Columbus Transportation Security Officer ‘Reaffirms Faith in Ohioans’
Port Columbus International Airport, Ohio
Lisa Nesz, traveling home to Georgia after visiting family over the holidays, showed up prepared at a Port Columbus (Ohio) International Airport checkpoint – toiletries in a one-quart, clear plastic zip-top bag, prescription radiation cream readily available to declare.
Unfortunately, a bottle of lotion exceeded the three-ounce limit and a Transportation Security Officer explained that Nesz would have to leave it behind. Though accepting the rule, she couldn’t stop her tears – the lotion was a gift from someone dear to help her deal with the damaging effects of her cancer treatment.
The Transportation Security Officer explained that Nesz could purchase a smaller bottle of the same lotion at an airport store – at the opposite end of the terminal. But Nesz declined.
Browsing in a shop on the way to her gate, Nesz felt a tap on her shoulder. As she wrote to the Columbus Dispatch, “And here was this TSA agent. She had gone down to the other end of the airport … and purchased two smaller bottles of lotion.”
The act of kindness so impressed Columbus Dispatch news columnist Ann Fisher that she featured the story in its January 1 edition. Transportation Security Officer’s effort “reaffirms faith in Ohioans” as friendly people, the headline read.
After reading the column, Columbus FSD Tom Rice and his team sought to identify the TSO. Lead Transportation Security Officer Susanne Carman stepped forward just as humbly as when she helped Nesz.
“Susanne’s dedication to the traveling public as well as our security mission is a testament to her character, as well as to the kind of people we have here at TSA Columbus,” said Rice.
