Brickbat: The Pipes Are Calling

Campbell Webster and Eryk Bean were returning from winning a bagpipe contest in Canada and drove across the border in Vermont. That's where customs officials seized their bagpipes for containing ivory. The U.S. prohibits importing ivory taken after 1975. Both boys had certificates showing the ivory in their pipes was taken long before that, but customs kept the ivory parts anyway. They had to contact the congressional delegation of their home state of New Hampshire to get the parts back. Customs officials still forced them to pay $576 in fees because they came back across the border at a "non-designated crossing."