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Old 02-28-2003, 02:04 PM  
EscortBiz
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: New York City
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State Of California Putting Stuff on Ebay

Maybe if thy legallize Prostitution and Drugs they can stop uploading bullshit on ebay.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ortsecurity_dc

Cash-Strapped California Holds eBay Sale

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - How hard up is California, the nation's richest state?


So hard up it has resorted to peddling pocketknives, scissors and even the occasional hatchet seized by airport security staff, in a desperate bid to put a dent in its $35 billion budget shortfall.


The California Department of General Services is taking potentially dangerous items confiscated from passengers at airports in Oakland and Sacramento and putting them up for bids on the popular Web site of Internet auction company eBay Inc.


And plans are underway to start hawking items seized from passengers at airports in Los Angeles, Ontario, California and Orange County


It may only be a drop in the $35 billion ocean, but state authorities say the proceeds are not to be sniffed at.


California has raised more than $16,000 since November by auctioning the items, which are too numerous to return to their owners, Robb Deignan, spokesman for the California Department of General Services, said on Friday.


"The most common items are probably Swiss Army knives and corkscrews," that are being seized by screeners from passengers' carry on luggage and pockets, Deignan told Reuters.


"We're not appraisers of pocketknives and corkscrews, so using eBay is a pretty sensible way of doing this, allowing the market dictate the prices."


The auction program also is doing a brisk trade in much larger tools that could obviously double as lethal weapons. Deignan noted his department has even auctioned hatchets.


"I really don't know what people were thinking," Deignan said. "Maybe they were going to chop a cord of wood for mom when they got back to Minnesota."


While cash-strapped California is happy to profit from the auctions, the earnings stress that for some people messages about heightened airport security simply are not sinking in.


The types of box-cutters used by the Sept. 11 hijackers continue to be seized by airport security, Deignan noted.


"This (program) only expands as long as people don't leave these items at home," Deignan said. "This program could be over tomorrow ... This is not necessarily something we want to be in the business of doing."
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