By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Federal airport security officials Monday said the holiday weekend went smoothly locally, adding that the Transportation Security Administration had passed its first major test at the Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport.

There were long lines and two incidents during the busiest travel time of the year. A gun was found by a screener, and a terminal was evacuated due to a malfunctioning bomb detection machine.

But TSA federal security director Terry Burgess gave his staff high marks for handling the flow, which included more than 25,000 passengers Tuesday through Sunday. There were 8,000 on Sunday.

"Overall, we did very well, although yesterday (Sunday) was tough with that many passengers," Mr. Burgess said, adding that federal screeners confiscated 813 items, including the gun, between Tuesday and Sunday. Of those, 297 were knives or blades, and 406 were tools or sharp objects.

It was the first major travel weekend that the TSA has faced locally - the new federal agency took over passenger screening here in early September. Now, all airports use federally employed screeners, as required by the law passed soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that created the TSA.

The two incidents during the weekend:

A Nevada man was arrested Sunday morning after an unloaded .22 caliber handgun was discovered in his carry-on bag.

A sealed shoebox belonging to John T. Elder, 59, of Henderson, Nev., was found to have the gun inside about 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Mr. Elder was arrested by airport police and charged with a misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed weapon.

He was released on $200 bond later Sunday morning, and is due back in local court Dec. 13. If found guilty, Mr. Elder faces fines and up to a year in jail, and the Federal Aviation Administration could also levy civil fines up to $11,000.

Terminal 3 was evacuated Friday morning after an explosive trace detection system was found to be malfunctioning.

Mr. Burgess ordered Delta Air Lines' Terminal 3 to be evacuated. The disruption was minimal, however, since Friday was a light travel day.

The machine will be replaced, Mr. Burgess said.

Delta, which operates its second-largest hub locally, said cold and snowy weather affected operations somewhat, but that the airline did not see trouble with security.

"It was a good holiday weekend for us," Delta spokeswoman Kristi Tucker said.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com