First They Came for Ozzie and Harriet's Son…

Want a preview of what ever-tighter airline passenger-security watch lists are going to be like? Ask David Nelson--any David Nelson.

The Long Beach Press-Telegram reports:

Throughout Southern California and across the country, men named David Nelson report they have been harassed, questioned by FBI agents, pulled off airplanes, searched and then searched again when attempting air travel.

Apparently caught up in a nationwide dragnet for a real terrorist by that name, David Nelsons everywhere are being told their names produce red flags on airline screening software. The government, however, maintains that the problem is essentially a computer glitch the airlines must solve.

Among those caught was "David Nelson, a star of ABC-TV's 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,' the family sitcom that ran from 1952 to 1966," who "was stopped by a ticket agent at John Wayne Airport in December while on his way to visit his daughter in Salt Lake City."

For Ozzie and Harriet's No. 1 son, being mistaken for a terrorist was only the beginning of the humiliation:

While waiting, the 66-year-old Nelson chatted with two Laguna Beach police officers who knew him and who asked the ticket agent: "Don't you know who this guy is?'

But the officers were met with a blank stare from the agent.

The PT's account continues:

After some checking, the officers told Nelson: "Evidently the name David Nelson is on the terrorist list.'

Nelson replied: "I don't think (terrorists) have the middle name Ozzie, but I'll stay right here.' Eventually he was allowed to board his flight.

Then he was stopped again in Salt Lake City on his return flight.

Comments

[David2]

Okay, that does it, I'm changing my name to Sparticus!

(just kidding, of course)

[Jim]

My wife's grandfather's name was David Nelson. I hope they don't stop her because she's related to a terrorist.

True story: one of my co-workers got hassled traveling through France because his grandfather was in the IRA. I guess in Europe they can check lineage as well....

[David N.]

Pssst, is the coast clear yet?

[Peter]

It may be time to re-open the investigation of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the December 31, 1985 airplane crash that killed Ricky.

[Anonymous]

As a carrot-top, I get taken aside and interrogated almost every time I go to London - and this has been happening for over 15 years.

[Warren]

Oh yeah, I'm so glad we federalized airport security. How quickly we forget how hassle free air travel was prior to 9/11. Now that they don't allow just any David Nelson on the plane, I'm sure we're all heaving a great sigh that comes with the piece of mind that only unchecked government bureaucracy can provide.

[joe]

I think the federalized airports are much better than the way the airlines' private security ran things after 9/11.

[Lefty]

Joe, I beg to differ. I'm no fan of privatization but the firm that took the most heat over 911 violated absolutely no screening rules in place at the time. They later found some illegals and some DUI folks employed by them but to this day the Feds have not completed backgrounds on their people, either. And now we have handguns going from cars, through checkpoints and into airplanes, a previously prohibited practice.

The humiliation one must now undergo, along with the expense of the added rigamaroll, to get on a plane now will either kill the industry or spawn more creative, less intrusive, ways to provide security.

[mojo jojo]

Well the planes on 9/11 where taken over by bomb threats not box cutters. I doubt the TSA has figured out a way of stopping someone from standing up on a plane and saying "There's a bomb on this plane and I have the detonator."

[Anonymous]

It's like Nowhere Man 😀

I am David Nelson!

[Croesus]

He deserves it for all that bad TV over the years. 🙂

[omnibus bill]

Well, when David Nelsons are outlawed, only outlaws will have David Nelsons.

[joe]

Lefty,

I flew for Thanksgiving 2001. Having flown more recently on the same route, my subjective impression is that the TSA people provide more thorough security, and inconvenience the public, less than the private security did in Fall 2001.