I’ve been to the airport in Bangor Maine. It’s small, run down and old fashioned. This little city is located in the middle of no where. It’s claim to fame IS how awesome a welcoming the troops get when they land here. But that’s changed.

BANGOR — Five hundred thirty-one soldiers stopped for a layover Tuesday afternoon at Bangor International Airport, but not one of them ate a piece of Debbie Bickford’s decadent peanut butter fudge — nor did any indulge in a homemade chocolate brownie or a Maine-famous whoopie pie.

Homemade treats long provided by the area’s volunteer Maine Troop Greeters disappeared at the airport about a month ago after BIA began enforcing a ban on such giveaways.

Why are they being banned?

Some greeters grumble that the rules changed because of jealous airport vendors, but BIA blames liability and strict rules that must be followed by airport concessionaires.

Is it more than this? I suspect it is.

The airport has become a prominent entry and exit point for planes carrying U.S. military personnel. The volunteers have welcomed almost 500,000 troops since 2003.

BIA allowed the troop greeters to move into a room at the airport in May 2003.

500,000 troops later, and almost 4 years later the airport decided to suddenly start following it’s own “rules”?

About a month ago, BIA management told the greeters they could no longer serve the food or beverages, said greeter Bill Knight.

Asked whether vendor pressure prompted the change, Knight said, “I’ve heard those remarks and so forth.”

Tony Caruso, the airport’s assistant director, said Tuesday the issue revolves around liability. “We have people who bake things at home, and that is very hard to regulate.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has strict regulations on preparation, temperature control and handling that all airport concessionaires must adhere to, Caruso said. Ensuring that all food is properly prepared and stored is a safety and security issue, he said.

Oh come on! Nursing homes have stricter rules when it comes to food and cooking and storage and SAFETY- yet families and friends of residents are allowed to bring in goodies and serve them to everyone. This is a bureaucratic bag a bull shit. It sounds to me like some red tape whorshipper decided to enforce out dated and silly government oversight rules for the sake of…enforcing outdated and silly rules. (rolling my eyes) And the airport vendors can stick it up their royal asses too- they who charge outrageous amounts of cash for simple bottles of water or cups of nasty coffee. THEY could have supplied the troops with baked foods and a warm welcome home, for FREE of course, but no. Money has to enter the equation here.

Caruso said the airport supports the troop greeters. He noted that BIA donates the greeters’ room, and that the greeters were told from the start they could not offer food and beverages.

Not so, said longtime greeters Ina Baker and Cathy Czarnecki. The two said they could not recall a time when food items were limited.

“We don’t want to step on anybody’s toes because we don’t want to get kicked out of here,” Czarnecki said Tuesday. “It is kind of disappointing the way some of the troops come in here looking for food because we’ve had it in the past.”

Like I said some nerd who likes to follow every rule to it’s crossed I’s and captal T’s is behind this.

BIA has not fielded any official complaints from airport businesses concerned about loss of revenue due to the troop greeters’ offerings, Caruso said.

He said the airport wanted to make sure it did not violate any contracts it has with concessionaires, since they hold the exclusive agreement to provide food to travelers.

Next door to the troop greeter room in the airport is the Red Baron Restaurant and Coffee Shop. No managers returned phone calls Tuesday.

The city and BIA officials have vowed to hold a meeting in the near future with the airport concessionaires and troop greeters to devise an agreement and outline foods that greeters can provide, Caruso said.

Yep the vendors complained. Pompous asses. Will they provide the goodies for free or will they charge the troops? A vendor is a vendor. A business. While we respect businesses that support the troops, we don’t need this kind of support: Underhanded, backstabbing bulloney against local citizens who chose to volunteer their time and effort.

The greeters also allow troops to call their families during the layovers on cell phones provided by Unicel and U.S. Cellular. Verizon services the pay phones in the airport. When asked if the airport would ban the cell phone usage if Verizon complained about missed revenues, Caruso said, “That would be something between the airport and Verizon, and right now that is not an issue.”

Right now? You mean it could become an issue.

Fucktards at the Bangor International Airport- where they actually have a section of their website devoted to the Troop Greeters!

Contact the Airport here and tell them how stupid this BAN really is.