D&ampC reveals that anti-terrorism laws are aimed at all dis

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030320.d&ampc.Local security stepped up today
 
Local security stepped up today
 
By Steve Orr and Victoria Freile
 
Democrat and Chronicle
 
(March 20, 2003) — Local security was beefed up in subtle ways Thursday morning in response to the commencement of hostilities with Iraq.
 
At the Kenneth B. Keating federal building on State Street in downtown Rochester, security officers began checking bags and picture ID’s at a table set up on the sidewalk leading to the building. It appeared to be a way to extend the security perimeter. Bags are still being scanned inside the front door.
 
A single protester marched in front of the federal building shortly after 12 noon, carrying a placard. A dozen young people clustered two blocks away on East Main Street, chanting anti-war slogans and flashing peace signs at passing motorists.
 

 
Two Monroe County deputy sheriffs were patrolling on foot Thursday morning in the Civic Center Garage, a two-story parking structure that adjoins the Hall of Justice, city Public Safety Building, Monroe County Jail and other government buildings.
 

 
Local anti-war protesters have reiterated plans to march from the Liberty Pole to the federal building at 5 p.m. Thursday, and to demonstrate outside the State Street facility.
 

 
In Brighton, school district officials closed Brighton High School’s open campus Thursday morning, said district spokeswoman Norma Press.
 

 
Typically, students are allowed to leave and enter the building throughout the school day. But since the war started, officials decided to lock school doors and post a monitor at each school’s main entranceway to record people who enter and exit the building, Press said.
 

 
Closed campus means students can’t leave without parental permission. District officials will monitor the situation to determine when they plan to reopen the campus.
 

 
Other school districts were updating emergency plans and publicizing them to staff members, in response to the war and to an admonition earlier this week from federal officials to enhance their planning.
 

 
At Spencerport Central School District, officials were reviewing their emergency plans and contemplating a suggestion to stock a supply of bottled water in case the district had to shelter students. “We are considering that, as a just-in-case measure,” spokeswoman Mary Kay Glazer said.
 

 
A letter outlining the Rochester School District’s emergency plans should begin arriving at students’ homes in today’s mail. The letter says, among other things, that if schools close in an emergency, students would be held at their buildings until a parent or official guardian arrives.
 

 
A field trip by 30 Wilson Magnet High School students to New York City this weekend has been cancelled. The students had planned to visit museums and points of historical interest such as the Statue of Liberty.
 

 
“Given the uncertainty, we felt it wasn’t prudent to put them in harm’s way,” said C. Michael Robinson, a Rochester district administrator in charge of emergency preparedness.
 

 
No delays were reported for passenger cars at New York border crossings into Canada Thursday afternoon, though waits of up to 45 minutes were reported for trucks and other commercial vehicles re-entering the United States at Buffalo and Lewiston, Niagara County.
 

 
Neither were any war-related delays or cancellations of flights reported at Greater Rochester International Airport.
 

 
Observers have speculated that demand for air travel could slacken with the advent of war and airlines could begin canceling some flights. Travelers are being advised to check with their airline before heading to the airport.
 

 
“To date, we have not been notified of any changes in airline schedules or anything that should change air service in Rochester -- but of course, that could change at a moment’s notice,” airport director Terrance Slaybaugh said Tuesday evening. “We’ll just have to see how things unfold this week.”
 

 
In light of tightened security, Slaybaugh also warned travelers to arrive at the airport 75 to 90 minutes before their flights. Among other measures, the county has set up a roadblock on the access road to the terminal, and some vehicles may be stopped for brief visual inspections.
 

 
At a news conference Thursday morning, Monroe County Executive Jack Doyle said officials see no reason to activate the county’s emergency operations center at this time.
 

 
He did say, however, that if federal officials move the nation to the “extreme” threat level, or code red, “there will be significant changes at the airport.”
 

 
In a sign of the times, Rochester police were summoned to Harris RF Communications on University Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. after an observer spotted someone in a van with a video camera. Harris, one of Rochester’s largest defense contractors, makes sophisticated radio equipment for the military and employs about 1,200 people here.
 

 
Information about the spotting was referred to the Western New York Joint Terrorism Task Force operated by the FBI.
 

 
Paul Moskal, an FBI spokesman in Buffalo, said he had not heard of the incident and doubted anything would come of it.
 

 
“We get dozens of calls like that a day, from local police agencies, or other state or federal agencies,” Moskal said. “It’s kind of a common event these days. Everybody who takes pictures of public buildings or public places seems suspicious.”
 

 
Staff writers Jeffrey Blackwell, Todd Grady, James Goodman and Jim Memmott contributed to this story.