Page 12 - Customs Today Winter1984-OCR

The Pacific Region

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By Jerome Hollander f e r o m e H o l l a n d e r ^ * ^ ^

The district has more coastline than all 7 he Lynden, Wash., Customhouse on the
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The Pacific Region, one of the two , other districts in the United States com U.S.-Canadian border is far from Pacific Region
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combines most of what was formerly the bined. With 33,900 miles of waterfront, Headquarters in Los Angeles. Twenty miles east of
San Francisco and Los Angeles Regions. Alaska has 50% of ths U.S. coastline. Blaine, Washington, it is located in a town which
Geographically, it includes the states of The job announcement for an inspector has a yearly tulip festival.
Washington, Oregon, California, Ne at Alcan includes a fact sheet which reads
vada, Alaska and Hawaii. like the Surgeon General's warning on a The $3,000-roundtrip airfare is paid for
By most credible Customs workload pack of cigarettes. It says the nearest by the vessel owners.
statistics, the Pacific Region ranks grocery store is 43 miles away and the Clyde Kellay, Jr., Anchorage Dis
number two nationwide, following New closest bank is 93 miles. Shopping trict Director, explained the function of
York. Collections ran about $2.5 billion facilities are in Fairbanks, 300 miles Customs at Dutch Harbor this way:
last year, and a significant percentage of away. Medical aid is but 93 miles; the "Every government wants to control ac
the national drug seizures were made on hospital is 250. School requires a cess to its territory. They want some
the West Coast. 100-mile round trip—there is no busing. presence, some reflection of their
With some 2,450 employees, the Radio and television reception is very
sovereignty. Customs performs that mis
Region touches both the Canadian and poor. sion. We are the Government of the
the Mexican borders, the entire West In winter, the temperature runs United States to the Russians and the
Coast of the United States, the vast and down to 60 degrees below zero. Summer Japanese and to other nations whose
remote state of Alaska and the tropical time and the temperature can be in the vessels enter our waters."
island-state of Hawaii, a gateway for 80's. There will be 22 hours of light a day At Anchorage International Air
Southeast and Southwest Asian heroin. in the summer and 4 hours of light in the port, a baffling and unsolvable dilemma:
It is a Region of extremes. It is a winter. Inspectors from Anchorage are peaks and lulls in the work flow. One
Region of all seasons. flown to Dutch Harbor, a distance of minute, during a Saturday morning,
The Anchorage District, with 63 some 700 miles, to inspect vessels coming there is almost no activity. One inspector
employees, covers the state of Alaska. into Alaska to pick up various cargoes. is clearing a private aircraft coming from
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