Alert Level = Orange (vests)

This is an excerpt from Sacramento Bee columnist R.E. Graswich:

Don Giovanni and homeland security make strange bedfellows. "Don Giovanni" is the sexy Sacramento Opera opening Friday. The show requires flickering candelabra. Fires of any type are discouraged at the Community Center Theater. So the task fell to Luis DeAnda, an actor and prop master, to create a candelabra that didn't burn. Luis settled on plastic tubing, wires and batteries. But trouble flickered in the wind.
"My dad and I went to Home Depot on Truxel to get the supplies," Luis said. "One employee was helping me, then he wandered off. I looked for another employee. Then I saw a young lady employee looking at me, and another employee came up with a cell phone and talked to her." Luis and his father, Dave Benson, bought the material and left. Luis stopped at his mother's house. Dad lives nearby. Dad went home. Suddenly, Dad was surrounded by four Sacramento police cars. Someone at Home Depot had taken Dad's license number and called the cops. Said they were making pipe bombs. "My dad called and said the cops were there," Luis said. "He's a practical joker, so I didn't believe him." Finally, everything was straightened out. "The candelabras look good," Luis said. He's confident "Don Giovanni" won't bomb. ...

On the one hand I suppose we could commend the Home Depot employess for at least trying to do their civic duty. Okay, so maybe they didn't think that someone intending real damage with explosives would use metal piping and not plastic for a deadlier shrapnel effect. Who says all terrorists are smart? Or maybe they were terrorists on a tight budget. But on the other hand, I had better be careful when I go to the hardware store to get the supplies to re-do my sprinkler system: piping, timers, conduit...uh oh. Maybe we should start requiring ID whenever someone buys PVC...or fertilizer...or wiring...or anything flammable (paint, hair spray, turpentine, etc)...or...