Maine resident faces fines for crossing illegally into Que. to attend chur

[Judi Lynn]

world news
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

Maine resident faces fines for crossing illegally into Que. to attend church

TOWNSHIP 15 RANGE 15, Maine (AP) - A resident in this remote northern Maine outpost along the Quebec border says he is being fined $10,000 US for doing something he has done most his life: going to church.

Richard Albert, 52, said the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection recently notified him that he faces two $5,000 fines for twice crossing from Quebec into Maine on a Sunday when the local border crossing station is closed.

Albert's home is 30 metres on the Maine side of the border, right beside the U.S. Customs office. But the church is on the Canadian side of the border, which means he has to cross the boundary illegally to attend church services.

Albert, a U.S. citizen, said he has been crossing the U.S.-Canada border at his own discretion for more than 40 years. But border security has been tightened since last May when the Bureau of Customs eliminated its Form 1 program.
(snip/...)

http://www.mytelus.com/news/article.do?pageID=world_home&articleID=1523670

[glarius]

1. I've heard of these incidents before....Canadians and Americans have

been crossing back and forth and intermingling in many of these little towns and communities on the border for hundreds of years....All of a sudden the border security is giving them a hard time...There was a story on the CBC of a Canadian being charged with something or other recently too...The people are not allowed to use common sense measures to assure that the people crossing are trustworthy....It seems to be getting more and more like a police state...

[joeybee12]

2. Then open the damn crossing station on Sunday!!!!!!!

Geesh, leave these poor people alone! What is this now, the Berlin wall?????

[Malva Zebrina]

3. Yup

I have enjoyed traveling in Canada, about five hours drive from my home in Maine for many years. I am actually very anxious about doing a trip to Canada in the near future. I love Canada, and if I could, if I were not too old, would indeed, immigrate to Canada, especially to Nova Scotia or any of the near Provinces. The people are friendly and lovable. The country is clean and neat. But I am actually afraid to cross the border this spring or summer. I am also concerned that the usually accepting Canadiens, will hold it against me that I am an American. :shrug: and that is sad for me.

[glarius]

4. Please don't be concerned about how you will be received in Canada

We Canadians know who is to blame for the current state of relations between our two countries...We know it's not the American people..A recent poll in a leading Canadian newspaper showed that a very high percentage (don't remember the number) of Canadians like Americans...and a very high percentage don't like George Bush....Come up ....you'll be welcome....:pals:

[Malva Zebrina]

6. Aww --thanks for that

It is typical of you lovely Canadiens. Thanks so very much. :toast:

[Minstrel Boy]

11. like glarius said

No need to worry. It's only Bush who's polling 15% up here. Good neighbours are always welcome.

[andy12]

5. wrong church I suppose

Now if he were attending a church with an affiliation with the religious right...things would be fine. He should check with Rev. Pat Robertson for a list of approved churches

[Thor_MN]

7. No need to check or even leave home!!!

Just turn your TV on anytime between Midnight Saturday and Midnight Sunday. Start scan through the channels and stop when you hear the word BuhEyeBUhLLeh. Sit there, don't think, and write a check when they tell you to. These are the only approved religious activities of the * admin (esp. the check part.)

[Zan_of_Texas]

8. That's crummy

I hate it when the gestapo do stuff like that.

I think the Canadians are mighty good sports to put up with us. The least we can do as individuals is do our level best to change regimes.

It occurs to me that our situation as a country is a little like the situation of an individual who is a victim of identity theft. First, they don't even know it's happened. Then, they find they've lost money, and their good name. Then, it takes a long time and much effort to recover, and get things back to normal.

Our countries' actions make us unrecognizable since Bush took office.

We're a major bully, we're spending money like water, we're declaring wars preemptively and refusing to rule out the use of nukes against a non-nuke country. We're shredding the Bill of Rights, etc. etc. etc.

So, is it possible that anonymous people using electronics have stolen our country's identity, just as surely as identity thieves are stealing millions of people's financial identities?

Is it possible that the reason our country has taken on a face we don't even recognize, is that its identity has been stolen by vote stealers, operating in anonymous shadows, programming or hacking computerized voting machines?

[mainer]

9. There are houses up there straddling the border

There was an article last year about a lady who crosses the Canadian border just by going from her living room to her kitchen. It's not the first time this sort of issue has arisen. A Canadian bird hunter who drove maybe 50 yards across the border to a gas station on the American side got arrested for having a shotgun in his car (transporting weapons into the U.S.!) He was in jail for months, despite protests from the Canadian government.

[Minstrel Boy]

10. A Quebec resident who crossed the border to buy gas was jailed

for more than a month because he had a shotgun in his vehicle (hardly a rarity in the region) and he had a criminal record (he had been "fined for breaking windows and possession of stolen property when he was 19"). The poor guy only spoke French, too.

The gas station is on the US side of the border, but its driveway is in Canada. Its only customers are from Quebec.

From The Globe and Mail:

Mr. Jalbert's father, Gerard, said in an interview he was pleased his son's ordeal was over. But the elder Mr. Jalbert said he will boycott the U.S. in protest.

"Usually I travel in the United States for several months but this year I'm not going to give them my money," the father said from Pohénégamook. "Any country but the United States."

Mr. Jalbert expressed similar sentiments during a news conference in Canada.

"I'm not going back to the United States," he said, adding he would return to appear at his trial.

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20021114/wjalb1114_2/Front/homeBN/breakingnews

[lostnfound]

12. If Clinton had done this, he would have been hung in the media

as "anti-religious". Columnists like Buckley would have complained about his attacks on people of faith, blah,blah,blah.