Columnist Susan Snyder: Danger is clear and present

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 | 8:22 a.m.

It's good to be back home in Las Vegas where thermometers are only hitting 105.

We spent half of last week in central Florida, where temperatures are supposed to hit the low 90s. That adage, "It's a dry heat," holds true. Misery knows no bounds when the heat involves humidity.

Anyway, the real reason to mention the Sunshine State has to do with the guy who stood ahead of us in the security check line at Orlando International Airport on Friday night.

He carried a large garment bag, a shoulder bag and, under one arm, a brand-new, boxed set of flatware service for 12. That would include 12 table knives, which were visible through the box's transparent top. Also visible was a new roll of wedding wrapping paper that stuck out from one end of the shoulder bag.

If we'd been walking through the mall, my first thought would have been, "Gee, that's a nice wedding present."

However, since I was removing my boots and silver jewelry in preparation of a full-body scan, my first thought was, "Terrorists can buy wrapping paper a lot easier than bombs."

Silly? Of course. But so is a policy that prohibits little old ladies from wearing shoes through a security checkpoint, yet allows a guy built like a linebacker to carry 12 knives aboard in plain view.

Still, TSA's "loosened" policies say there is nothing wrong with taking a dozen knives aboard an airplane if they have rounded tips, said Niko Melendez, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration's public affairs office. Even sewing scissors are OK if they have rounded tips, he added.

Forget cases such as the Florida one in June 2004 in which a man was critically stabbed by a man wielding -- you guessed it -- a table knife.

In fact, the less we think about any of what the federal government is doing, the safer we'll feel.

Local youths aren't scary to think about, when you consider what some of them have accomplished lately.

Keisha McDaniel, a Desert Pines High School student, will receive a $1,000 scholarship today for creating the Pretty Tomboy line of clothing for athletic girls and women (www.prettytomboyclothing.com).

The scholarship, to be awarded at the National Association of Women Business Owners luncheon at the Tuscany, is from the Girls Going Places competition sponsored by Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

McDaniel, who turns 18 this summer, was chosen from a field of 4,600 applicants. An accomplished athlete, McDaniel came up with the idea for a special line of clothing eight years ago when she wearied of having to abandon feminity in order to wear active clothing made for boys.

Her company currently sells branded T-shirts and hoodies online.

Finally, if the Nevada Senior Olympics had a typing competition, I would not win or even place.

In this spot a week ago, I goofed in reporting the year of the first National Senior Olympics because my finger hit a neighboring key, rather than the correct one.

The first national games for athletes 50 and older were conducted in 1987.

My apologies to those who work so hard to continue this great tradition.