How dumb can you be??

[bcdphie]

In case anyone is wondering there is plenty of signage as you head up the I-5 through Blaine to say you are going to Canada...

Lost driver with grenade snarls B.C. border crossing


By MARK HUME,
With a report from Canadian Press
Tuesday, February 17, 2004 - Page A1

VANCOUVER -- A map would have been handy, but an American woman who was stopped at the Peace Arch border crossing yesterday, 400 kilometres off course, was carrying something else in her glove compartment.

A hand grenade.

When Canada Customs found the item during a search of her vehicle, a green Ford Explorer with Texas licence plates, they took her into custody and closed the busiest border crossing in Western Canada for almost an hour.

The RCMP bomb squad retrieved the hand grenade, which Canada Customs officials thought might be live. (KOMO, a U.S. television station, described it as "an old military dummy/souvenir grenade.")

The 28-year-old woman, whose husband is in the U.S. military, stationed at Ft. Lewis, Wash., was apparently trying to get to Vancouver, Wash., which is about 400 kilometres south. Instead she was going north up Interstate 5, headed for Vancouver, B.C. The route took her directly to the Canada Customs booth near Blaine, Wash.

RCMP spokesman Constable Tim Shields said the woman, whose name wasn't released, was following highway signs and wasn't aware she was headed in the wrong direction. He also said she apparently didn't know about the grenade in the glove box of her husband's car.

"It's quite likely this woman did not know that the grenade was inside her vehicle and she is apparently quite shaken up by the whole ordeal, so charges are quite unlikely," Constable Shields said.

The woman was released later in the day. She got into her truck and drove away without commenting to news reporters.

Constable Shields said the security clampdown began after a customs officer started to search the woman's car.

"The border was shut down for the safety of the public. The RCMP's explosives disposal unit was called in and they safely removed the grenade and the border is now back open," he said.

Late yesterday afternoon, he said the RCMP were trying to determine if the grenade was a dummy or contained explosives.

Mike Milne, a Seattle-based spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, confirmed the border crossing at Blaine had been shut down in both directions after the car was stopped at 1 p.m., but he declined to comment on what the Canadian guards may have found.

Traffic was routed a few kilometres east to Pacific Highway, which has a border crossing typically used by commercial trucks.

[DeltAlum]

I was getting ready to go out and direct a special live news program with then President Carter when one of the crew came up and showed me a grenade he had in his pocket. This was the same guy who showed me his belt buckle which became a knife while we were on an airplane once.

BTW, the grenade had been disarmed, but I made him get rid of it. All we needed was some bomb sniffing dog finding it in the guys news car.

Idiot.

[Optimist Prime]

[

[ztabchbum]

You've got to be kidding me right? People never cease to amaze me with how stupid they can be.

[CatStarESP4]

What an idiot!? Next time, take the map!

[Lady Pi Phi]

Hahahaha, okay maybe she didn't know the grenade was in the car, but she can't say she doesn't know how to read?!
Maybe they should send her back to elementary school as a punishment.

[bcdphie]

I was thinking more along the lines of how dumb can you be to not know the difference between Vancouver BC and Vancouver Wash. There are enough signs telling you, you are heading to BC and Canada. What did she think BC meant??!!

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Well, the news did say that she was from out of state.........

BUT (even better) you would think that she would know that she wouldn't have to go through CUSTOMS to visit another US city.

For those of you who haven't been to the crossing at Blaine, it's pretty DAMN obvious that you're leaving the US........

It's HUGE and I'm guessing there would have been a LINE to cross since unless it's the middle of the night there's a line.

Plus, I do believe that the numerous signs on I-5 even specify NORTH and SOUTH.

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by bcdphie
There are enough signs telling you, you are heading to BC and Canada. What did she think BC meant??!!

Why the BC means "Before Christ", of course.

[AllUnderstood]

That is one of the funnier things I've heard all day....how does that happen??