[CQ-Contest] Anyone notice??

[Steve London]

Just in case anyone has been sleeping under a rock the past few days....

College Student Is Charged With Hiding Hazards on Jets
By PETER T. KILBORN and GARY GATELY
1,084 words
21 October 2003
The New York Times
Late Edition - Final
20
English
(c) 2003 New York Times Company

BALTIMORE, Oct. 20 -- A 20-year-old college junior and ham radio buff 
was charged on Monday with breaching airport security after having 
alerted the authorities that he had hidden box cutters, bleach and 
matches on two airliners.

F.B.I. investigators told the United States District Court here that 
the student, Nathaniel T. Heatwole, had told them that he tucked the 
items in Ziploc bags and hid them under the restroom sinks of two 
Southwest Airlines planes as a test of airport security. They were 
reportedly undetected for a month.

Mr. Heatwole, who sat in court displaying no emotion, was charged with 
carrying a concealed dangerous weapon aboard the planes, a violation of 
federal law. Magistrate Judge Susan K. Gauvey released him without bail 
and set a preliminary hearing for Nov. 10. He could be fined and 
imprisoned for up to 10 years if found guilty.

On Thursday, box cutters, bottles of bleach and clay were found hidden 
on the jets in New Orleans and Houston.

According to an affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation 
presented to the court, the Transportation Security Administration told 
the bureau on Friday of an e-mail message from mid-September that it 
had received from Mr. Heatwole. Its subject line read, ''Information 
Regarding 6 Recent Security Breaches.''

The bureau said the message told of six security lapses from Feb. 7, 
2003, to Sept. 14, 2003, at Raleigh-Durham International Airport and 
Baltimore-Washington International Airport. The message said that Mr. 
Heatwole had hidden the items as well as taking them aboard with a 
carry-on bag and that they included box cutters, blades, a knife, 
matches, bleach and molding clay, which he considered a simulated 
plastic explosive.

The F.B.I. said he also left notes signed ''3891925.'' The number is 
the reverse of Mr. Heatwole's birthdate, 5/29/1983.

A bomb technician for the bureau, Eric Morefield, said in the affidavit 
that Mr. Heatwole, a student at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., 
had ''stated that he was aware that his actions were against the law 
and that he was aware of the potential consequences for his actions, 
and that his actions were 'an act of civil disobedience with the aim of 
improving public safety for the air-traveling public.' ''

His message was signed, ''Sincerely, Nat Heatwole, nat at ajheatwole 
.com.''

In Damascus, Md., a horsey, affluent and fast-growing suburb an hour 
west of Baltimore where the Heatwoles live, and at Guilford College, a 
Quaker institution where Mr. Heatwole is majoring in political science 
and physics, acquaintances portrayed him as a clean-cut, bright young 
man who is passionate about his pacifist views. He often made the honor 
roll at Damascus High School.

Mr. Heatwole received $1,000 scholarships in each of the last two years 
from the Potomac Valley Radio Club, a group of ham-radio enthusiasts, 
the president of the group, Jack Hammett, said.

''He always had it together,'' Mr. Hammett said. ''He was just always 
well dressed and alert, and he was the kind of man you just enjoyed 
being around.

''I just don't know what to think'' of the charges. ''It's just very 
surprising. It just didn't seem in character with the young man.''

At Guilford, whose slogan is, ''Be the change you wish to see in the 
world,'' students returned on Sunday from a weeklong break to find 
hordes of journalists.

''He's a very principled young man, and it's a shock to the system,'' 
said Jeff Jeske, chairman of the English department at the close-knit 
campus, which has 2,100 students, 1,100 of whom live on campus.

The accusation that Mr. Heatwole placed the items on the planes raised 
questions.

''I suspect it was to prove a point,'' Mr. Jeske said. ''I think 
there's ambivalence toward it, because on the one hand, Nat seems to 
epitomize one type of Guilford student, which is activist, antiwar 
pacifist. He pointed out how porous our defense against terrorism might 
be. But on the other hand, some might be concerned about his methods.''

The college has a tradition of pacifism and civil disobedience, 
exemplified by Mr. Heatwole's refusing to register for the draft, Mr. 
Jeske said.

Students from his neighborhood in Damascus similarly did not condemn 
him.

''It's good that he did it, rather than someone else like a 
terrorist,'' Casey Coughlan, 17, a senior at Damascus High School, said 
as he drove by the Heatwoles' house, where Nathaniel Heatwole built two 
slim 30-foot-antennas for his ham radios.

Matt Clingan, 17, also a senior, said, ''He's proving the point that 
our defenses aren't as good as they thought they were.''

Mr. Heatwole, who keeps his brown hair short and parted, is known is a 
''storm chaser,'' a buff who pursues tornados and other serious storms 
and is featured on Web sites devoted to the hobby.

At Damascus High School, the principal referred inquiries to a 
Montgomery Public Schools office in Rockville. The yearbook for the 
class of 2001 includes a portrait of Mr. Heatwole looking trim and 
pleasant in a tuxedo, but none in extracurricular activities. By all 
accounts, he was most absorbed with ham radio outside school. As a 
member of the Potomac Valley club, Mr. Hammett said, Mr. Heatwole 
competed in weekend events to see which ham operator could make the 
most contacts with stations all over the world.

''He came into this hobby and studied it with intensity and 
enthusiasm,'' Mr. Hammett said. ''And he was very focused and 
achievement oriented.''

Ham operators pride themselves on being available, if necessary, as a 
last-resort form of communication in national emergencies like the 
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and in tornados or other disasters, Mr. Hammett 
said. At such times, he added, ''hams come forward to see of what help 
they can be.''

He said Mr. Heatwole had all those skills.

At Guilford, Mr. Heatwole branched out, working as a deejay at the 
campus radio station. The college will conduct an investigation into 
''any campus-related aspects'' of the allegations ''and take 
appropriate action,'' Randy Doss, vice president for enrollment and 
campus life, said in a statement.

Photo: Nathaniel T. Heatwole left court in Baltimore yesterday with his 
lawyer, Charles Leeper, right, after being released on his own 
recognizance. (Photo by Steve Ruark for The New York Times)

Document NYTF000020031021dzal00037