local news from the romper room
January 13, 2008 2 Comments
by twit
From Boing Boing on January 9, 2008:
“A five-year-old boy was taken into custody and thoroughly searched at Sea-Tac because his name is similar to a possible terrorist alias. As the Consumerist reports, “When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn’t passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him.”
The Church of the Apocalyptic Kiwi 
Ted Adams — the publisher of IDW comics — named his little son “Sam Adams,” a good, solid patriotic name. It’s also a name on the TSA’s no-fly list, and the five-year-old has spent his young life being harassed by airport security goons who think he’s a terrorist.
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/10/another-fiveyearold.html
I’ve tried everything that anyone has suggested. There’s a TSA form that you can fill out for this situation, which I did, but they won’t tell you if they’ve removed your name. We got him a passport — that didn’t work. We’ve tried booking the tickets with his full name (including middle name), that didn’t work. We tried booking the ticket under Master Samuel Adams, with still no luck.
Maybe they should change his name to Mohamed Atta. He didn’t seem to have much trouble getting on planes.