Looks like a good excuse to put guard stations on every street like this. Or a wall with armed guards. And a moat. With sharks with frickin’ laser beams. And…
A recent increase in border patrol along side streets dividing Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Canada, are causing confusion and animosity between locals and border patrol agents.
The situation came to a head recently when a local man was arrested while walking down a street he said that he has walked down for years without a problem.
“I walked over to Canada on a Saturday night around quarter to nine to get a pizza,” Buzz Roy explained. Roy lives and works in Derby Line. He walked down Church Street to the nearest pizza shop, which happens to be in Canada, and said that to his surprise he was stopped by state police and told that crossing on Church Street is illegal.
“Steam was coming out of my ears from the treatment by the state cop. I felt that he had been misinformed about my ability to enter the country on Church Street. I’ve done it my entire life many many many times,” said Roy.
[…]
He will fight the fine, but said that his story speaks to larger issues. “I firmly believe that to this day … they just make up rules from day to day.” […] He said people are scared to come here. “They come up over the hill and they don’t realize they’re in the states until they see the American customs, and then they turn around and they get hollered at.”
He was arrested for ticking off the cop, not for jaywalking to another country.
Blame Canada! ! ! ! 🙂 🙂 🙂
( everybody, sing with me! )
Your summary left out this part:
Fed up by what he perceived as hostility from the officer, Roy walked down the street, crossing the border a second time. And then a third.
“I went back and did it again, and this time I was met by the border patrol and he frisked me and handcuffed me, put me in the back of his cruiser, took me to border patrol headquarters, put me in a cell, held me for three hours, then let me out and told me I was going to be fined $500 dollars,”
So he was being a jackass and got arrested for it.
Just because he’s done it every day of his life doesn’t make it legal either. “Officer, I’ve went the wrong way down this one way street every day and haven’t been caught before!”
It’s Stanstead, Quebec. Or … Stanstead, Quebec, Canada. Not Stanstead, Canada … unless it’s Derby Line, USA.
There. I feel better now.
Both were dicks but I blame cop. Evidently they have no real crime to work on. /sarcasm
They’re really getting serious with “Buy American”….
There really should be a fence if they don’t want people to cross there. Otherwise they are just making arbitrary rules.
Not surprised this happened, pizza is so good here in Canada that it is criminal.
ring around the camp fire, JOIN the camp fire girls..
JUST SAY ‘NO’ TO GOVERNMENT!!!
Check out Google maps to get an idea of the geography:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=rue+church,+stanstead,+qc&sll=45.005229,-72.099431&sspn=0.009209,0.022252&ie=UTF8&cd=1&hq=&hnear=Rue+Church,+Stanstead,+Memphr%C3%A9magog,+Qu%C3%A9bec,+Canada&ll=45.006685,-72.10104&spn=0.009209,0.022252&t=h&z=16
[violation of posting guidelines]
#11… thanks for the photo… you are right. No fence.
#3
The problem I see is with discretion officers are given. Either arrest him for stepping over the border the first time, or let him off. None of this bullshit that he made the cop upset so the cop took him to jail. Selectively enforcing the law on only people that have offended you is a stupid way to run law enforcement.
The cop was probably being a douche. It seems to me if anyone should be offended it would be the Canadians, not the United States SS. If I read the story right this guy was an American trying to come back America (bearing pizza). If I were the traveler I would have been more prudent though and offered the Stormtrooper a slice.
Yeah, what’s crazier than not allowing people to cross over an international border whenever they want?
RBG
“So he was being a jackass and got arrested for it.”
And this has been a crime since…?
Article said “was stopped by the state police and told that crossing on Church Street is illegal”
If the state police are correct, then there should be signs stating ‘do not enter’ or ‘do not cross’. Plus there probably should be some fence or gate.
If this is some recent law and no notifications were issued, then Buzz should only get a warning.
May be Buzz acted like a child, but until proof that crossing on Church Street is illegal he should not be fined.
When did the USA become East Germany, and every Canadian boarder crossing become Check Point Charlie?
Perhaps those cops should be on the Mexican border instead. With over 30 million illegals in this country, we could use them down there. 🙂
Paint a line.
As far as the need for warning sign, they may have one or several at the city limits. Like the “speed limit 30 mph unless otherwise posted” which is probably enough notification.
The border crap is idiotic. I think they play up the Canadian border to keep us from appearing to be unfair to Mexico. Christ, all you have to do is jump in a boat and land on you choice of thousands of miles of shore line. You give power to any agency, and you’ll end up with goons. Fucking J. Edger Hoover held the country hostage for decades. Presidents were terrified of him because he knew where the bodies were buried. Power is a hard thing to take back.
Woooow #19 for the win!
#11: Ya know, if you scroll left to the next town(?) at Beebe Road, you’ll see where the border passes through a building. Are there border guards in there checking on people who work in one country and have go to the other to use the bathroom?
There are tons of places like this on the US-Canada border and the two countries are the best of friends (except when there is hockey involved). I don’t think anyone is going to let one state police officer change it.
My brother’s old house was literally three houses away from the US border. His kids used to go back and forth all the time to play with their friends on the US side and vice versa. If fact the neighborhood kids would play “kick the can” by placing the can on the border in “no man’s land” and run madly through both countries.
Our countries will have differences from time to time like all friends do, but when I think of the relationship between our countries I think of those kids having fun together.
Whenever I’ve crossed into the US from Canada, except in Juneau Alaska, the US Side Gestapo have been total Alpha Hotels.
The Canadians have been incredulous, but polite, at worst.
I’ve crossed on both the extreme East and West Coasts.
If you are found guilty of a crime in front of a judge..something small like speeding. The person being found guilty says I am sorry…I was unaware of that street being 25mph, I will be more careful, etc. Judge gives them a light fine or probation. What if the person says yea, i knew it was 25mph but I have driven that street 25 years and I like to drive faster than that and I don’t care what the law says. Judge will give same penalty? That is the reason officers and judges have discretion. People who are trying to obey the laws but make small mistakes are not seen as a problem. People who think the laws are not meant for them are problems. They do have the right to be arrested and go through the court system for years and then prove they were right to the Supreme Court. Let this guy prove he was right. 🙂
Just put up a nice big concrete wall with razor wire on top. Everybody will get the message.
# 3 Wake up
#16 RBG
Having a building half in Canada half in USA (ref. #24). Telling them to let crotch bombers on a plane. Supplying bombs to a gang to put in the basement of the WTC in ’93. Hillary Clinton. Lots of things actually.