Blaine, WA, 0 Ave and the International Boundary Commission
Posted in Commentary on October 26th, 2007 by Sacha PeterRaven has been keeping track of the politics behind the obscure International Boundary Commission (IBC) with excellent coverage of the firing of Dennis Schornack, previous US commissioner of the IBC. It is well worth searching his weblog for the articles and reading up on this very interesting story.
My contribution will be pictures of the property in question that got Schornack fired. The property is on the Blane, WA side of the border, owned by Herbert and Shirley-Ann Leu. They built a wall on the north side of their property (facing Canada) and it was within the 20 foot “vista” that is in the jurisdiction of the International Boundary Commission. Note that no treaty signed with the USA and Canada dictates that the “vista” be created, it appears to be a regulation that both sides agreed to. Just north of the border is 0 Ave (a road which I have written on before). You can view the property on Google Maps, or have a better aerial view (before the house was built) as follows:
Finally, since I travel along 0 Ave quite frequently I stopped by the place and took some pictures. Please note these pictures are large and were taken in early August.
The first picture was from the 184 St and 0 Ave intersection, facing southwest:
Here are three pictures of the wall in question, going from east to west. You can see on the west picture that one of the property owners was working on the garden. I contemplated talking to her, but I thought against it.
Here is a picture of me standing on 0 Ave, facing southeast at the wall. Note the border marker on the left hand side of the picture, which demarcates the border. Also observe that the trench that constitutes the border is about 3 feet deep.
Finally, I jumped into the border trench and took pictures that were parallel to the border – one was facing east (toward the border monument) and west (facing away from the border monument). You can use these pictures to judge how close the distance to the wall was:
Some disclosure – so I don’t get arrested the next time I visit the USA, at no time was my whole body inside the USA. Nor did I notice any helicopters swoop down on me or anything of that nature. I have, however, noticed helicopters just barely on the US side of the border fly parallel to the border on other days, just not the day I took the pictures.
Nice work! Please don’t drop my name when you get probed by customs officers :-)
One quibble though – the 1925 treaty does give the IBC a mandate to keep a vista “open”. It just doesn’t say how big the vista should be, what it means to be open, etc. I think that I probably didn’t do a good job of communicating that early on.
Seeing the pictures I think that the Leus could argue that they are doing a better job of keeping the vista open than the IBC, and should get all the US funding!
Text of the treaty can be found here.
If you search for “Vista” they mention for it being “kept open” and other vague terms, I’m not sure where the 20 foot requirement came into play.
I am also vaguely aware that the people administering the Ross Lake parkland tried to take the International Boundary Commission to court to prevent them from making the cut across the border line, but they eventually gave up on their lawsuit since they didn’t have a chance.
Nice pictures. A little known fact: The trees that you can see to the East of the Leu’s wall were supposed to be cleared in the summer of 2007, but the contract had to be canceled, ironically, in order to pay IBC attorneys to defend against the Leu lawsuit. Also, the width of the “boundary vista” was set at 20 feet by the IBC in 1925; prior to that, it was 30 feet. The treaty requires that the “vista” be maintained in an open (cleared) condition – no fences, walls, or obstructing vegetation. Minutes of IBC meetings provide the record for determining how wide the “vista” should be, they can be obtained by contacting the IBC.
I found a picture at this address
http://www.igorn.com/trip2001/pics/071301/071308.jpg
This is the northernmost point on the American-Canadian Border in the U.S. State of Maine.
The photographer is a genious because he expressed this perspective the best way he can.
To be perfectly honest. From here, from a lens, without adhensed intelligence…
I do not know where Canadian Territory or American Territory lies.
In 2013 the World is going to celebrate the 200th anniversary of “The Battle of Lake Erie.”
On Middle Bass Island, the American Government built a National Park and Monument celebrating the disgrace of Commedore Perry, an American Navel Officer who through national pride succeded the southernmost land territory of Candada. It is called Middle Island.
There will be no Border Marker Here
Guys, that is what they call ” Bureaucracy gone mad ” in other part of the world. The Bloke would still be in his K 135 cushy job if he had shown some common sense. The IBC should turn on him and sue him for the spend defence costs or alternatively seek a Medical Order to declare him not fit for being
free to roam the streets. By all means, when one looks hard enough there are still ” Ancient Laws” not struck of the records at all – but outlived by time.
His action speaks obviously for himself and he should never been put in this position in the first place. Can anyone imagine – a Guy like him – sits in the chair responsible for pressing ” THE RED BUTTON”. Very frightening indeed.
Thanks for listening.
Cheers
Luth
SO by the looks of it, it apears to be possible to cross the border easily and make it into the USA without getting caught. ?? Dont worry I dont plan on it, them crazy american with my luck will shoot me down LOL