Tight security greets Obama at Toledo Express Airport

9/27/2012

Truda Kynard waited well over an hour in an occasionally heavy mist Wednesday morning at Toledo Express Airport, waiting for a chance to catch President Obama's attention with a sign about her son serving in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan.

She came away not only with a presidential handshake, but a commemorative coin that will surely give Lt. Col. Calwes Kynard II some bragging points among his fellow officers and soldiers — and one for his brother, Air Force Master Sgt. Victor Truman Kynard, too, who is in the states.

“I'm going to send this coin in his next care package,” Mrs. Kynard of Toledo said proudly after describing her encounter with Mr. Obama as “just wonderful.”

She was among 40 to 50 well-wishers who gathered in a “visitors' area” near where Air Force One, under tight security, landed on its second attempt after low clouds prompted its pilot to abort the first approach to the airport.

Approaching from the east, the 747 first appeared amid the cloud ceiling just a few hundred feet above the runway, but it descended no further on the aborted landing and roared back into the clouds after flying by the crowd.

It reappeared perhaps five minutes later after circling the airport and landed without incident.

The White House press office confirmed the first landing attempt was scuttled because of the weather.

The Ohio Highway Patrol, Lucas County and Wood County sheriff's offices, and Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority Police all buttressed the security detail provided by the Secret Service.

Lucas County Emergency Medical Services also was on hand, with a Life Squad as part of the 20-vehicle motorcade from Toledo Express to Bowling Green.

Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said that while his office won't be reimbursed by Mr. Obama's re-election campaign for its assignment of about two dozen people to the President's visit to Bowling Green, overtime pay will go to three of his department staffers assigned to a Special Response Team.

The security detail included a dozen volunteer auxiliary deputies, Mr. Wasylyshyn said, and regular patrols in the county were backed up by crews from Sandusky and Ottawa counties.

Moments after Air Force One landed, a spectator suffered a medical issue and after receiving initial care from emergency medical technicians, was carried on a gurney to an ambulance.

Besides shaking hands with the spectators, Mr. Obama was greeted by a welcome committee of 10 local Democratic party leaders, elected officials, and other dignitaries.

“I thought it was really cool to see him come off the plane, and getting his autograph,” said Nathan Brown, 10, who traveled with his father, Mark, and sister, Lydia, 8, from their Dublin, Ohio, home to see the President's arrival.

Spectators were allowed to bring cameras — but little else, not even pens — past a security checkpoint.

The autographed cards Mr. Obama passed out were prepared in advance.

Many military units distribute commemorative coins to members that are the subject of “challenges” among members of various units or service branches, so a coin from the commander in chief is sure to be cherished by Mrs. Kynard's sons.

Her husband, the late Calwes Kynard, also served in the military: with the Army in Vietnam.

The Blade's news services contributed to this report.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.