From Mark Minor Commodore of Sailing Singles                             

Writing to One's Senators or Congressman

Writing to your elected representatives need not be particularly difficult. This short guide is going to help you with the process, with the thought that our membership can help shape the solution to the border security issue on the Great Lakes. By including a sample letter, I am hoping to make the wordsmithing easier for the membership.

How to Write

Due to terrorism concerns with mail addressed to governmental officials (especially in their offices in Washington, D.C.), email is the preferred way to correspond with our elected representatives. If you do not have access to email, my suggestion is to either fax their office or send a letter to their local office in the metro area. Consequently, I have tried to cover all three bases in the contact information below.

Contact Information

Senators

Carl Levin
477 Michigan Avenue, Suite 1860
Detroit, MI 48226-2594
Fax (313) 226-6948
To send an email, go to this URL: http://levin.senate.gov/contact.htm
Web site: http://levin.senate.gov/contact.htm

Debbie Stabenow
231 W. Lafayette Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48226
Fax: (313) 964-7415
email address: senator@stabenow.senate.gov
Web site: stabenow.senate.gov

Congressmen

Southeastern Michigan has a number of congressional districts, and the details of all the district boundaries and all the people won't fit in this flyer. My suggestion is to look for your Congressman's local office in the phone book. However, if you don't know who your Congressman is, You can link to: This web site allows you to look up your Congressman and get their contact information using your zip code.

Automated Letter

If you wish to send an automated letter Click here and the sample letter below will be sent to the two senators  and your representative with your name and address included.

Sample Letter

The Honorable < insert name> < address>
<City, state zip>
Dear Senator < last name> or Dear Congressman < last name>,
I am writing to you as a concerned member of the boating public because of recent changes to the rules for recreational boats traveling between US waters and Canadian waters. A program that we depend upon to legally travel between the US and Canada has been suspended. Fortunately, there is another program that can be helpful in this situation, but it needs to be expanded to become workable. I am asking your assistance in this situation and your support for the necessary programs to address this situation.

The program that has been suspended is called the Canadian Border Small Boat program. Under this program, a boater could obtain a permit that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) calls an I-68 form. Having one of these permits allowed one to return to US waters after making landfall in Canada without having to go to an authorized port of entry and physically be inspected by the INS. Since there are no authorized ports of entry reasonably accessible from the waters around Detroit, having an I-68 was essential. (The nearest ports of entry are Algonac to the north and Toledo the to south -- both very long journeys via water, especially in a sailboat.) Unfortunately, the INS has suspended the I-68 program due to homeland defense concerns. This leaves us with no legal way to visit our neighbor to the north and return to our own waters.

However, the INS has a pilot program called Outlying Area Reporting Station (OARS). OARS allows a returning boater to report in and be inspected via video phone. If this program were adequately expanded, it could meet our country's homeland defense needs by replacing the I-68. Realistically, the I-68 form is terribly easy to falsify, lacking features such as an official seal, document number, lamination, etc. The blank form is even available on the INS web site! Since OARS uses a real time video link, it allows a meaningful inspection without creating undue headaches for the law-abiding boater.

This is why I am asking your support for the expansion of the OARS program. With the increased funding available for homeland security in the wake of the terrorist attacks, I am hoping that such an expansion could be readily accomplished. Thank you very much for your consideration on this issue.

Sincerely,

< your name>

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