SHEP IS FUCKING PISSED!

[MKSheppard]

http://www.washtimes.com/world/20021115-79713733.htm

This article when I read it had me in a full blown HOMICIDIAL RAGE
this morning....I've calmed down a bit since then, but I am still
MOTHERFUCKING PISSED!

**********************

Border-straddling case on the line
By Barry Brown
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


TORONTO — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was asked yesterday to intervene in the case of a Canadian man arrested for illegally entering the United States when he gassed up his truck at a service station that straddles the border between Quebec and Maine.

The case, discussed at a meeting in Ottawa yesterday between Mr. Powell and Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham, may mark the end of the days when Canadians and Americans freely cross a border that sometimes runs through the middle of lumber camps, villages, homes and libraries.
Michel Jalbert, a 32-year-old forestry worker, had been hunting birds when he pulled up to the Chez Ouellet Gas Bar near Pohenegamook, Quebec, which has its driveway in Canada but its gas pumps in the United States. His lawyer admits he failed to first register at the U.S. Customs post another mile down the road, a technicality long disregarded by local residents.
But on the morning of Oct. 11, U.S. Border Patrol agents were waiting nearby, poised to nab any Canadian who drove the 50 feet into U.S. territory without permission, according to Mr. Jalbert's U.S. attorney, John Haddow.
When the officers pulled him over, they found the 20-gauge shotgun he had been using to hunt on the seat beside him. A background check revealed he had been convicted of breaking into a school when he was 20, making him inadmissible for entry unto the United States.
As a result, Mr. Jalbert faces as much as 10 years in prison on felony charges of illegally entering the United States and illegal possession of a firearm.
One Canadian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Mr. Jalbert had been warned twice before by U.S. Border Patrol agents not to return to the gas station. But Mr. Haddow said his client denies having received any warning.
Across the 3,145-mile-long land border between the countries, there are many places where the line is almost invisible. In Derby Line, Vt., the border divides the town library and opera house — leaving the stage in Canada and the seats in the United States.
But the shock of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington may put an end to those century-old traditions. Mr. Haddow said Border Patrol agents "want the message to get out that they will not tolerate it anymore. This informal interaction is going to end."
U.S. Border Patrol agents have refused to comment on the case or the policy, and U.S. Attorney Mike Love, the prosecutor assigned to the case, did not return calls.
One U.S. Customs agent, who declined to have his name used, said changes in border procedures have meant that Border Patrol agents are responsible for some remote crossings that once were overseen by Customs agents who knew the local residents on both sides of the line.
Mr. Haddow said Canadian officials have had other complaints about Christopher Cantrell, the senior agent who arrested Mr. Jalbert. He said one man whose border-straddling property has his house in Canada and garden in the United States was told by Mr. Cantrell that he cannot tend his garden after 2 p.m. — the hour when the border crossing is closed.
Mr. Jalbert also argued that it would be impossible for a Canadian driver to fully comply with U.S. law when using the Chez Ouellet Gas Bar.
Such a driver would have to go to the official crossing point and be cleared into the United States and then drive back to the gas bar. But he would have to re-enter Canada to use the station's driveway, meaning he was once again in violation when he drove up to the pumps in the United States.
In Ottawa, where Mr. Powell spent four hours discussing Iraq policy and other issues, the secretary found himself having to assure Canadians that the new U.S. border policies "are not directed at Canada."
"We're doing everything we can to respect Canadian citizenship," Mr. Powell said. "I don't expect it to be a problem in the future."

[Stormbringer]

It's ridiculous. We're getting a bit nuts on this crap.

[Kuja]

*smacks forehead*

Oh my fucking GOD.

[Lagmonster]

I can't believe the bit about the guy whose garden is in the US and whose house is in Canada. Telling him he can't go into his garden after 2pm. Ha. I'd stand on one side while the border patrol from the other side came around and urinate from one country into the other. Let them worry about it on their side.

That story is just a really, really dumb enforcement of a stupid policy.

[guyver]

This is why we need to get a better border patrol. This is such a joke.

[data_link]

Yet more proof that the people in charge of U.S. border policy are moronic fuckwits.

[MKSheppard]

Want me to shave, put on a nice suit, and go down to the Canadian
Embassy, and then to the Border Patrol HQ and bitch at them?

[ArthurDent]

It could be worse...they could try to treat the Canadian border like the Mexican border and start erecting fences and walls. But telling a guy he can't tend his garden on land he owns? That's just pathetic.

[data_link]

Want me to shave, put on a nice suit, and go down to the Canadian
Embassy, and then to the Border Patrol HQ and bitch at them?

No. We want you to remain unshaved, put on an ugly suit, and then go down to Border Patrol HQ and shoot the bastards.

[MKSheppard]

It could be worse...they could try to treat the Canadian border like the Mexican border and start erecting fences and walls. But telling a guy he can't tend his garden on land he owns? That's just pathetic.

They're coming down like hardasses on those Canucks, while FUCKING IGNORING
the SWARMING MASS OF WETBACKS POURING ACROSS OUR SOUTHERN
BORDER!!!

(Shep, who is pissed he had to drive around a pack of spanish language
voting instructions on election day....it is a REQUIREMENT of naturalization
as a US Citizen that you must know a modicum of english, and only US
citizens can vote....)

[Ted]

One guy has his bedroom in Canada, and his bathroom in the US, shouldm he go a mile up the road to a US immigration fucker, and a place that routinely closes at 1pm? A place where the previous sherrif dude put in writing that they didn't need to check in.

[Alyeska]

I found a problem with the article.

border between Quebec and Maine.

[Ted]

I found a problem with the article.

border between Quebec and Maine.

How is that a problem? Its the international border, specified as to where it is.

[Mr Bean]

Simple Stop with the forking Strait Lines, Simply Adjust it around the towns and such and give people on the Boarder Dual Cititzinship rights

[Ted]

Simple Stop with the forking Strait Lines, Simply Adjust it around the towns and such and give people on the Boarder Dual Cititzinship rights

Yeah, and the thing is, the Yank who arrested the Canadian, hadn't checked in with the Canadian Immigration dudes, he had illegally entered Canada to arrest the Canadian, and then again to take the Canadian away!

[Warspite]

You people are all crazy.

Just look at the European Union... just whizz on by at the borders, any cop that stops you, you show your ID, and that's it (if you're a law abiding citizen, that is).

I'm sure the US and Canada could reach to an agreement in these lines...
(Of course, Quebec-(whatever)-ans would all jump up and down yelling invasion!)

[neoolong]

That's just plain stupid.

[MKSheppard]

Simple Stop with the forking Strait Lines, Simply Adjust it around the towns and such and give people on the Boarder Dual Cititzinship rights

Why don't we just simply SHOOT THE FUCKING BORDER PATROL BASTARDS?

Or at least pull these guys away from the northern border, and place them
in the South, where they can be hardasses on those who deserve it....the
MEXICANS!

[MKSheppard]

http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/Art ... eakingnews

Quebecker freed after 5-week gas trip



Michel Jalbert is reunited with his wife Chantaile Chouinard and five-year-old daughter Debbie, Thursday at the border crossing of Clair N.B. Photo: Jacques Boissinot/CP

By RHÉAL SÉGUIN and CAMPBELL CLARK
From Friday's Globe and Mail

Clair and Bangor, Me. — The U.S. Border Patrol vehicle crossed
into Canada and stopped momentarily, allowing Michel Jalbert to step out as a free man for the first time in 35 days.

"This is quite a greeting for a criminal," he said jokingly to the dozen journalists and about as many friends and family members who had come to welcome him home. "It seems I passed for a criminal. I'm a menace to society."

Mr. Jalbert's five-week stint in U.S. jails, which began when he bought gas on Oct. 11, 15 metres inside American territory without reporting to customs, ended with his drive home Thursday — at least until his January trial on U.S. immigration and weapons charges.

"Don't go the United States any more," he said to his friends.

The surprise decision to let the Canadian return home was reached the morning after a heart-rending day for Mr. Jalbert's family. After a U.S. magistrate ordered him released on $5,000 (U.S.) bail pending a criminal trial, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials immediately detained him for being an illegal alien.

Federal prosecutors had indicated to Mr. Jalbert's lawyers they would immediately appeal the bail decision — but changed their minds yesterday morning.

As he hugged his wife, Chantaile Chouinard, and his five-year-old daughter, Debbie, the quiet, soft-spoken Mr. Jalbert could not hold back the tears. He recalled how difficult his experience in prison had been, alongside a convicted killer and a drug trafficker.

He said he could not understand why he was treated so harshly for what U.S. authorities say was an illegal border crossing. The incident sparked an outcry in Canadian border communities as well as in Bangor, Me., where he was jailed. Americans offered to help pay his legal fees and expressed anger at the way U.S. border authorities were treating Canadians.

"They wanted to make an example of me and I think it worked," Mr. Jalbert said. "It wasn't a pleasant experience. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

His depressed family had made the five hour-drive home to Pohénégamook, Que., on Wednesday, only to get the good news on Thursday.

"Michel called and said that they were coming to pick him up and take him home. I said 'No, I don't believe it,' " his wife said.

Ms. Chouinard, who is five months pregnant, said there was "pep" in Mr. Jalbert's voice on Thursday for the first time in weeks.

"He was happy," she said. "He said, 'I'll be home tonight, and we're all going to sleep together in the same bed.' "

U.S. Border Patrol agent Mark Albert picked up Mr. Jalbert at the Piscataquis county jail in Dover-Foxcroft, Me., about 3:15 p.m., loading him into the back of a pickup-style prisoner transport truck. They drove more than four hours to the border crossing at Clair, N.B., about 75 kilometres from Pohénégamook.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Love gave no reason for the prosecutors' change of heart, after telling Mr. Jalbert's lawyers Wednesday night that he intended to file an appeal of the bail order the next morning. Mr. Love insisted no "final decision" had been made until Thursday.

However, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said after an Ottawa meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham that his officials had intervened.

"We have been expediting the case and we hope that in the very near future, in the next day or so, the INS will complete their work and return him to his family," Mr. Powell said before the release Thursday afternoon.

Mr. Jalbert must return to Bangor for a January trial on three charges, including entering the United States without reporting for inspection, and two weapons charges.

The Canadian-U.S. border runs alongside a street at the edge of Pohénégamook, placing the gas station's driveway in Canada, but its pumps in the United States. The U.S. customs post is a kilometre further along, and closes at 2 p.m., so locals often do not bother to report. And a senior U.S. Customs Service official had confirmed that exception to the rule in writing in 1990.

However, Mr. Jalbert was arrested when he bought gas on Oct. 11, and the Border Patrol officer discovered a hunting rifle in his truck and that he had a criminal record. At 19, he had been fined $200 for breaking and entering and possession of stolen property after he smashed some school windows.

Mr. Powell described the Jalbert case as an "unfortunate incident" and insisted that it does not represent a pattern of harsh treatment of Canadians at the border. He suggested it would not have happened if Mr. Jalbert had not been warned twice before.

Mr. Jalbert, who does not speak English, denies that he has been warned twice, although he said a Border Patrol agent asked him and other gas-station customers to sign an English-language form that he did not understand one day in 2001. The form included an acknowledgment that he was in the United States illegally, and a request to return to Canada voluntarily.

After federal prosecutors backed off on their plans to file an appeal on the bail yesterday, the INS indicated it was willing to grant Mr. Jalbert's request for "voluntary departure" from the country rather than waiting months for a deportation hearing.

The voluntary departure was granted on the condition he sign another form acknowledging he was in the United States illegally.

While prosecutors had argued that signing the form would confirm his guilt, Mr. Jalbert's lawyer, Jon Haddow, has suggested Mr. Jalbert could argue that he was an illegal alien in the United States yesterday, but that the 1990 letter from U.S. customs means he did not enter illegally to go to the gas station.

"I would prefer that he didn't sign it," Mr. Haddow said. "But it is the difference between him going home and staying who knows how long in jail."

During his joint press conference with Mr. Powell, Mr. Graham expressed satisfaction at the plan to release Mr. Jalbert.

"That was a gas station where the exit ramp goes into Canada. That's the way we are. We are joined that way," the Foreign Affairs Minister said.

With a report from Jeff Sallot

[Alyeska]

I found a problem with the article.

border between Quebec and Maine.

How is that a problem? Its the international border, specified as to where it is.

Never mind. Stupid online map mislabled Ontario and Quebec.

[Sea Skimmer]

It would really help if the boarder was actually marked in most areas.

[Manji]

That is absurd!!
Now I agree that our borders must be defended, no problem there. But to arrest someone for getting gas, or tell them they can't tend thier garden if we are not here to watch? Assinine! Idiotic!
Down on our southern border we have "waystations" with water and food so the illegals can violate the law comfortably!! But don't worry, the Border Patrol is working to make sure those dastardly Canadians don't cause trouble by malicious gardening! We won't worry about those illegals down south, they're okay, they vote Democratic!

[Illuminatus Primus]

Why would the Border Patrol do that? They know they were wasting time and being stupid and wasting tax dollars, but why waste time nabbing people they knew weren't up to anything?

You people are all crazy.

Just look at the European Union... just whizz on by at the borders, any cop that stops you, you show your ID, and that's it (if you're a law abiding citizen, that is).

I'm sure the US and Canada could reach to an agreement in these lines...
(Of course, Quebec-(whatever)-ans would all jump up and down yelling invasion!)

Well, that's a tad extreme. True, it is still too easy for a potential terrorist to enter the country via Canada, but this shit's rediculous. But we still have to protect U.S. borders, esp. after 9/11, and esp. on the Mexican-American border. My family came over legally. We don't have any sort of tolerence for this illegal shit.

[TrailerParkJawa]

So does the guy who has a house in Canada but a lawn in the US have to pay property taxes in two countries ?

As for not gardening my lawn after 2pm, Id ask him if he was a complete fucking idiot.

[neoolong]

So does the guy who has a house in Canada but a lawn in the US have to pay property taxes in two countries ?

As for not gardening my lawn after 2pm, Id ask him if he was a complete fucking idiot.

That would fucking suck. I wonder if he has to also pay utilities to two countries as well.