James48843
08-06-2009, 06:42 AM
Saw this today:
Protester wants balloon to 'butt' out
Thu, August 6, 2009
By TYLER KULA, THE OBSERVER
SARNIA -- A Sarnia wood carver is throwing his support behind the Moon the Balloon protest against a floating surveillance system.
Gary Mason has carved wooden butts to commemorate the rally, which is slated to take place Aug. 15 in Centennial Park.
The 64-year-old said he thought it would be fun to do something different and lighthearted in support of the event.
"I thought I'd make it humorous," he said. The protest is against a 15-metre helium balloon that hovers 240 metres in the air above Port Huron with a $1-million camera able to read a ship's name from 14 km away.
It is privately owned by the Sierra Nevada Corporation and is periodically monitoring the international border on the St. Clair River. The company hopes to gain funding from U.S. Homeland Security. More than 1,100 people have confirmed they'll drop their bottoms for the Moon the Balloon event on a Facebook group dedicated to the cause.
Mason, who has carved for 20 years, has made seven wooden posteriors as handheld souvenirs and he intends to engrave the two he has left with the event name, date and place.
Each carving took him roughly five hours to complete and he's already sold three of them and given two away, although he said it was never his intent to make a profit.
He said he'll try to be at the demonstration in the south end of Centennial Park at 5 p.m.
"I support it 100% because (the balloon) is an invasion of our personal privacy," he said. "What I do in my backyard should be my business, not somebody up in the air with a camera."
Bradley Lott, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major general and the owner of True North Logistics, which operates the surveillance equipment, said there has been more positive reaction to the project than negative. Most of it is overwhelmed by media-driven negative attention, he said.
The balloon and protest have received international exposure. Sarnia's mayor, Mike Bradley, recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to intervene, and a Michigan man also recently sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama expressing his dismay over the balloon.
Brian Masse, MP for Windsor-West and NDP border critic, has also called on Harper to pressure Washington into stopping the balloon from transmitting images until an international consultation can take place.
Mason mostly carves ducks and other birds. He said he doesn't plan to make any more Moon the Balloon carvings, but may carve some by request.
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/08/06/10376831-sun.html
Protester wants balloon to 'butt' out
Thu, August 6, 2009
By TYLER KULA, THE OBSERVER
SARNIA -- A Sarnia wood carver is throwing his support behind the Moon the Balloon protest against a floating surveillance system.
Gary Mason has carved wooden butts to commemorate the rally, which is slated to take place Aug. 15 in Centennial Park.
The 64-year-old said he thought it would be fun to do something different and lighthearted in support of the event.
"I thought I'd make it humorous," he said. The protest is against a 15-metre helium balloon that hovers 240 metres in the air above Port Huron with a $1-million camera able to read a ship's name from 14 km away.
It is privately owned by the Sierra Nevada Corporation and is periodically monitoring the international border on the St. Clair River. The company hopes to gain funding from U.S. Homeland Security. More than 1,100 people have confirmed they'll drop their bottoms for the Moon the Balloon event on a Facebook group dedicated to the cause.
Mason, who has carved for 20 years, has made seven wooden posteriors as handheld souvenirs and he intends to engrave the two he has left with the event name, date and place.
Each carving took him roughly five hours to complete and he's already sold three of them and given two away, although he said it was never his intent to make a profit.
He said he'll try to be at the demonstration in the south end of Centennial Park at 5 p.m.
"I support it 100% because (the balloon) is an invasion of our personal privacy," he said. "What I do in my backyard should be my business, not somebody up in the air with a camera."
Bradley Lott, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major general and the owner of True North Logistics, which operates the surveillance equipment, said there has been more positive reaction to the project than negative. Most of it is overwhelmed by media-driven negative attention, he said.
The balloon and protest have received international exposure. Sarnia's mayor, Mike Bradley, recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to intervene, and a Michigan man also recently sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama expressing his dismay over the balloon.
Brian Masse, MP for Windsor-West and NDP border critic, has also called on Harper to pressure Washington into stopping the balloon from transmitting images until an international consultation can take place.
Mason mostly carves ducks and other birds. He said he doesn't plan to make any more Moon the Balloon carvings, but may carve some by request.
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2009/08/06/10376831-sun.html