Subject: RE: [BoundaryPoint] More lax than US-Canada?
Date: Aug 02, 2001 @ 19:15
Author: Dallen Timothy (Dallen Timothy <dtimothy@...>)
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Jesper, Randy and others,
When did Norway and Iceland become part of the Schengen group? They're not part of the EU as yet.
 
I have a couple of pictures of the Monaco-France border at three different locations.  I'll try to get them made into prints, scanned and sent out to everyone.  Actually this border is easy to spot if you're looking for it.
 
Regarding the US-Canada border.  It isn't as lax as most people think it is.  While it doesn't have the fences and walls as in the case of the US-Mexico border, it is heavily 'fortified' otherwise.  Laser sensors all along the border assist border patrol agents in finding illegal crossers, including bears, moose, and elk--although the latter are usually not arrested.  When the lasers are tripped, ground patrol vehicles are dispatched to search for crossers, and in more remote locations, helicopters are sent out.  If a person crosses the border away from an official crossing point and doesn't report at the nearest immigration office, he/she could be fined thousands of dollars and spend years in prison.  Likewise, laws and regulations create a rather difficult barrier as well, especially for people whose homes and yards are bisected by the border.  While there are few actual physical barriers on the US-Canada border, there are significant legal barriers, laser sensors, and patrol vehicles and personnel that make it a fairly fortified boundary.
Brian Butler mentioned his recent trip to the International Peace Garden.  I've done quite a lot of research in that area, and it's hard to believe the terrible headaches that are created on a daily basis for the park superintendents and personnel managers--they're constantly fighting legal battles, immigration-related personnel problems, country-specific environmental conservation issues, insurance claims, binational tax problems, etc.  This is why the Peace Garden is unable to keep a superintendent on staff for more than a few years at a time--too much legal fighting over and along the US-Canada border.  From the tourist's perspective it is a peace garden, but from the organization's perspective it is a constant battle--visitors don't see that side of it.
 
Anyway, just a few observations on my part.
 
Dallen
 
 
 
 
 
 -----Original Message-----
From: Jesper & Nicolette Nielsen [mailto:jesniel@...]
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 11:10 AM
To: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] More lax than US-Canada?

Randy,
 
Within the Schengen countries (Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece) as a rule there are no guarded borders, and you can travel freely crossing the border whereever you want.
 
Most miniature countries like Monaco, the Vatican etc do also not have guarded borders. In fact it should be quite hard even to spot the Monacon border! Can anybody produce a picture?
 
Jesper
 
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2001 5:04 PM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] More lax than US-Canada?

I was reading the article on the fences on InPk and the to be built
on InBa. It hit me that at least to USAians, the other end of the
scale is the US-Canadian border. However that still has guards. Are
there other borders (perhaps inside the EU?) where the borders are
treated more lightly and less well guarded than USCA?

Randolph Finder


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