02/10/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
Cross-Border Canadian Church Visit Costs Man $10,000
Good to see the government cracking down on the real terrorist threat.
By Charles Grandmont, Reuters
MONTREAL (Reuters) - Crossing the U.S.-Canada border to go to church on a Sunday cost a U.S. citizen $10,000 for breaching Washington's tough new security rules.
The expensive trip to church was a surprise for Richard Albert, a resident of rural Maine who lives so close to the Canadian border the U.S. customs office is right next door to his house.
Like the other half-dozen residents of Township 15 Range 15, crossing the border is a daily ritual for Albert. The nearby Quebec village of St. Pamphile is where they shop, eat and pray.
The local U.S. customs station is closed on Sundays, so he just drove around the locked gate, as he had done every weekend since the gate appeared last May, following a tightening of border security.
Two days later, Albert was summoned to the customs office, where an officer told him he had been caught on camera crossing the border illegally.
Ottawa has granted special passes to some 300 U.S. citizens in that region so they can enter the country when Canadian customs posts are closed, but the United States canceled a similar program last May.
That forces local residents to make a 200-mile detour along treacherous logging roads to get home via the nearest staffed border checkpoint.
2 Annotations Submitted
Tuesday the 10th of February, Abe Froman noted:
Lawyer up, Mr. Albert, because I believe you could win this one! 200 Miles to the nearest staffed gate? To put that in perspective Time Square is 213 miles from Quincy Market.
Wednesday the 11th of February, santo26 noted:
Oh boy, does this peeve me. As portions of my family are from Maine, I can sympathize with the troubles Mainers face. Basically cutting off people from the community where they shop, eat, and pray is the eqivalent of putting a Berlin Wall up for these people. Where is the "family values" in fining a guy for going to church?!? This is the essence of criminally absurd.
