Border Patrol

Our house is approximately eight miles from the US/Canadian border.  One of my favorite jokes to tell people is: "I can see Canada from my backyard... which gives me enough foreign policy experience to run for office, right?"

Today at noon I brought Jeff a sack lunch out to him, since he had been working in the field, finishing up with seeding winter wheat.  Our new leased farmland is only two miles from the border along its northern edge.  Southern Alberta is quite easily visible from the seat of an implement.  I rode with Jeff in the tractor for a little while, then got out and walked back to my pickup.

Walking along the road, I heard a vehicle approaching and soon it crested the hill and was drawing near.   I looked over my shoulder and noticed the US Border Patrol insignia along the side of the SUV.  The vehicle slowed to a stop and the Border Patrol Officer got out and introduced himself: Gallagher Cummings (fantastic name!)  He was just out on his routine tour of the area.  We visited a bit and he asked if I had noticed anything suspicious around lately. I had not.  But I also explained that I was relatively new to the area and still not wholly familiar with who belongs and who doesn't.  After a bit more small talk, mostly centered around how attractive and friendly my dog is, Officer Cummings got back in his vehicle and went on his way.

The Border Patrol had been making efforts in recent years to interface with and educate the public.  I suppose the BP office in Havre likely covers a vast geographical area as its jurisdiction, so it would be beneficial to ally with local residents when possible.  After all, most of us do know who belongs and who doesn't and would recognize something suspicious if it should arise.

Jeff actually took a Border Patrol Safety course a while back that was designed specifically to educate and ally citizens in the remote areas of the Havre jurisdiction.  While it appears as though border crossing violations and incidents generally occur in towns, it is still important that we are on the look-out way out here, too.

A place as remote as this could be a good staging ground for folks of nefarious intentions.  The openness of the land and sometimes harsh conditions could be taken straight from a Cormac McCarthy novel.  However, I do hope that nothing like No Country for Old Men should happen here any time soon.  Hopefully, Gallagher Cummings' patrols will continue to be uneventful for a long time to come.