TSA THWARTS TERRORIST ATTACK ON MCCARRAN AIRPORT

(08/23/08) Las Vegas, NV—
Alert Transportation Security Administration agents disarmed Mark A. Hanna, 58, as he attempted to smuggle his 1.5” pocketknife onto Concourse C of Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport on the morning of August 23. Accompanied by coconspirator Mary J. Hanna, also 58, Hanna first had his wrist slapped by TSA personnel as he attempted to hand off his boarding pass and driver license to his wife while his left knee replacement was thoroughly examined. Hanna’s failed attempt to sneak the weapon through security in his backpack —a gift from his wife upon his 1977 graduation from the Jefferson County Law Enforcement Training Academy—saved the lives of countless travelers who pass through the nation’s sixth busiest airport. Hanna was given the choice of leaving the secured area to mail the weapon to his home at his own expense and then be screened all over again or to “abandon” the weapon to TSA (Hanna later asked how this does not constitute aggravated robbery; further evidence of his insubordinate attitude toward the Bush administration’s tactic of generating fear whenever and wherever possible in the name of “security”). Cavalierly quipping “Tell King George to use that knife in good health,” Hanna was released on his own recognizance (TSA is still investigating why he has no criminal record) to accompany his wife to her mother and aunt’s memorial services in Lincoln, Nebraska.