The second part of Walter T. Schoen's July 15 column concerning airport screeners caused me to put pen to paper.

I believe in the recent past that airport personnel detected the odor of alcohol on two airline pilots reporting for duty. When tested, they indeed had alcohol in their systems. Concerning "little old grandmothers" and young children being searched, remember Vietnam? Maybe the parcels or dolls that they carry do not contain bombs or weapons, but what if they did?

When we subject one group and one group only to scrutiny, as in 18-to-45-year-old males of Middle Eastern extraction, we leave the door open to every misguided crackpot with an agenda to show the world what he or she can do.

America is supposed to be a country where all people are equal. If that is to be true, then all people boarding an airplane, even congressmen and Al Gore, should not mind being asked to prove they are within the law.