Lake Ontario Observer - Comments

Dave comments on Homeland Security will use dye to mark Lake Ontario border

Dave — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:45:59 +0000

Now, you have completely ignored the positive economic benefit of 3,500 customs officers and their families being assigned to upstate NY. This is exactly the kind of economic stimulus the upstate economy needs!

Cheryl Kaye Tardif comments on Homeland Security will use dye to mark Lake Ontario border

Cheryl Kaye Tardif — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:52:54 +0000

HAHAHA! Since I live in Canada, I found this blog post particularly amusing. And yes, you almost had me, Art.

Perhaps they should just use a permanent marker...or stretch a piece of crime scene tape across.

Lynn Hoffman comments on Homeland Security will use dye to mark Lake Ontario border

Lynn Hoffman — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 20:52:50 +0000

Can we get some of that stuff down here in Philly? There's been entirely too much traffic coming in from Jersey lately. . . .

Dave comments on Homeland Security: first US stealth social program

Dave — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:19:31 +0000

During the summer of 2003, the Port Authority increased its security around its eastside terminal. This included a gate, a 10 foot high barbed wire topped fence and assorted other measures. These measures severely limited public access to the Port facilities and limited access to the boats stored there for the winter.

For boat owners this meant that you couldn't just pop up on a Sunday and work on your boat and if you happened to be working on your boat after the gates closed, well, you were locked in.

For local folks, this meant that you couldn't drive down to the docks to look at the boats, the harbor, and whatever else was going on. And a prime fishing spot was now off-limits. (I know this is a prime fishing spot, because I caught the biggest fish I ever caught on an Easter Sunday, a big old brown trout!)

For local teens this meant uninterrupted access to a dozen boats. A quick trip up a ladder, a knife through the tarp, smash in the companionway, and plunder the boats.

Boat owners now had to deal with repairing and replacing tarps in December 2003, replacing stolen items (mostly flares and flare guns) and repairing damaged boats.

So one is compelled to wonder, how much security did homeland security create? By restricting access, one of the best crime deterrents was eliminated. For 24 years I had winter stored my boat in about the same place with no problem, but in the first year of homeland security I suffered hundreds of dollars of damage. Had there been the normal traffic through the Port, I'm certain the young hoodlums would not have been so bold.

Secure borders are important, but let's be sensible about where we spend taxpayer's dollars.