Boy Scout Troop Detained at Border
Boy Scout Troop Detained at Border – Held at Gunpoint – for Taking Photograph of Border Patrol Agent
Talk about stupidity central, no doubt the electric train that billows smoke, has left the station straight for the likes of the Canadian-Alaska border patrol.
A group of Iowa Boy Scouts returning home from a multiple weeks-long trip were stopped, detained and held at gunpoint at the Canada-Alaska border.
The troop was on their 10th day into the long trip and dozens of members were driving into Alaska and ran into the thugs at the border station.
One of the young Scouts on the trip, took a quick snap-shot of a border official, prompting federal agents to stop the group and search their belongings.
Jim Fox, leader of Boy Scout Troop 111 of Iowa, said he was told by the officials that it is a federal offense to take a photo of a border patrol agent.
Fox said “The Agent immediately confiscated the camera, informed him he would be arrested, fined $10,000 and could get 10 years in prison for the offense.”
To make matters worse, the scouts were instructed to take down the luggage from the tops of the vans, and an agent had a gun pointed at them the entire time.
“He hears a snap of a holster, turns around, and here’s this agent, both hands on a loaded pistol, pointing at the young man’s head,” Fox said.
The entire incident took 4 hours to get through, nobody was injured or arrested. Fox noted his anger about the dubious adventures. He said that it left the troops in fear.
Charles Vonderheid said ‘he thinks that it was important for scouts to learn about laws on the trip.’
“We want to make sure they follow the rules. A Scout is a good citizen,” he said. “It would be a great lesson in civics for that young man and that troop.”
Vonderheid is a council leader for the Mid-Iowa Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
Seems Vonderheid should take a trip the next-time and cross the border, attempting to take a photo himself. I’m also betting that he himself, didn’t know of the law before the incident either.
Seems like the Rocky and Bullwinkle gangsters on the border are hell-bent on taking stupidity to an all new level.
So the next time you take a trip to the Canadian Alaska Border, one might need to secure a hall-pass from Moose County Patrol or fear for the lives if they have a child in the backseat taking pictures.
What-ever happened to formality? Simply stating the offense of a young child, and taking the camera film and handing it back to the boy? Wow there’s a tough one to get right!
