THE WALSH COUNTY PRESS ° WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017
Pa e 7
By Kevin Skavhaug
Big brother might really be
watching after all ...
I've always wondered
when crossing the border, or
entering customs, just what
kind of things they really
know about Average Joe
American.
Of course they know your
age, residence, and if you are
on some sort of wanted list or
not. I've heard they have
high-tech scanners that can
see through your skin and
they have these cool inaudi-
ble tone emitting device that
bounces sonar to see if that
delicious Canadian Aero Bar
is the mint flavored one or
just the plain milk chocolate
one, but I found out last
week they know quite a bit
more than that. Well, sort of.
My family was coming
back from Canada last week
and when we stopped at the
customs to get back into the
U.S. I learned that they know
a lot more than I ever imag-
ined.
Here's how it went down
•.. mostly. The names are
changed to protect the inno-
cent expect for the one name
that is mentioned; he'll have
to take his chances. So any-
way, it's a Friday morning
.wait in line the,
Iight to turn green and then
drive up to the window to get
checked back into the U.S.
We hand the man our pass-
ports and he goes through a
series of.questions regarding
the purpose of our visit to
Canada.
When he had finished with
the usual questions, such as,
did you purchase anything,
are you bringing back certain
items, did you leave any-
thing in Canada, who is the
current U.S. President, and
what is the North Dakota
state drink (milk by the way)
etc, etc... I just about had a
stroke when he asked the fi-
nal question.
The agent peered into our
car, looked at my son Spencer
and asked him, "How's your
knee doing?" WHAT? How
in the world would he have
known that my son had re-
constructive ACL surgery
about nine months ago and is
in the last stages ofrehab? Is
that kind of information re-
ally available? Is there a
mega database file that
knows everything about all of
us? Did he know which knee
it was too? Wow, I was
dumbfounded.
My eyes must have gotten
as big as saucers at his ques-
tion? I know I did a double
take and my mouth dropped
open. I was just floored. He
knows about Spencer's knee
injury I thought to myself?.
This is crazy! ! thought
about all this for a second and
then I had to ask him the
question. "Do you guys really
know details like that?"
He could have strung me
along I guess. I know I would
have if I would have been
him but it turns out he has a
son. A son the same age as
my son. A son who plays bas-
ketball for a team in our dis-
trict. A son who is friends
with Spencer and in this day
of social media contacts, a
son who is in contact with
him. So it wasn't hard to
understand it now.
But I never expected that.
I guess I always thought bor-
der agents were like special
CIA type guys who fly in
Cont page 8
Above: Jackson Hankey is congratulated at home plate after his big home run against
Fargo Post 2 tying the score at 7-7
Left: Park River pitcher Adam Swanson pitched a shut outagainst the G.F. Blues as Park River won 13-0 advandng to
the Championship game. Right: Park River right fielder Charlie Thompson makes a sliding diving catch while teammate
Jacob Erovick looks on.
Left: 2017 N.D. American Legion Northeast Division Champions, Park River Post 147. Team members are, Front (I-r) Will Gaarder, Tom Magnusson, Adam Oberg, Logan Syrup, Will Zim-
merman, Jacob Erovick, Will Magnusson and Steven Thompson, Back Row, (I-r) Coach, Brent Zimmerman, Adam Swanson, Nathan Zavalney, Nick Thompson, Ohadie Thompson, Bryce
Wood, Jackson Hankey, Adam Zavainey and Coach Brady Laxdai. Right: Park River third baseman Nathan Zavainey charges a slow ground ball hit down the third baseline and liras a
throw to first to get the Fargo Jets runner.
~ ii!¸¸ :~,! ~.
Photos: Larry Biri
Top Left: Park River second baseman Jacob Erovick makes a diving stop of a ground ball
hit towards right field. Park River downed the Grand Forks Bues 13-0 to advance to the Cham-
iarkOnship game of the N.D. Class A Northeast Divisional Toumament in Grafton. Top Right:
River Post 147 short stop Will Zimmerman just misses getting to a sharp ground ball
hit into left field. Park River downed the Fargo Jets 8-7 in their opening game of the 2017
American Legion Class A N.D. Northeast Divisional Tournament in Grafton.
Above: Grafton short stop Marcus Niemann cant quite reach a line drive up the middle against
the G.F. Blues. The Blues beat Grafton 15-0 in their opening round game. Graiton Post 41 won
two games on Saturday to advance to the Championship. Grafton downed the Fargo Jets 12-
2 and G.F. Blues 5-4. Grafton lost to Park River 8-6 in the Championship game Sunday.
By Kevin Skavhaug seeded PR an 8-7 win and kept them in the
of The Press winner's bracket in the tournament.
GRAFTON, N.D. -- Park River's first The Fargo Jets made it tough for Post
147 all day. The Jets took a 2-0 lead in the
game of the Class A Northeast American
top of the first. After starting pitcher
Legion tournament was closer than most
thought it would be. A one out single in the Le ion
bottom of the seventh by Adam Swanson
drove home Jacob Erovick to give the top Corlt. page I I