FAA fines minister $28,000
By Audrey Hudson
October 31, 2007

The Rev. Sam Childers says he might need an attorney.

The Pennsylvania missionary operates the orphanage for victims of the war in Sudan's Darfur region and elsewhere in Africa, and he is in a fight with federal aviation officials over a $28,000 fine for some supplies he tried to send to his shelter.

For more than a decade, he has transported needed supplies to operate the orphanage's power generator in a clearly marked household plastic container. That is until April, when 3 quarts of motor oil, two bottles of diesel treatment and a can of spray lubricant in the crate were confiscated by airline screeners.

Mr. Childers, president of World Missions Shekinah Fellowship, apologized in a subsequent letter to U.S. government officials, saying he was not aware the supplies were classified as "hazardous materials" and illegal to ship by commercial plane. the rest