4- Friday, August 23, 1985 - North Shore News BORDE: FR GUARDS BORDERS ARE never a joy. They aren't meant to be, At worst, they are monstrous affairs like the barbwire fence being built around Bangladesh, the Berlin Wali, or the U.S.-Mexico labyrinth where helicopters equipped with infrared cameras try to stem the ant-like flow of starving peasants fleeing pervasive corruption and poverty. The proper expression as you approach a border is a poker face. The proper comment is none at all, ex- cept to answer questions precisely. : Border guards, for the most part, are the ugliest bureaucrats of all. They have real power. A cross be- tween a cop and a postal clerk, they personify the whole purpose of a border in the first place—a door that ‘is closed according to acci- dent. of birth, and must be ‘knocked upon, politely if you please, before it will open so much as a crack, even if you happen to be coming home. My first taste of being burned at a border.came de- eades ago’;at the Blaine - crossing. I. was staying with — _Telatives at White Rock and decided to walk across the |S From Page 3 was pointed out in newspa- per stories covering the plight -of Cameron and Dickinson, have offered te sign petitions and contribute financially: to fight for a solution. “[- am °a reasonable per- son,” says Cameron, “‘and I'd prefer to work this thing out amiably,: but if nothing happens I am fully prepared to go tocourt.”” Characterizing himself as a farm boy from. way back with nothing against bees, Cameron says he is perfectly willing to help move the bees to. more conducive rural surroundings. | Dickinson says the flow of | bee excreta showering upon his house is’ tapering off somewhat, ‘‘but it is natural for bee activity to taper off as winter approaches. It is also natural for a beekeeper to reduce his number of hives in winter. I’ll be inter- ested to see how many hives Mr. Gambioli has come spr- ing.” West Vancouver Mayor Derrick Humphreys, who Bees remain bothersome | line to get a beer. [ was only wearing a bathing suit, san- dals and a T-shirt, with a bag containing a snorkle and flippers. I had something like five bucks in my wallet. REFUSED ENTRY The guard decided he didn't like me. When I made the mistake of answering that my home was in Win- nipeg, be informed me that he could ‘tell’? my real plan was to hitchhike through the States back home. He ref- used to let me cross the line. Just like that. The allegation was ridicu- lous, but there was no ap- peal. And that’s how it is -with border guards. Ar-. " rogant? Whew! ’ The very worst experience was coming out of Mexico at Laredo in 1967. Suspecting toured the Rosebery ‘Ave. neighborhood subsequent to the original bee furor, says as far’ as he is concerned “dt's game over for the bee issue. It’s a non-story.”’ Admitting there is a real problem with bees in the neighborhood, Humphreys says the municipality cannot do a great deal about it, ‘‘we are not going to institute a bylaw controlling bees in West Vancouver. This is not a police state or a municipality of snoopers and spies. Less government is the best government."; The mayor adds that all bylaws have to be policed, at taxpayer expense, and “y don’t really see. how we can police this one.*? Cameron, however, believes the municipality can and should institute a bee’ bylaw. North Vancouver Ci- ty has had a bee bylaw ‘since April, 1927. It states that it is unlawful ‘‘for any person to keep bees within the ci- iy...unless the hives or hous- ings for such bees are at least 23 feet’? from neighboring property lines. me of smuggling drugs— which was fair enough, since 1 was probably the only person not to be doing it that ycear—they took the whole Volks van apart, removing hubcaps, tearing apart the homemade seats, bed, fridge and closets I had installed and even cutting my kids’ toys open. All that was still legitimate, in my eyes. It was the body search of both myself and my wife, accom- panied by much swearing on the part of the guards, that got to me. They left us, shaking with outrage, to clean up the entire mess in the van ourselves, and then had the gall to spray us with some sort of herbicide or pesticide once we were ready shore? Harry Martin CASE Co-ordinator FLOATING around on an air mattress on 2 summer's day is just about one the best leisure time activities around. It’s cheap, you: don't have to go far, and anybody can do it, Getting on the mattress and floating around is one thing, but how does a fellow get back to to cross. That’s right—they actually leaned through the window and squirted us and the kids with poison, STILL NASTY For the record, 1} discovered last week, return- through the holding pens at customs and immigration. There were five customs booths in ihe holding area where | found myself irap- ped like some sort of a con- vict being fined up for a shower. Only two were manned. Jt was worse than by Bob Hunter ing from a trip through Scandinavia, that American border guards are still every bit as nasty and sullen as ever. Arriving at the Seattle airport, | found myself hav- ing to stand in line for no less than two and a half . hours just to get my passport stamped. It had taken ten hours to fly from Copenhagen. It took a quarter of that amount of time. to advance 200 feet NEWS photo Mike Wakefield ' CASE Counselling Assistance to Small Enterprises ‘HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES . HELP THEMSELVES © This Government sponsored assistance programme is available to any small business. Confidential counselling is done by retired successful businessmen.” _ Areas where CASE may help: Start up Exporting Advertising Bookkeeping Marketing. Cost Controls’ Inventory Control Partnerships Cash Flow FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harry Martin, 145 W. 15th St. North Van. Telephone 980-6571 BACKING INDEPENDENT BUSINESS Banque fédeérale q Federal Business ade ) Davelopment Bank de developpement Canad | one of our local banks. Recommendation: If you have to make an air connec- tion through Seattle, don’t bother. The place is a total bureaucratic mess. They let all the Americans through ‘immediately, by the way, leaving us foreigners to shuffle along inch-by-inch in their wake. REAL SHOCK There’s nothing I can do about that, of course, except curse. But the real shock, ! must say, came a couple of hours later, when I finally reached the Canadian border by bus. Ah, | thought, at least here (11 be treated with the modicum. of respect a citizen can presumably ex- pect from his own gov- ernment’s employees. Hat There were three busloads of tourists trying to cross and one Canadian customs official on duty. There was another. some- where, but she was. having lunch, I was told. So damn near another hour’ passed before 1 made it over the line back into Canada. Fit to be tied? Mm. 1 don’t know what's going to happen by the time Expo rolls around, but I dc know that if you want to alienate tourisis from abroad, _ guar- anteeing that they’l! never want to visit your ‘country again, just. keep it’ up, Canada Customs! Just keep it up! You’re no better than ‘the bloody Yanks, and that’s _the worst thing I can think to say. 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