From: International Movie Services (ims@telus.net)
Date: Mon Sep 29 2003 - 09:24:26 PDT
Try this for a "nothing to fear" experience!
As I have for the past 18 years my wife and I attended the Portland Oregon
chapter of the MVPA vehicle show and swap meet last Friday and Saturday. We
have always looked forward to the opportunity to visit old friends , tell
war stories (some of which are almost true), sort through piles of neat
stuff and generally enjoy the cameraderie of the military vehicle
fraternity.
We bought the usual eclectic mix of "junque" and loaded up the wife's
minivan (she's not keen on driving in green machines for hundreds of miles
on an Interstate). Drove north to our home in Aldergrove, which is 5 minutes
north of the border crossing at Lynden, Washington, arriving there at just
after 1900hrs on Saturday night.
Just 100 metres from the border there was a serious sized roadblock with
barriers, flashing lights and an assortment of US Customs, State Patrol and
Bellingham City Police cars checking all vehicles exiting to Canada. It
honestly looked like some of the scenes from those old movies where the bad
guys in the long black leather overcoats come up to the vehicle and ask for
"papers please".
I was asked where we had been and replied with complete faith that truth
does set you free that we had been to the Military vehicle swap meet at the
National Guard Base at Camp Withycombe, Oregon. I was asked if I had any
guns, gun parts or gas masks and with a clear conscience I replied in the
negative. They then asked me to pull into an inspection area where they
already had everyone from a semitrailer unit down to a motorcyclist being
shaken down. I was asked to open all the doors on the minivan, take my wife
and old fluffy dog and stand clear of the area as they had working dogs out,
presumably checking for drugs, guns and explosives.
Up to now everything was acceptable, if a bit dramatic as with all the
flashing red and blue lights, uniforms and dogs and officers pulling out all
of the contents of our van, dumping out our luggage, going through my wallet
and the wife's purse it was all a bit invasive. As an old soldier (29 years)
I am used to the necessity of security and inspections, especially in these
troubled times but then the situation went over the top. They hauled out a
B-17 waist gunners steel helmet (the one with the hinged ear-flaps) which
I'd bought for my collection and asked me what I "needed a helmet for?',
then a standard pattern woodland flak vest which they thought was a
controlled item and tried the intimidation approach of accusation. Now I'm
trained in response to this method of questioning and if I have the moral
high ground I don't take verbal abuse from anyone so VERY politely I told
them that they were out of line and when they realized that they had found
nothing, would find nothing and were dealing with someone who wasn't about
to back down they tried the final approach.
As few of you know when a Canadian drives across the US Border on anything
to do with business, from picking up a UPS shipment to attending a
conference he has to pay a $5.00 Customs user fee. When the examining
officer asked what I was planning to do with the vehicle parts (a right hand
canvas door for an M38, and one for an M38A1), the tent (a GP small),
the helmet and flak vest, the WW2 uniforms and all the other neat stuff you
find at swap meets I, as stated, believing in complete honesty told him that
some items were going on to my personal MV's. some (such as a pair of very
rare RCAF WW2 "bail-out" boots) were going into my personal collection and
some items after I'd sorted them out would probably go into my motion
picture rental stock. OK, he says, you were on business and since you didn't
pay the $5 when you went south I can seize your vehicle and contents and
fine you $5000.00!! My wife broke down in tears and I pointed out that the
nature of swap meets, whether military or civilian was rather like a crap
shoot-sometimes you find items you can or could resell at a profit. You can
go home with anything from a truckload to nothing, depending on what's on
offer, what you can afford and need, or what is a good deal. The regulation
as enforced would mean that any vacation, MVPA meet or family gathering (my
brother and his family are US citizens) visit to the States would require
either the payment of the user fee on the speculation that you might find
something to use in your business or intend to resell. Sort of a "Catch 22",
unless you have a reliable crystal ball!!
Finally reason and logic did prevail, I asked the officer if what he really
wanted me to do was pay him the $5 and call it square which we did, and
after a traumatic hour were allowed to proceed.
Arriving at Canada Customs, I asked the officer if they were observing what
was happening on the other side of the Line and what we were subjected to,
and suggested I gave him a large hug? He said "you've been through enough
tonight, welcome home-you're free to go!"
I though hard on the word, "Freedom", I served faithfully in the Armed
Forces in the cause of freedom and as all of you other veteran's did was
prepared to put my life on the line if necessary. I realize in these
difficult and dangerous times extraordinary methods are needed to defend
what my Father and both Grandfather's fought and suffered for, but we tread
a fine line between intimidation of our citizenry and the erosion of
personal rights in the interest of "security".
Have I learned a lesson? Yes! Everytime I cross that border from now on for
any purpose I'll pay the damned $5 even when I go to the brother's for
Christmas. It's a small price to pay for freedom!
Thanks for listening, guys-typing this has been a form of catharsis, had to
get it out of my system.
Ian D. Newby, Major (Ret).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kris Kirby" <kris@catonic.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 7:06 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] In the name of 'security'
> On Sun, 28 Sep 2003, Ryan Gill wrote:
> > You very much appear to be one of the "we have nothing to hide, so we
> > have nothing to fear" crowd.
>
> God forbid you should own an old police car! *Expect* to get pulled over.
>
> If the Blues Brothers were starting out today, they'd have been stopped
> five minutes after they got the car.
>
> > Any increase in "big brother" in the name of security should be
> > approached with extreme caution.
>
> Amen
>
> --
> Kris Kirby, KE4AHR <kris@nospam.catonic.net> TGIFreeBSD IM: 'KrisBSD'
> "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!"
> This message brought to you by the US Department of Homeland Security
>
>
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