US teenagers have bagpipes seized at Canada border after competition [View all]
Source: Associated Press
US teenagers have bagpipes seized at Canada border after competition
New Hampshire teens, returning from competition, contact their congressional delegation after customs seize ivory pipes
Associated Press in Concord, New Hampshire
theguardian.com, Tuesday 5 August 2014 16.06 EDT
The skirl of their pipes had barely receded before two New Hampshire teenagers learned a hard lesson in cross-border musical diplomacy: if your bagpipes have ivory in them, leave them at home before traveling to Canada or risk having them seized at the border.
Campbell Webster, of Concord, and his friend Eryk Bean, of Londonderry, were returning from Canada on Sunday after a bagpipe competition that served as a tuneup for the world championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The 17-year-olds, fresh off winning several top prizes in Canada, got to a small border crossing in Vermont when they were told they’d have to relinquish their pipes because they contain ivory.
The US prohibits importing ivory taken after 1976. Even though the boys had certificates showing their ivory is older – Campbell’s pipes date to 1936 – US Customs and Border Protection seized the pipes in Highgate Springs, Vermont. Well, not all of them: the boys took every other part possibly and left the ivory with the Border Patrol so nobody else could make a full set out of the parts.
“This has been an awful headache,” said Lezlie Webster, Campbell’s mother. “At one point at the Canadian border, they said, ‘No way are we going to get our pipes back.’”
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/05/bagpipes-new-hampshire-canada-customs-seized-ivory
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