Detained

Re "I'd Done Nothing Wrong and Yet I Felt Criminal" (Aug. 13): I understand Rhonda McClain's anger at being searched by Drug Enforcement Administration agents at LAX. In 1986, I was detained in the Fort Lauderdale [Fla.] airport by two local undercover narcotics agents. In full view of other passengers, my baggage was searched and I was patted down. McClain's article implies that race was the reason she was stopped and searched. While this is certainly possible, my experience indicates other factors predominate.

A woman was tricked into wiring about $4,000 to someone in England by fake messages from a friend on Facebook, Cape Girardeau police said. Jayne Scherrman wired the money through Western Union after receiving what she believed were several requests for help from her friend, Sgt. Jason Selzer said. Police think someone took over the friend's Facebook account and sent messages saying she and her husband had been detained in London and needed money. Palo Alto-based Facebook said Internet schemes like this one were not uncommon.

Russian police thwarted opposition plans for a protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in central Moscow, detaining a prominent Kremlin critic and more than 30 other government opponents. Eduard Limonov, leader of the banned National Bolshevik Party, was among at least 10 people seen being grabbed by police and dragged into buses as they tried to protest in Triumph Square. Police said about 100 people had tried to protest and that 33 were detained. City authorities had refused to grant opposition organizations permission for the demonstration, but Limonov's group and others said the city had no grounds for the denial and vowed to protest anyway.

In a story about foreigners detained at Guantanamo, I read, "U.S. military panels reviewing the detention of foreigners as enemy combatants would be allowed to use evidence gained through torture in deciding whether to keep them imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the government said in court." Just a few pages later, in a story about Lori Berenson, who received a 20-year prison sentence in Peru, I read that her "legal team led by former U.S. Atty. Gen. Ramsey Clark" argued that her trial "failed to meet international standards for fairness and that she faced hostile judges who relied on coerced testimony and tainted evidence."

My American mother, sister and I moved back to the U.S. in 1976 because my father, after being taken in "for questioning" by military police, was imprisoned for 14 months in the African country of Malawi. He was one of many detained without committing or being charged with any crime during a period when Malawi's president went after those he saw as national security threats. The Americans we grew up around found our story shocking and told us we were lucky to live in America, where such things did not happen.

At least seven people were shot and wounded early Saturday after at least one person opened fire at a house party, authorities said. Eight suspects have been detained in connection with the shooting and were questioned individually, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Dan McPherson. The shooting occurred about 12:30 a.m. at a birthday party in the 39500 block of Hawthorne Street, McPherson said. More than 100 guests paid entry at the door and then paid for their own alcohol, he said.

There are frequent fliers, and then there are people like Steven Rothstein and Jacques Vroom. Both men bought tickets that gave them unlimited first-class travel for life on American Airlines. It was almost like owning a fleet of private jets. Passes in hand, Rothstein and Vroom flew for business. They flew for pleasure. They flew just because they liked being on planes. They bypassed long lines, booked backup itineraries in case the weather turned, and never worried about cancellation fees.