Guardsmen
report to airport
Parking lot
reopened
By TRAVIS
PURSER
Express Staff Writer
The parking
lot at Hailey’s Friedman Memorial Airport was reopened Friday after
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne ordered the Idaho National Guard to assist with
airport security there and in four other cities.
National
Guard specialists Mike Hymas, left, and Donn Drury began assisting
with Hailey airport security Friday following an order from Idaho Gov.
Dirk Kempthorn. Express photo by Travis Purser
With more
manpower available, airport security personnel began searching automobiles
and allowing drivers to park in the terminal parking lot, which had been
closed since just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast.
Kempthorne’s
order followed a request Thursday from President George Bush. The
president asked the nation’s governors to deploy the National Guard to
help airports meet new security requirements the Federal Aviation
Administration imposed following the attacks.
The
guardsmen are "probably going to be the long-term solution" to
the airport’s recent parking problems, said Hailey airport manager Rick
Baird. An earlier plan to construct a concrete barrier in front of the
terminal and then reopen the parking lot is indefinitely on hold, he said.
National
Guard Specialists Donn Drury and Mike Hymas patrolled the terminal and
manned X-ray scanners and metal detectors Monday morning, while a Sheriff’s
deputy checked vehicles at the parking lot gate.
Hymas said
protecting Hailey’s airport is important because it can provide a back
door to the security of larger airports. Also, "about a third of the
nation’s wealthy have flown in here," he said, referring to Sun
Valley’s popularity as a resort destination for the world’s wealthiest
moguls.
Blaine
County Sheriff Walt Femling, who said he has been overseeing airport
security since Sept. 11, said the addition of the guardsmen allows him to
cut back on the number of deputies assigned at the airport from two to one
per shift.
The
specific duties of the guardsmen have not yet been defined—rather, in
Hyman’s words, they are providing an "additional presence."
Femling said that Adjutant General John Kane would elaborate on the Idaho
National Guard’s role sometime this week.
Kempthorne
chief of staff Phil Reberger said the FAA would be sending experts to
Idaho to train the guardsmen.
"Things
are changing daily, so it’s hard to give any long-range plans,"
Femling said.
The
guardsmen said they have been working 17-hour shifts every day and have
been sleeping at the Hailey Armory.
The federal
government is paying for the guardsmen, but Baird said that does little to
reduce the huge cost of implementing new security since Sept. 11.
The
guardsmen could be on duty for up to six months while the federal
government works out a permanent security plan for the nation’s
airports.