The insistence of a Washington state couple that they have a right to build a four-foot concrete wall along 80 feet of the 1,270-mile-long U.S.-Canada boundary in the West has cost a U.S. member of the International Joint Commission his job, according to reports appearing last week in the Canadian news media.

If the incident did nothing else, it gave Canadians (prone always to accept the dicta of officialdom) an inkling of how things work on the other side of the border.

Apparently, it all started because Herbert and Shirley Ann Leu of Blaine, Wash., couldn't prevent dogs escaping from their yard. Their property backs on the 49th Parallel, the boundary between Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington state on the American side, and Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia on the Canadian. The dogs were constantly getting over or through their back fence into Surrey, British Columbia.

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Now this was a major business concern for Herbert Leu, who makes a living as a canine hairdresser. Whenever a dog got out, Leu technically had to go through Canadian Immigration and Customs to go and find it, then through American Immigration and Customs to bring it back, producing all the necessary paper work on rabies shots etc. while he was at it. The explanation, "The damn dog just jumped the fence into Canada," did not always placate the officers on either side.

So he built a concrete wall that he was satisfied no dog could get through or jump over. Why he didn't use chain link or some less visually obstructive material, news stories did not explain. Maybe he thought concrete would look more aesthetically pleasing to the human eye, or more physically formidable to the canine one. Anyway, that solved the problem.

Solved it, that is, until one day officialdom descended on him. There must be an "unobstructed view" of the boundary from the U.S., the Border Patrol explained, because they have to be able to see what's happening on the other side. What with 9-11 and all that, their security cameras must keep constant vigilance, and can't see through concrete. Take down the wall, Leu was ordered.

(Canadian officials took no interest in the case – first because they have no border patrol, and second because Leu and his wall live in another country. Apart from illegally immigrating dogs, he was not their problem.)

But Herbert Leu became defiant. The wall stays, he declared. The case went to court. Discerning a clear property rights issue, something called the Pacific Legal Foundation came in on his side. So did the U.S. Justice Department, which saw the order to demolish the wall as a property rights violation.

This brought Dennis Schornack into the fight. A self-described veteran Republican from Michigan who gave "blood, sweat and tears" on George W. Bush's presidential campaigns, he was appointed American representative on the International Boundary Commission five years ago, and also is a member of the International Joint Commission, which mediates all matters relating to the Canada-U.S. boundary.

With Peter Sullivan, his Canadian counterpart on the Boundary Commission, Schornack visited the Leus to discuss their wall. What happened at this meeting is a matter of dispute.

According to Schornack, he was diplomacy itself. "I wanted to add a human touch," he said. "I didn't want to be some automaton from Washington. We talked to them, and we tried to explain our position to them and tried to get their cooperation."

Leu has another story: "He was so rude, and so abrupt, standing and telling me he had the power to take the wall down, and if I got a lawyer, he'd win."

Who won was left in no doubt last week when Commissioner Schornack received a letter from the assistant to the U.S. president for presidential personnel. It said his position on both commissions was "terminated effective immediately." But this didn't altogether surprise Scharnack, who blamed the Justice Department for his dismissal. Department personnel see property rights as a vital conservative principle, and have made the wall a case in point. Scharnack sees the wall as a security issue.

Officials at Justice had been pressuring him for two months to back down, he said. "There were 20-some attorneys beating on me, and threatening me, saying, if I don't do this, they would move it up the food chain and get me fired."

Herbert Leu, age 69, had a more concise reaction. "It tickles me to no end," he said, leaning on his wall and gazing serenely into Canada.

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