Now I know where Grandma's knitting needles went

I learned something very interesting at the Sun-Sentinel website today.

Associated Press Posted July 11 2005, 11:04 AM EDT

MIAMI -- Travelers who lose pocketknives or scissors during security checks at two Florida airports could get them back -- if they make the best offers to two other state governments.

Every few weeks, state employees from Kentucky and Alabama pick up thousands of knives, scissors, box cutters, baseball bats and other prohibited items that security agents intercept at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Miami international airports.

Kentucky's Division of Surplus Property sells the items, along with items confiscated from airports in Massachusetts and its own state, on the online auction site eBay.com. Officials said the sales net the state about $2,500 a month, or roughly $30,000 a year.

Alabama first tries to sell the items to nonprofit agencies before offering them to the public at live auctions, said Shane Bailey, the director of the state's surplus agency. The state earns about $6,000 a year from the sales.Bailey said Alabama will soon also use eBay to sell the items.

So if you ever wonder where all this stuff goes, now you know. But why doesn't Florida handle it themselves?

Florida officials said the state declined to participate in the airport-surplus program. "There would be a lot of itemizing and auditing, and our surplus division simply doesn't have the funding or staffing to do it,'' said Jennifer Fennell, a spokeswoman for Florida's Department of Management Services.

"We have five positions in that division, and their time is 100 percent taken.''

Likely excuse. The state of Florida either didn't think of it or is just too lazy to do it. What do you think?