"They stop traffic nearly 100 miles south of the border at the checkpoints.... "
Yup, MONEY and TIME for TYRANNY but nothing to fix the bridge.
And you better watch out at those checkpoints.
"On the border, a hard line; Some yearn for the old days as patrols soar near Canada" by Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | November 27, 2009
NEWPORT, Vt. - In the past, such a flight over the still waters might have attracted little notice. But on this day, three US Border Patrol agents in a small boat spotted the plane and sprang into action, taking pictures, radioing authorities on land, and alerting specialists in California to track it on radar.
Elderly residents remember when the Border Patrol was just a handful of men. But in recent years the modern, high-tech patrol has surged in Northern New England amid rising concern that the open mountains, lakes, and hayfields are vulnerable to drug running, illegal crossings, and potential terrorists attempting to sneak in through Canada....
“We can’t take the chance that the footprints we see are somebody coming here to live the American dream or somebody coming here to destroy the American dream,’’ said Fernando Beltran, the agent in charge of the office in Newport, a town of 5,000 on the lake, which straddles the international border. “We can’t be wrong once.’’
Are you TIRED of the TYRANNY based on LIES, folks!?!
**************
They stop traffic nearly 100 miles south of the border at the checkpoints, where they ask travelers about their citizenship status. This month, they are sealing off two streets in the nearby border town of Derby Line, dividing a neighborhood to prevent illegal crossings.
The patrol’s presence is transforming this section of the northern border, which receives far less public attention than the southern border, where bloody drug-related violence and illegal crossings from Mexico are common.
And yet I'm stuck with a lack of reporting about the "drug war" and Mexico for months now -- probably because government is the largest drug-runners out there.
But for US authorities, policing the Canadian border presents challenges of its own, such as below-freezing temperatures and running into deer hunters as they patrol the thick woods.
In this age of global-warming?
Some townsfolk embrace the Border Patrol, saying it has increased security and invested in a struggling area by buying land and creating jobs. Others are glad the patrols prevent illegal workers from slipping across the border and taking jobs. “I’m glad they’re doing something about it,’’ said Jeff Shelton, a 27-year-old unemployed asbestos-removal worker, as he lingered on Main Street in Newport, hoping to ask a local contractor for a job. “There ain’t no work around here.’’
But some said they miss the freedom they once had along the border, where neighborhoods overlap the line. “I’m not too happy about their shutting off the streets,’’ said Betty McQuillen, the owner of a flower store, referring to the street closings in Derby Line. “It’s been like one community, and now it’s not.’’
That's what GOVERNMENT DOES BEST! DIVIDE!!
Many are also upset about the checkpoints occasionally set up farther south, along Interstate 91, near White River Junction, Vt., and across the border in New Hampshire, along Interstate 89 south. Agents have not caught terrorists, but they have snagged drug runners and immigrants who were here illegally.
Yeah, we KNOW WHY they are not catching any "terrorists," don't we?
The ACLU of Vermont considers the checkpoints unreasonable searches, and says the results do not justify the intrusion into travelers’ privacy.
They are RIGHT, it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, but that HARDLY MATTERS in AmeriKa!!!
The group also worries about safety. In 2004, in New York State, four people were killed when two drivers failed to stop and crashed. Agents say they post alerts on the roadways well in advance to prevent accidents.
Yeah, and THINK of all those CHECKPOINTS our OCCUPATIONS of EMPIRE have and HOW MANY KILLINGS we must NEVER HEAR OF, 'eh, American?
“Our freedom of movement is one of those core freedoms that we take for granted,’’ said Allen Gilbert, executive director of the ACLU of Vermont. “When you encounter a checkpoint 94 miles south of the Canadian border, it really gives you quite a jolt.’’
YUP!
Mark Henry, operations officer for the patrol’s Swanton sector, which covers 295 miles of border from New York through New Hampshire, said the checkpoints increase border security.
100 MILES IN?!!
Federal law requires noncitizens to carry their documents, and failure to comply is a misdemeanor punishable by fines that range from $150 to $1,000, or 30 days to six months in jail.
Then WHY DO THEY ASK for MINE, too?!!!
That is a VERY DECEPTIVE WAY of putting that, newspaper!
Henry said the penalties are rarely imposed, but he said the checks make a difference: “They’re a valuable tool to secure our borders. That’s what they’re there for.’’
With the FLOOD of ILLEGALS in this country that kind of talk strikes me as disingenuous -- especially when they are 100 miles away!!!
Agents in the Swanton sector confiscated 7,930 pounds of marijuana in the budget year that ended Sept. 30, almost double the amount in 2005. Overall arrests, however, dropped from 1,932 in 2005 to 1,017 in fiscal year 2009, a decline the agency attributed, in part, to the increased patrols....
Oh, it is ALL ABOUT POT BUSTS, huh?
UN-fucking-BELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A week ago, agents from the Newport station uncovered a couple of duffel bags in the woods near the border, filled with a potent type of marijuana. In September, acting on a tip, they caught fugitive Juan Carlos Guzman-Betancourt, a 33-year-old Colombian national who had entered illegally from Canada. He had criminal convictions in other states, an outstanding burglary charge in Nevada, and had been deported three times, according to federal court documents....
To Melissa Pettersson, who owns a gift shop in downtown Newport, the increased security is necessary, but it makes her wish for the old days, when the biggest controversy in town was the decision to install stoplights on Main Street.
“As much as we may dislike it, times have changed,’’ Pettersson, 52, said with a sigh as she assembled a red and gold bow for a holiday decoration. “At the macro level it’s a good thing. But at the micro level, it’s like what happened to our little town? There are helicopters flying around.’’
But if you say you saw one you are a "conspiracy theorist."
I've just about given up on America.
Is there NO OUTRAGE GREAT ENOUGH for you?
