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And in a completely related and equally fuckin stupid story we have this from 2 years ago:

N.B. man in border dispute should have 'special rights': American neighbour
New Brunswicker, 85, cut off from visitors, deliveries by border crackdown
Last Updated: Thursday, April 10, 2008 | 10:03 AM AT Comments24Recommend46.
CBC News

A compromise must be found for the sake of an 85-year-old New Brunswick man whose home has been cut off from family and deliveries by a U.S. security crackdown, says his American neighbour.

Nikolaj Pedersen's property is in New Brunswick, but the road that leads to his farm is on the Maine side of the international border.

For decades, U.S. officials have allowed people to use the road to get to the Pedersen farm, even though there's no border checkpoint. Friends, family, postal workers and newspaper carriers would turn down Russell Road, briefly entering the U.S., and then turn into Pedersen's driveway, crossing the border back into Canada.

But since a border crackdown in March, U.S. officials have said deliveries and visitors must check in with U.S. customs in Fairfield, Maine, before travelling to the Pedersen house.

It's a 27-minute detour that forces travellers to illegally re-enter Canada when they go down the driveway after their brief trip through the United States.

'Trustworthy family,' says neighbour
There must be a common-sense solution to the problem, said Clarence Clark, who lives across the street from Pedersen on the American side of the road.

"This is a very local thing right out here, especially with the Pedersens," Clark told CBC News. "They should know what their rights are and take into consideration this road, which goes in and out of Canada and in and out of the United States, and it ought to be enforced one way all the time."

There's no need for the United States government to crack down on the Pedersens, Clark said.

"I think that they have to have special rights," Clark said. "They're certainly people who can be trusted. I've known them for 45 years and they're a trustworthy family."

'Certainly deserving': MP
Perth-Andover MP Mike Allen has been working to find a solution to the problem.

"My heart goes out to Mr. Pedersen because [he's] 85 years old, a veteran, certainly deserving of his services, so … we've got to find a way to accommodate this," Allen said.

Allen said he's been in discussions with the office of a U.S. senator from Maine over ideas such as relocating Pedersen's driveway. However, a driveway running from the house to Canadian territory without touching American soil would be at least a kilometre long.

Pedersen's daughter, Joyce Pedersen, said the situation has become very upsetting for her elderly father.

"He hasn't been able to sleep. It upsets his pattern and it means he's isolated," Pedersen said.

"People do not want to come visit because they don't know what's going to happen and we're concerned about his safety, being at the farm by himself."

U.S. officials told CBC News that they will allow emergency vehicles through to the house using the shorter route. But anyone else who attempts to visit the Pedersen farm without checking in with customs faces a $5,000 fine.

Pederson said she suspects the issue's recent emergence suggests that there are plans to close the border checkpoint in the area completely.

"That's just the impression I have," Pedersen said. "That they just want to shut it down."


Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/ ... z0jyCkrsyf

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