Zach LarkinsSTRANGE
Today, as Paul Harvey would say, we have a strange. It seems Terry DaCosta, a Woodstock, Ont. man has spent the last 24 days cooling his heels in a Monroe County, Michigan jail for something he has never been charged with.
DaCosta decided one day, Aug. 3, to boat out to Put-In-Bay, near Sandusky, Ohio for a bit of dinner and some partying. It's not the first time he's done this. In fact, he did it just two weeks prior to this episode. So, he ties off the boat and heads for a phone to call the American Border Patrol to gain permission to enter the country. While he waits, he has a couple of beers. When the Border Patrol finally does show up, they have a bit of bad news. He has been denied entry. He is then told to leave.
DaCosta is no slouch. If he gets back in the boat and skedaddles, he can lose his licence, his boat and do some jail time for operating a boat while under the influence. So he asks the port authorities to detain him, hoping to find out why entry was denied and maybe spend a night in jail before being sent on his way the next day. Poor sucker thought he was Paris and would be treated with kid gloves. No such luck.
He gets locked up and is handed a form giving him three options of what he wants to do. The first is to check a box stating he is in fear of his life if returned to his own country. The second is to ask to see a judge, something he is told could take up to a month. The third is to voluntarily stay out of the USA for the next 10 years and the border guards say they can have him back home in a day or two. That day or two stretched into 24. Maybe he should have opted to see a judge.
He is thrown into a garage sized cell with 15 other people and one leaky toilet. Only after constant complaints are the inmates given a mop to clean up the mess of this overflowing toilet. He spends 9 days here. DaCosta is then moved to a larger room which holds about 100 people, many from Africa, Lebanon, China and Iran, most with all their proper paperwork. He is allowed out into a fenced area once a day if the guards feel like it and he recounts that one guard in particular would leave them lying on their bunks all day because she couldn't be bothered to let them out.
DaCosta is finally released on the 27th of the month. Minus his $400 in cash, credit cards, trade licences, boat licence, keys, business cards, shoes and clothes. The jail had 'lost his effects'. The only thing they hadn't lost was the document he signed stating he wouldn't return to the USA for 10 years.
DaCosta says he wasn't sure where the jail's lost and found was so he asked if he could go buy some new clothes. He was told no. He was handed a Myrtle Beach T-shirt, a pair of jeans and some black Velcro shoes to put on or "return to the cell". He donned the clothes and came back home.
He still has no idea why he was detained for so long. This really is outrageous. When you think of what O.J., Robert Blake, Paris, Lindsay and the rest of the elite get away with, why the hell would they do this to a Joe Average guy? I hope he sues the ass off them.
Sources: Trevor Wilhelm Woodstock Man Windsor Star
DaCosta decided one day, Aug. 3, to boat out to Put-In-Bay, near Sandusky, Ohio for a bit of dinner and some partying. It's not the first time he's done this. In fact, he did it just two weeks prior to this episode. So, he ties off the boat and heads for a phone to call the American Border Patrol to gain permission to enter the country. While he waits, he has a couple of beers. When the Border Patrol finally does show up, they have a bit of bad news. He has been denied entry. He is then told to leave.
DaCosta is no slouch. If he gets back in the boat and skedaddles, he can lose his licence, his boat and do some jail time for operating a boat while under the influence. So he asks the port authorities to detain him, hoping to find out why entry was denied and maybe spend a night in jail before being sent on his way the next day. Poor sucker thought he was Paris and would be treated with kid gloves. No such luck.
He gets locked up and is handed a form giving him three options of what he wants to do. The first is to check a box stating he is in fear of his life if returned to his own country. The second is to ask to see a judge, something he is told could take up to a month. The third is to voluntarily stay out of the USA for the next 10 years and the border guards say they can have him back home in a day or two. That day or two stretched into 24. Maybe he should have opted to see a judge.
He is thrown into a garage sized cell with 15 other people and one leaky toilet. Only after constant complaints are the inmates given a mop to clean up the mess of this overflowing toilet. He spends 9 days here. DaCosta is then moved to a larger room which holds about 100 people, many from Africa, Lebanon, China and Iran, most with all their proper paperwork. He is allowed out into a fenced area once a day if the guards feel like it and he recounts that one guard in particular would leave them lying on their bunks all day because she couldn't be bothered to let them out.
DaCosta is finally released on the 27th of the month. Minus his $400 in cash, credit cards, trade licences, boat licence, keys, business cards, shoes and clothes. The jail had 'lost his effects'. The only thing they hadn't lost was the document he signed stating he wouldn't return to the USA for 10 years.
DaCosta says he wasn't sure where the jail's lost and found was so he asked if he could go buy some new clothes. He was told no. He was handed a Myrtle Beach T-shirt, a pair of jeans and some black Velcro shoes to put on or "return to the cell". He donned the clothes and came back home.
He still has no idea why he was detained for so long. This really is outrageous. When you think of what O.J., Robert Blake, Paris, Lindsay and the rest of the elite get away with, why the hell would they do this to a Joe Average guy? I hope he sues the ass off them.
Sources: Trevor Wilhelm Woodstock Man Windsor Star
Small Thoughts on Big Questions
youranter
Opinions
opinionatedranter
Tales From The Green Lantern
ok, being an American, this just embarrasses me greatly and makes my entire country look like one big asshole...
So, I'm gonna go stand in the corner over there with a "dunce" cap on my head and tuck my flag really deep into my back pocket ok buddy?
Christ, I'm ashamed of my own governmet, oh yeah, like THAT'S news eh?
I'm sorry that happend to a nice canuck fella, he should sue their asses off...
Just my opinion anyway...
Take care,
Nick
youranter
Opinions
opinionatedranter
Tales From The Green Lantern
Remember, keep your stick on the ice.
well, ok then...I'll come out of the corner and wave my flag again...A little bit anyway...
LOL
But seriously, that was so wrong on so many levels it's pathetic!
And The US has a lot of faults, I'll be the first to agree with that, but, she's mine so yeah, yanno...I havta wave the flag around buddy...
*Snicker*
But I hope the guy gets a few billion dollars!!
LMFAO...Like that's gonna happen eh?
Take care,
Nick