Ambassador Bridge Plaque

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• I once heard that the pock marks on the plaque are from gunshots. Any way you could confirm?

• I thought that looked like buck shot....

  The near godlike positivity of the plaque is such a contrast to the experience of going through US customs today. I've been to the US twice in the last year as there is little desire to go through it, and have insisted flights to Europe never go through a US airport. It is the most unpleasant border crossing I've experienced. A shame. Living in Toronto it's easier to avoid -- Windsor is so connected to Detroit that the border crap is a real quality of life issue.

  Anyway, I had always wondered about the plaques too -- nice work.

• Nice photos. It's too bad the border has become the new Checkpoint Charlie.

  It is kinda ironic though, that the eagle is looking over sternly at the beaver with its head bowed. A bit of foreshadowing perhaps?

• Shawn, how right you are. There is nowhere in the world that is akin to passing though US Customs and entering Fortress America. There was a letter to the editor today in the Windsor Star to that effect as well, by a UK Citizen:

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  Courtesy lacking at customs
  Letter
  Published: Thursday, September 06, 2007
  As someone who lives in London and who has experienced terrorist bombings first-hand, I more than appreciate the need for tight security measures at airports and border crossings.

  I recently visited friends in Windsor and crossed the border to Detroit several times. I also had occasion to pass through security and passport control at airports in Las Vegas and Houston. I take long-haul flights to various parts of the globe several times a year and have undergone security and passport checks in a number of countries. Without question or exception, American passport and security control officers both at the border stations giving access to Detroit and at the airports I have mentioned were the most discourteous and inefficient officials I have had the misfortune to encounter during my travels.

  At the Detroit border I was shouted at, told to remove my spectacles, to produce my airline ticket and to "prove" I was going to visit the Rockies. Another traveller I met was asked to "prove" he was going to a funeral. Canadians I spoke to seemed to imply that such behaviour was "normal" and that they dreaded crossing the border because the behaviour of security staff was unpredictable and rude.

  At Houston Airport I was asked to fill out a second green waiver form, although I pointed out that I had already had such a form stapled to my passport at Detroit airport. In Houston, I was pulled up very loudly and rudely by a security woman and asked why I had two green waiver forms. The same woman went on to tell me "You're not in London now," when I queried why I'd been issued a second green form when I didn't need one.

  Fortunately, I have American friends who are both courteous and intelligent.

  Were this not so, the impression I would have gained of Americans, whether crossing borders into the U.S. or entering the country by air, would have been that Americans are as lacking good manners as they are intelligence. The mission statement at airports and border crossings speaks of a courteous, efficient service being provided by staff. I certainly did not experience this.

  Wendy Stock

  London, United Kingdom

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  On a related note, I caught this news the other week too, international filghts are starting to avoid passing through the US:

  "Air New Zealand Offers Round-the-World Routing Avoiding the U.S." That was a recent headline from U.K.-based Business Traveler magazine. For the past several years, fliers bound from Australia and New Zealand to Europe by way of U.S. stopovers have been raising a ruckus about security policies that require all passengers, even those merely in transit to other countries, to clear U.S. immigration formalities -- a process that includes fingerprinting, photographing and baggage rechecking. Air New Zealand has responded with the launch of a service from Auckland to Europe with a hassle-free transfer at Vancouver, British Columbia, eliminating its long-standing Auckland-Los Angeles-London route. Air Canada is following suit with a nonstop Vancouver-Sydney flight, bypassing its traditional layover in Hawaii, which, in the words of the magazine, "will enable global travelers to avoid the United States."

• There have also been articles I've seen that have pointed to increased flights at Pearson for people wanting to avoid the US.

  The only hope is that the market corrects this -- and Americans tend to pay attention to the market.

• I've only ever taken one international flight out of Detroit, so I can't speak regarding a typical experience at the airport, but I can't say I've ever had a bad experience getting through U.S. customs at the vehicle crossing. Nothing like that Letter to the Editor mentions, which I can't help but wonder how much of that the letter writer brought on herself. It sounds like everywhere she went, she had conflicts with customs officials. There are two sides to every story and one can be guaranteed there's more to her woes and sorrows than we heard in the letter.

• I remember one time I took the tunnel bus to the States to take a historical walking tour in Detroit. I'm white and don't look middle eastern. This black lady behind the counter asked me what my business in the United States was. I stated that I was going on a historical walking tour of Detroit and gave her a computer printout of it and after I would go back to Windsor. I was barraged with dozens of questions with her questioning every single answer with a sharp voice like a hostile prosecutor. I had to give her two pieces of photo ID including my passport. I was born in Canada. I have a clean record and I have never been denied entry into the US. She said she never heard of this tour and made me wait an hour in the seat before a supervisor let me go back onto the bus to Detroit. I was polite to her and she was rude and discourteous to me. That was just ridiculous. I rarely go to visit Detroit now because I have to deal with this nonsense at the border. This kind of behaviour must be ruining tourism in Detroit.

• Mom, I highly doubt the pockmarks were from gunshots. Someone can't just walk around in front of the University with a gun and not get noticed by Campus Police. My guess is it was probably drunk students with a slingshot using steel bearings at night. I highly doubt they'd be from gunshots.

• "I’m white and don’t look middle eastern." What is this suppose to mean? Customs has the right to ask any questions they want. Just because your white or not middle eastern doesn't give you a free pass. Obviously she didn't have to be rude about it. But that's a pretty rude statement on your part.

• Rich, I don't think it's a rude statement. There's a war going on between the US and Al Queda and I think they're justified in profiling after 911. So, if it's related to suspected terrorism, I think they're justified in it. But, I didn't fit the description. I have never had a criminal record. I was born in Canada. I was never refused entry. And, I have a solid financial background. So, I'm considered low risk. Therefore, there's no basis for it.

  Oh, and, the last time I looked in the mirror I was white, so what happened to me was just BS. What's even more BS is people like you thinking profiling is unacceptable with high risk groups. What are they supposed to do, just turn a blind eye to it? They can't just interrogate everyone; otherwise, traffic would be held up for days. Profiling is a very efficient method and the safest for the masses and I'm not gonna dance around the moral merits of it. She may have done it randomly for quotas so it didn't look like profiling, but that's just BS.

  Oooh, I better watch out. Rich is gonna report me to the Ontario Human Rights commission for my opinion. Get a life.