Hockeyville & Border Control
So, two very exciting things happened in my hometown last week.
First, I should explain my hometown. I live in Stanstead, Quebec. There's nothing exciting about it. Not a lot of the teenagers graduate from high school, there's a lot of drugs and troublemakers. There's more high school drop- outs than you can shake your fist at. However, there's one thing that makes Stanstead special. We're a border town. And on our border, we share a street and a library with the Vermonters. Not only that, but there's no walls or gates. So it's very easy just to walk across and get checked at the border place (I can't remember the English word for it, but the French one is les duanes).
Obviously, this leads to shenanigans. This is exciting event number one- more on that later.
Exciting event number two has to to do with the Hockeyville competition. My hometown is in the top five to get a brand- new hockey arena built because the other three apparently, aren't good enough. So last Friday, the Prime Minister came down to dedicate the not-yet-built-yet-not-won- arena to a man who lives near by and loves Hockey and etc. As some people may know, Harper is writing a book on Hockey and is a gigantic hockey fan, so this a big deal for him. And to be honest, I'm not a big fan of him, but I odn't care if he coems down here to talk abotu his love of Hockey and etc.
But remember a paragrapgh ago when I mentioend the open and free border? Yeah, there were shenengans.
So a Vermonter man came to the border to pick up his pizza. He didn't stop at le duane and there aren't, surprisingly, any pizzerias in Derby Line, Vermont. He picked up his pizza and never reported to any of les duanes, getting himself arrested and held in Vermont. This isn't the first time soemthing liek this happened.
In Stanstead, there's a private school called Stanstead College. A lot of parents send their kids there- and they aren't from around here, either, so they arent' aware of the border and how to cross it. So these parents took a wrong turn near the library, crossed and when they came back into Canada, they were arrested by the Vermont police and held in Burlington. THye were released but this event made them pull their children out of the college.
So there was a protest for the Vermonter man planned the day after the Prime Minister visited.
Here's my beef, for those who haven't caught on: The Prime Minister came to Stanstead long enough to dedicate a non- existant arena that my town may not even win but he didn't stay long enough to comment on the border problems.
He put his love of hockey above the border crossings.
First, I should explain my hometown. I live in Stanstead, Quebec. There's nothing exciting about it. Not a lot of the teenagers graduate from high school, there's a lot of drugs and troublemakers. There's more high school drop- outs than you can shake your fist at. However, there's one thing that makes Stanstead special. We're a border town. And on our border, we share a street and a library with the Vermonters. Not only that, but there's no walls or gates. So it's very easy just to walk across and get checked at the border place (I can't remember the English word for it, but the French one is les duanes).
Obviously, this leads to shenanigans. This is exciting event number one- more on that later.
Exciting event number two has to to do with the Hockeyville competition. My hometown is in the top five to get a brand- new hockey arena built because the other three apparently, aren't good enough. So last Friday, the Prime Minister came down to dedicate the not-yet-built-yet-not-won- arena to a man who lives near by and loves Hockey and etc. As some people may know, Harper is writing a book on Hockey and is a gigantic hockey fan, so this a big deal for him. And to be honest, I'm not a big fan of him, but I odn't care if he coems down here to talk abotu his love of Hockey and etc.
But remember a paragrapgh ago when I mentioend the open and free border? Yeah, there were shenengans.
So a Vermonter man came to the border to pick up his pizza. He didn't stop at le duane and there aren't, surprisingly, any pizzerias in Derby Line, Vermont. He picked up his pizza and never reported to any of les duanes, getting himself arrested and held in Vermont. This isn't the first time soemthing liek this happened.
In Stanstead, there's a private school called Stanstead College. A lot of parents send their kids there- and they aren't from around here, either, so they arent' aware of the border and how to cross it. So these parents took a wrong turn near the library, crossed and when they came back into Canada, they were arrested by the Vermont police and held in Burlington. THye were released but this event made them pull their children out of the college.
So there was a protest for the Vermonter man planned the day after the Prime Minister visited.
Here's my beef, for those who haven't caught on: The Prime Minister came to Stanstead long enough to dedicate a non- existant arena that my town may not even win but he didn't stay long enough to comment on the border problems.
He put his love of hockey above the border crossings.