Residents, travelers react to upgraded security and strikes

INDIANAPOLIS -- Travelers arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport Sunday to find Indiana National Guard troops at security checkpoints and lounge televisions tuned to coverage of the U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan.\nShortly after President Bush announced that the U.S. military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks had begun, Indiana\'s congressional delegation praised the strikes they had found out about 90 minutes before they occurred.\nU.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., said Americans now must show the world strength, determination and resolve to eradicate terrorism.\n\"From the moment the terrorists attacked the United States and killed thousands of innocent civilians, this day was inevitable,\" Bayh said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.\n\"By initiating military action in a timely and overwhelming manner, the president is sending a clear message about the price to be paid for attacking the people of the United States,\" U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., said in a news release.\nRepublican Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., speaking to reporters at a country club in Indianapolis Sunday night, said he supported the strikes and played down videotaped threats against Americans by Osama bin Laden.\n\"I don\'t think we should take it very seriously,\" Lugar said. \"This is a man on the run, a man who, as a matter of fact, is going to have his activities curtailed.\"\nU.S. Rep. Brian Kerns, R-Ind., talking to WISH-TV in Indianapolis, expressed a harsher sentiment.\n\"We cannot live in fear,\" Kerns said. \"The president said we are going to root them out and bring them to justice, and two things must happen. Bin Laden must die and the Taliban must go.\"\nNational Guard troops had been scheduled to beef up security at airport terminal checkpoints beginning Sunday in Indianapolis, Gary, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Evansville and Lafayette.\nAbout 20 Guardsmen dressed in camouflage clothing and black berets were on hand in Indianapolis with the goal of instilling confidence in already anxious travelers.\n\"I think it helps on two levels. It addresses the psychological level and improves the actual security as well,\" said Dennis Rosebrough, Indianapolis airport spokesman.\nThe line at the Indianapolis airport stretched down a hallway and around a corner as airport security personnel checked random bags and patted down ticketed passengers, some of whom waited up to a half hour in line.\nBut few were complaining.\n\"I just think it\'s the new way of life,\" said Artis Hampshire-Cowan, 46, of Mitchellville, Md.\nElwyn Stafford, 80, of Indianapolis, found the National Guard presence comforting.\nStafford, a Baptist minister, waited at the airport Sunday afternoon with four of his children for another daughter to arrive from Europe for his wife\'s funeral.\n\"You hate to see it, but I think it has to be,\" said Stafford, who expressed concern for innocent Afghan civilians as well as American military personnel, including his four grandchildren. \"Bomb them with kindness, but you\'ve got to wipe out the ways for them to bomb us back."