LETTERS: COURTHOUSE SECURITY IS FORM OF HARASSMENT

To the editor:

On Sept. 29 I went to the federal building in Cape Girardeau. There were two women working the metal detectors at the entrance of the building. I was asked to take off my belt. I asked the security officers if they would use their handheld metal detectors as their co-workers who are men have in the past. The women said they would not use the handheld detector. I had to take off my belt to enter the building.

There was an older gentleman going through the security checkpoint, and he had to take off his shoes and his belt. When he complained, the security supervisor, a woman, said he would have to take off anything requested in order to enter the building. If a man said this to a woman, he would be fired. I think these women should be fired for their lack of decorum. Why are we paying taxes for handheld metal detectors when they are not in use?

I see this as a form of sexual harassment. After I lodged a complaint with the women's superior, he told me there is nothing he can do, because security officers are left to use their own judgment. The superior said new belts exist which can hide small weapons.

I asked how come only belts that register on the metal detector had to be taken off. I proceeded to tell him that a weapon could be hidden in a belt made of hard plastic, and no one would know. He had no answer, so his colleague interjected that security can't be perfect. This statement frightens me.

I told the superior that I have never had to take off my belt before, not even at an airport terminal nor in the federal building in Chicago. I guess it is time for me to get a haircut so I won't be treated rudely.

Question: What will the security of our government do when a longhaired president is elected?

ANDREW OSTROWSKI

Perryville, Mo.