Space Coast Florida (Patrick A.F.B)
Police in Ohio have just been deemed not liable in the killing of a man in a Walmart based on the fabrications of a 911 caller. The deceased was playing with a BB gun, which indeed was probably ill-advised, as he strolled around talking on a phone, but the 911 caller claimed (falsely) the deceased was pointing the gun at people generating a highly charged scenario that made the police have a short fuse.
On Monday I and a friend were parked in a public parking lot across a public road from Patrick A.F.B. looking into the base through a fence that in no way restricted visibility. There was, by the way, nothing going on to see.
We were approached by a soldier in, I suppose, fatigues who got out of a vehicle marked 'Police' who informed me that we were 'called in on'. Another 'soldier' with an assault rifle arrived but stayed to the rear of my car.
I was informed that looking at the flightline was 'not allowed especially with all the high alerts'. ID and some other personal information was recorded in a form and I was informed that a repeat visit would result in a $250 ticket plus processing fee.
It is my observation that many of the population of the USA have been whipped into a state of paranoia and irrational fear and are possibly out-doing the worst examples of pre-Solidarity East Europeans.
Anyway, stay away from Patrick A.F.B.
Denny Bridges