Maine Resident Fined $10,000 For Going To Church - In Canada

[matcom]

<snip>

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.

There are many such situations in rural areas along the largely unguarded 8,900-km (5,530-mile) border between Canada and the United States -- which in some cases actually runs down the middle of streets or through buildings.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=573&e=6&u=/nm/20040210/od_nm/crime_canada_border_dc

[GOPisEvil]

1. OK then...what's the guy supposed to do?

Come Georgie-boy, you're the Christian...oh, he's supposed to go to an 'Murcan church? Gotcha.

[arwalden]

2. "I feel like I'm living in a jail," he said.

Albert has appealed the fine, but he has not attended a Sunday mass since. "I feel like I'm living in a jail," he said.

-------------------
Truly amazing... and we wonder why the rest of the world laughs at us.

-- Allen
-------------------

[madrchsod]

4. no,no, they hate us

for our freedom......

[ithacan]

3. so American citizens need the govt's permission to cross the border?

that just seems ridiculous.

This is the kind of thing that the US harshly criticized about the Soviet Union.

Imagine if this were a story from 20 years ago about the Soviet Union. A poor Soviet living near the border crossed over to Finland to go to church every sunday. Then the Soviets start cracking down at the border.

And they threaten him, then fine him thousands of dollars because he came back into HIS OWN country without the permission of the government.

This is absolutely ridiculous and sinister at the same time.

[TXlib]

5. WTF?!

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.

---

So, they expect this poor guy to make a 200-mile detour to cross the fucking street? How fucking stupid is that?

[SmileyBoy]

6. This sounds eerily like something from the Soviet Union, circa 1975.

I agree with the other folks here on this. I don't know why in the hell they did that to him. I hope he wins the appeal.

But, so anyway, if I go to graduate school at the U of Manitoba in the future (which I probably might), and I have a Canadian student visa (but am not a legal resident or a citizen), and I decide to go to a Winnipeg mosque and pray on a Friday night, it would cost me $10,000??? Fuck no, they might throw me in Gitmo for that one. At least this guy was a good 'ol Christian.

[Gman]

7. This is the definition of absurd

They close the gate on Sunday and no one's around except a camera. I guess terrorists will say, "Oh, we better not cross because that gate is down... Gee, what are we going to do with this WMD now?" But this guy gets popped for $10K for going to church like he's done for years, long before Asscrack and this idiot "president". But they say, "Ooooohhh, everything changed on 9/11." Well, kiss my ass!

This is probably one of the most idiotic government snafu's I've ever seen.

[matcom]

8. well put

its f*cking ABSURD

[nuxvomica]

9. Pretty soon it'll be like "Casablanca"

We'll be fighting over "letters of transport." I hope everybody's papers are in order today.