CHARLESTON - The small, blue case holding a tube of lipstick looked ordinary enough.

But when Oren Lockhart opened it and rotated the base so its contents were revealed, it wasn't anything you'd want to put on your lips. Instead, the case contained a small, curved knife blade.

"I can only see one purpose in that, and that's to harm someone," said Lockhart, the chief of security at the Coles County Courthouse.

The disguised knife is just one of several unusual items security officers have found at the courthouse. Sometimes people try to bring them inside the building and other times, as with the lipstick case, Lockhart or one of the other officers finds them just outside.

There was once what looked like a simple playing card but was actually metal with razor edges that Lockhart said can be used like a ninja-type throwing star and was found in a man's wallet. There was also a credit-card sized object that folded out into a "nasty blade" that was found in a woman's purse.

Security procedures at the courthouse have been in place since March 2002. That's when entrance to the building was limited to its south side, and visitors began passing through a metal detector and having their bags scanned by an X-ray machine.

The officers have confiscated a few sets of brass knuckles and some switchblade knives over the years, because those are illegal. Items such as the fake lipstick case or the metal card, however, are legal to own, Lockhart said, and they're usually returned to their owner once the person leaves the courthouse.

"Things like this have no place in the courthouse," he said.

Still, Lockhart thinks that finding the weapons shows that the security system is "working as it was intended." Sheriff Ron Scott, whose department oversees security at the courthouse, agreed and said it reassures him that the system works and is protecting people.

"Just imagine what was going in and out of that place before we had courthouse security," Scott said.

"If we haven't totally eliminated it, we've cut it substantially," Lockhart said.

Contact Dave Fopay at dfopay@jg-tc.com or 348-5733.