>From National Post, October 18, 2000
I am not Canadian
Drunk U.S. soldier blames behaviour on our strong beer
Arthur Milnes
The Kingston Whig-Standard
KINGSTON - An American soldier charged with causing a disturbance and
assaulting a police officer while drunk in downtown Kingston pleaded guilty
yesterday, but told the judge he had an excuse: He was not used to strong
Canadian beer.
Jason Dalgai, 24, a United States Army cook, told a provincial court judge
his behaviour on June 3 was out of character.
The court heard that police received complaints that night about a man
standing in the box of a pickup truck in downtown Kingston late at night.
The reports said the man was shouting at the top of his lungs.
Officers who arrived on the scene found Dalgai, who was visiting from his
base at Fort Drum, just over the Canada-U.S. border in Watertown, N.Y.,
obviously drunk.
The Flagstaff, Ariz., native was screaming: "I am the chosen one. The world
is coming to an end!"
Police had to wrestle him out of the pickup, but the large young man refused
to be subdued.
The Kingston Police canine unit was called, but Dalgai kept trying to resist
police. Eventually, however, he was subdued and hustled off to spend a night
in police cells.
Sharon Hodkinson, the lawyer representing the American soldier, said
Dalgai's behaviour was due to the Canadian beer he had been drinking. She
said he was accustomed to the weaker American beer, which contains between
3% and 5% alcohol.
Canadian beers can contain as much as 7% alcohol.
"This is a case of a man taken down by our far too strong Canadian beer,"
she said. "Mr. Dalgai tells me he's certainly learned his lesson about
Canadian beer."
Judge P.E.D. Baker was sympathetic, but fined the soldier $375.
Article at
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?f=/stories/20001018/432483.html
