FORD
02-17-2004, 09:33 AM
Lost Woman Causes Quite The Stir At B.C. Border
February 16, 2004
http://www.komotv.com/stories/29831.htm
BLAINE - Two cities with identical names and an old grenade left in a glove compartment combined to cause quite the commotion at the U.S.-Canadian border at Blaine Monday afternoon.
A 28-year-old woman from Houston, whose husband is in the Army stationed at Fort Lewis, got in her husband's SUV at the base near Tacoma to head to Vancouver, Washington -- about 2 1/2 hours south of the base.
Unfortunately, she somehow began heading north on I-5 following the freeway signs to Vancouver -- B.C., apparently not noticing the 'B.C.' or unaware of what it stood for.
She didn't figure out she was going the wrong way until she reached the Canadian border. There, she had no choice but to drive through Canadian Customs. An officer searched her car and found what looked like a grenade in her glove compartment.
They immediately closed down the border in both directions and rerouted traffic to the Pacific Highway crossing while explosives teams were called in.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Tim Sheilds says the object found was in fact a real grenade and that the woman appeared quite shaken by the incident, noting that it's likely she didn't know the grenade was in the car.
The woman was turned over to Canadian immigration authorities but no charges were expected, and the woman was returned back to the United States Monday afternoon, said Canadian customs spokeswoman Paula Shore.
The border reopened around 2:30 p.m. and presumably, the woman will soon begin the now 4 1/2-hour drive south to the Washington version of Vancouver.
February 16, 2004
http://www.komotv.com/stories/29831.htm
BLAINE - Two cities with identical names and an old grenade left in a glove compartment combined to cause quite the commotion at the U.S.-Canadian border at Blaine Monday afternoon.
A 28-year-old woman from Houston, whose husband is in the Army stationed at Fort Lewis, got in her husband's SUV at the base near Tacoma to head to Vancouver, Washington -- about 2 1/2 hours south of the base.
Unfortunately, she somehow began heading north on I-5 following the freeway signs to Vancouver -- B.C., apparently not noticing the 'B.C.' or unaware of what it stood for.
She didn't figure out she was going the wrong way until she reached the Canadian border. There, she had no choice but to drive through Canadian Customs. An officer searched her car and found what looked like a grenade in her glove compartment.
They immediately closed down the border in both directions and rerouted traffic to the Pacific Highway crossing while explosives teams were called in.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesman Tim Sheilds says the object found was in fact a real grenade and that the woman appeared quite shaken by the incident, noting that it's likely she didn't know the grenade was in the car.
The woman was turned over to Canadian immigration authorities but no charges were expected, and the woman was returned back to the United States Monday afternoon, said Canadian customs spokeswoman Paula Shore.
The border reopened around 2:30 p.m. and presumably, the woman will soon begin the now 4 1/2-hour drive south to the Washington version of Vancouver.