Tuesday, January 13, 2004

 
"Now wait just a gosh darn Mineta"*
Or: "Stormin' Searchin'" Norman vs. Sturm und Dangle

Da guys on Minnesota's AM 1500 Talk Radio were yuking it up early this evening about news that a naked man was arrested at an airport. They claimed that he insisted to police that he chose his attire so as to avoid inspection, and punctuated their report with the classic sound clip from "Airplane": "Ever see a grown man naked?" Googling here yielded:

"Nude Man Shows Up At Armstrong Airport Concourse
Screeners Corner Streaker Near Beignet Shop Until Police Arrive

There was little need to search 34-year-old Kent Hoffmann when he approached a security checkpoint Tuesday at Louis Armstrong[New Orleans] International Airport. Officials said the man arrived at Concourse C just before 5 a.m. completely naked.

U.S. Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said a nude Hoffmann ran back into the terminal and was cornered near a beignet shop, where screeners covered him with a sign until Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputies arrived to arrest him. They booked him with obscenity.

Because of the time of day, the strip show was seen by few people aside from a pair of security screeners and a handful of passengers waiting for early morning flights.

Airport spokeswoman Michelle Duffourc said Hoffman was the airport's first streaker, and she hopes he's the last."

*They don't make 'em like Jimmy Stewart anymore and one trusts that any "Director's Edition" DVDs of "The Spirit of St. Louis" or "Flight of the Phoenix" won't include anything like a restored cut of a full-body cavity search scene.