By James Pilcher and Cindi Andrews
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Airport police officer Tim Cline selects cars heading into the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport for random inspections Tuesday afternoon (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

Random car searches at the airport. Continuing high gasoline prices. And the possibility that March Madness could wane or Opening Day could stall.

These were signs of a country preparing for war Tuesday, one day before President Bush's deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq.

Preparations began in earnest Monday, when the president and the recently created Homeland Security Department raised the country's terrorism alert status to "orange," the second highest on the five-rung system.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge Tuesday unveiled "Operation Liberty Shield," and asked the nation's governors to deploy the National Guard to fortify key potential targets.

At the same time, the FBI was directed to begin voluntary interviews with anyone of Iraqi descent. (In the 2000 Census, four people in Butler County and 14 in Hamilton County identified themselves that way.)

While asking Americans to be vigilant, Ridge also asked citizens not to panic if they hear rumors. "There is bound to be disinformation," Ridge said. "Don't react to rumors. We will strive to get the facts out there as fast as we can."

But these actions could pale in comparison to what might happen if the anticipated war doesn't end shortly.

Already high gas prices could easily top $2 a gallon, armed soldiers walking airport concourses could become a common sight, and businesses and agencies could start to feel the absence of the 1,000 or so military reservists from the Tristate called up to active duty.

Because of the ongoing threat of another Sept. 11-type attack, "this is a different situation than what we're used to," said Don Maccarone, director of the Hamilton County Emergency Agency.

While the changes won't be dramatic, "people may see additional security in parts of the areas they live," Maccarone said.

Hardening the targets

Federal, state, and local law enforcement and security officials began looking for ways to further fortify potential targets almost immediately after President Bush's speech Monday

The ones Tristate officials were willing to discuss included:

• Reinstituting random searches of any car approaching the terminal at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Locally, the airport administration entered into an agreement with the Florence Police Department to borrow more officers, since Boone County could not spare any more. The Transportation Security Administration, the agency created after Sept. 11 to handle airport and airline security, has asked airports to have some sort of law enforcement presence at all security checkpoints, and Boone County has been providing backup to the airport police.

"We are also working with local law enforcement to increase patrols of the busy parts of the airports and the perimeters," TSA spokesman Brian Turmail said. "And we are tailoring it this time, doing some things at airports and other things at others."

• Searching all cars that go in and out of the Fernald site in Crosby Township.

"Guards are looking in vehicles' trunks," said Gary Stegner, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy's Fernald Closure Project. The site, once a uranium processing plant, also is tightening up security around the trainloads of nuclear waste it ships out.

• The U.S. Coast Guard, which is responsible for patrolling the Ohio River and keeping watch for any potential threats against the area's major bridges, is on heightened alert. But spokesman Lt. Steven Garcia would not comment on what specific steps, if any, the Coast Guard is taking.

• Officials with Hoxworth Blood Center said they were also gearing up for an anticipated rush of would-be blood donors. Normally, the center handles 6,000 donors a month; in January 1991, when the Gulf War broke out, 9,000 people turned out to give blood.

And in the days after Sept. 11, more than 8,000 donors showed up.

"We're more than happy to take everybody, but we are trying to coordinate with volunteers and paid staff to make sure we don't have lines out the door," Hoxworth spokesman Michael Anderson said. "This time we're trying to get the message out for people to make an appointment so that we can take them when they want to come but so we can plan for it."

Gas prices getting bloated?

Gas prices are at all-time highs (on average from a national perspective) at about $1.72, according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge. In some places in California, drivers are paying well above $2 a gallon; some are paying nearly $3.

The average prices Tuesday were $1.70 for a gallon of regular unleaded in Southwest Ohio, and $1.73 in Northern Kentucky.

Making matters worse, war preparations have stopped the flow of oil from Iraq - which has the second-largest reserves in the world, trailing only Saudi Arabia.

Officials with the area's largest gas retailer that uses Iraqi oil, Findlay-based Marathon Ashland Petroleum, said Tuesday the shutdown of Iraq's supply won't have too much of an impact.

Company spokesman Chuck Rice said that Marathon Ashland, which operates Speedway convenience stores as well as seven refineries throughout the Midwest, refined only about 6 million barrels of Iraqi oil last year, getting it through the United Nations-sanctioned oil-for-food program. The company refines a total of 360 million barrels a year.

"Our two major import sources are Canada and Mexico, so we can make up that difference," Rice said.

But experts have said that if the war lasts awhile, the threat to other crude sources, such as Saudi Arabia, could push gas prices even higher. The war also would come at a time when gas prices routinely spike because of the change at refineries from regular gas to cleaner-burning formulas required in many areas (including Northern Kentucky) during the summer.

While he would not comment on Marathon Ashland prices specifically, Rice acknowledged that if there were an extended conflict, "we could see changes in gas prices."

No more fun and games?

There were also signs Tuesday that the sports community could be affected by war.

Officials with both the NCAA and Major League Baseball had considered changes to both the upcoming NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, set to begin this week, and Opening Day on March 31.

Baseball has already canceled the March 25-26 season-opening series in Japan between Seattle and Oakland. But the NCAA said Tuesday night it would not postpone or move any men's and women's tournament games if the United States goes to war. NCAA President Myles Brand said it was in the best interests of the country to go forward.

No changes have been made to state high school basketball tournaments in Kentucky and Ohio. Officials with the Kentucky High School Athletic Association said late Tuesday the boys tourney, which begins today, would be played as planned.

Ohio officials said this weekend's boys tourney in Columbus would go on as scheduled unless there were an attack on U.S. soil. Ohio High School Athletic Association spokesman Bob Goldring said it would be cancelled if "we would be advised by government officials not to hold the tournament this weekend."

Teams from Moeller and Reading are in that tournament.

War talk also had county officials thinking of canceling this weekend's dedication of Great American Ball Park, which includes open houses Saturday and Sunday.

While he offered no specifics, Hamilton County assistant director for stadiums Terrence Evans said the event would see the same security as a typical Reds game.

A war "may change the tone of the event, but it's probably a good thing that people will be getting together for something that is a source of community pride," said Eric Stuckey, assistant county administrator.

Enquirer reporters Steve Kemme, Tom Groeschen and Neil Schmidt contributed to this report.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com; candrews@enquirer.com