By Christopher Cross
"9/11 was a tragedy in and of itself, but that does not mean the Constitution has to be ripped up and thrown out the door," said Judge Perry A. Little, as he issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the Tampa Sports Authority from requiring pat-down searches of football fans.
TAMPA - Citing Constitutional protection against unreasonable government searches, a Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge issued an injunction Thursday barring pat-downs of fans as they enter Raymond James stadium for Buccaneer games
The National Football League ordered the security pat-downs at the start of this season at all of the stadiums where each of its 32 teams play. The Sports Authority agreed to implement the edict, with some board members expressing reluctance, especially after the Buccaneers refused to pay for it.
The Sports Authority initially estimated the cost at about $9,500 a game, though it has proven to be about $7,500 on average. That cost falls to taxpayers.
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It use to be that going to a sports game was an American past time, yet, when priviate citizens are required to submit to searches of their person merely to see a game. It hardly seems worth the price of the tickets.
Five years have passed since the tragic event on 9/11 and here we are still wrestling with the basic and inherent rights of ones' right to privacy. Worse yet, once again it is the taxpayers who foot the bill to have their privacy rights stripped away ~ just to see a football game. Good grief !!
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