by the murderous saboteurs who commandeered jet airliners Sept. 11.

This does not mean those charged with public safety in Pasco have taken lightly the bulletins issued to police forces across the nation by federal counterterrorism officials Monday. Coming after the arrests of Afghanistan-born Najibullah Zazi and two others thought to have been involved in a plot to detonate backpack bombs on New York trains, the bulletins are a reminder that we remain in an era that demands vigilance.

Or, as Pasco Emergency Management Services Director Jim Martin says, "We can never go back to 9/10. It's a dangerous world; we will do what we have to do to keep people safe."

Eyes wide open

Martin declined to discuss where Pasco EMS might focus its attention, but New Port Richey police Capt. Kevin Harrington was blunt: Schools, hospitals and government buildings are of particular interest.

"Diligence is always key," Harrington says. But when officials link arrests to the foiling of an imminent terror plot, "It makes us more aware of our duties. ... It reminds you that just about anything can happen at just about any time."

It's no longer possible to learn about the latest sinister episode without wondering what's going on over at the local flying academy, especially when your office window overlooks a runway pretty much dedicated to student pilots and their instructors.

Eternal vigilance

Not to worry, says Angela Baty, director of Tampa North Flight Center in Wesley Chapel. Directives implemented shortly after 9/11 are designed to eradicate the likelihood of the next Mohamed Atta earning wings for nefarious purposes.

Anyone showing up at a flight school who can't prove U.S. citizenship must submit an application and become subject to a thorough background review by the Transportation Safety Administration.

"I'm glad," says Baty, 43. "It takes a lot of pressure off me."

And it pretty much goes without saying that instructors finger student pilots who declare themselves uninterested in learning how to land the plane.

After all, vigilance is everything. Even in as unlikely a place as Pasco County.

Keyword: The Jax Files, for Tom Jackson's bonus musings.

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