On Edge

By Melissa August, Elizabeth L. Bland, Sean Gregory, Janice M. Horowitz, Benjamin Nugent and Rebecca Winters Sunday, Sept. 15, 2002
    • When a diner at a Georgia restaurant overheard three men who looked Middle Eastern joking that Americans "mourned on 9/11, and they're going to mourn again on 9/13," she did just what President Bush has asked Americans to do: she told authorities. Within hours the men were detained, and a 20-mile stretch of Florida highway was closed as their cars were searched. After 17 hours police released the men, who turned out to be medical students traveling to a course in Miami. Two of them are U.S. citizens, and the other holds a valid visa. The students later denied the woman's account of their conversation, but police say the men could face charges if they were perpetrating a hoax.