|
CNN SUNDAY
Interview With John Fulton
Aired December 22, 2002 - 18:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN
ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Can Santa Claus be classified
as a threat to national security? Well, he can apparently if he's on a
surfboard. This windsurfing Santa admits he crossed into the United States
illegally from Canada but he's not all ho, ho, hum about it. In fact, John
Fulton wishes his mug shot was taken in his Santa suit.
Joining us
live on the telephone right now from Fonthill, Ontario is our surfing
Santa himself, John Fulton. Hi John, it looks like U.S. Border Patrol let
you go?
VOICE OF JOHN FULTON, SURFING SANTA: Yes, they did a great
job. I was very well taken care of and they got me a soft drink and a
coffee and warmed me up and took care of all the paperwork and shipped me
back to Canada.
LIN: Okay, tell me what you were doing out
there.
FULTON: It's my 18th year on the mighty Niagara windsurfing,
as windsurfing Santa. I launched from Old Fort Erie, go across to the
Buffalo shoreline. I try not to land on the shoreline and make my way back
but the weather was just so nice today that I thought I'd do a
down-winder.
And I left the old fort and ended up across from
Beaver Island area and we got one of those freak phenomenon storms off of
Lake Erie that blew some big winds at me and by then I was a little bit
out of steam, so I decided to do a couple runs and take refuge on the
American side and unaware of the new legislation, I believe new
legislation that requires you to call before you land.
LIN: Well,
I'm sure you didn't have your cell phone out there on your
board.
FULTON: I should have.
LIN: These are the new
regulations in regards to homeland security, right, because they took you
very seriously. I mean they brought you in. They photographed you. They
fingerprinted you.
FULTON: Yes, oh yes. It's an electronic
fingerprint so they didn't leave any kind of a smudge on my finger and
took a photo. They didn't want the profile shot but they got a big smile
out of me and you know what though, I was for a few minutes there I was
concerned. I had to sign some documents that stated "You've been arrested
because immigration officers believe that you are illegally in the United
States" and I really wasn't looking forward to signing that until they
added "Subject inadvertently landed in the U.S. while performing Surfing
Santa duties."
LIN: And you're not joking. Those are actually the
words that they're using on your, I don't know would you call it an arrest
warrant, an arrest document?
FULTON: We'll call this Notice of
Rights and Request for Disposition. So, I think this is my invoice for or
pink slip for getting shipped back to Canada.
LIN: So, do you have
to pay a fine or do you have to come back to the United States for
court?
FULTON: No. No. This is just I think documentation that
shipped out to Washington in the case of, if I may, illegal immigrants and
again I had the experience of what it would be like to be an illegal
immigrant. But you know what, it was very hospitable. I was very well
taken care of and the guys were really great about it, but they were doing
their job.
LIN: All right.
FULTON: And it was great to see
that our U.S. neighbors are taking homeland security
seriously.
LIN: Well, you wonder if anybody as they were heading
you back to Canada said sorry about that.
FULTON: Well, the group
that I support is (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Resource Association for Teenagers.
We're actually throwing a party tomorrow night for 50 homeless teenagers.
Homeless teenagers is I think an issue that a lot of people are aware
of.
LIN: Well, you got a lot of attention for a good cause. Thank
you very much, John Fulton, you have a merry Christmas.
TO ORDER A
VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE
ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
| 
