Hilary Swank's time is worth less than $150 USD

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3219508a1860,00.html

Hilary Swank’s undeclared fruit case reaches court
17 March 2005

The case of the apple, the orange and the Hollywood movie star goes before a court on Friday.

Double Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank’s reasons for failing to declare an apple and an orange in her luggage to New Zealand biosecurity staff when she landed at Auckland International Airport on a flight from Los Angeles in January, will be considered behind closed doors in Manukau District Court by a Judge or Justice of the Peace on Friday.

Swank, who won her second Best Actress Oscar this month for her starring role in the Clint Eastwood-directed Million Dollar Baby, had the choice of paying the instant $200 fine then and there or writing a letter defending her actions.

She chose to write a letter and that has been filed in Manukau District Court along with a letter from biosecurity agency the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) outlining the case against her.

A decision will be made possibly tomorrow or within a couple of weeks.

“No lawyers for Ms Swank will be present and she’s not going to appear,” said MAF spokesman William Minchin.

He did not know what the 30-year-old Hollywood actress, who also won an Oscar for her transgender role in Boys Don’t Cry, was doing in New Zealand. It is understood the actress was not in transit when she visited.

“There is no reason MAF would know that, what we were concerned with was that she failed to declare an apple and an orange,” he said.

The story has been reported around the world, appearing in newspapers and on websites from Chicago to Melbourne.

Well, the law is the law, Australia and NZ have very strict laws regarding this kind of things i.e. imprt of insects, food, animals, plants and such.
Now, I wonder what was her attitude? did she purposely meant to hide it, knowiing the law of the land or did she think because she is an Oscar winner she’s above the law.
In any case, too much writting for an apple and an orange!

Maybe somebody should ask Chad Lowe how much he paid for her cherry.

I don’t think she purposely tried to hide it, but I think she’s a complete tool for fighting about it. Christ, like she can’t spare US$150 for this. And it’s not like the whole “declare your food and stuff” thing is just randomly sprung upon you at customs - they tell you all that stuff nice and clear on the plane well before you arrive. She’s just being an uppity cow.

And Chewy - seriously, you think she lets him in? I’m pretty sure of the two of them she’s the one wearing the penis.

It’s the same here I believe. I saw a video being played on the plane on approach to CKS last week.
Living in Singapore after NZ was a shock as there are zero restrictions there as they have no agricultural industry. In fact, people regularly pack polystyrene boxes with ice and fresh seafood etc.
Come to think of it, they have an obsession with privately importing food there - it’s like the highlight of a trip away, see what sort of food you can take home, and discuss it in detail with your colleagues. But bags of rice and all that… :loco:

Yes, exactly. maybe she’s just trying to be a prick! too bad, I thought she did very well in Million dollar baby.
Last year I was in NZ, coming from Taiwan, I had a pack of peanuts that I bought in the market. I got at immigration and showed them the peanuts, the guy say, go ahead, it’s fine, no probs at all.

Most likely she either forgot she had two pieces of fruit in her luggage, or she didn’t realize they seriously meant you had to declare an apple and an orange. When I think ‘smuggling,’ I don’t think it would occur to me that the pack of peanuts in my carryon luggage counted, after all.
(And yes, I know that any kind of produce could be harboring dangerous pests.)
But, yeah, once caught, she should have just paid the fine. She can afford it, annoying though it may be, and arguing about it probably won’t do any good.

NZ is probably the strictest country in the world about this. The do make it incredibly clear.

Brian

Hell, I’d write a letter to get out of a $200 fine. I have forgotten that I had contraband on my or my kids’ person(s), peanuts, banana, cherries, whatever (not weed or guns though, that’s an infamia). It would take me 5 minutes to scribble out a defense. Now a $10 fiine wouldn’t be worth my time. I think my limit would be around $24.50. OTOH, if I got snagged trying to bring in a case of Idaho spuds or Washington apples, yeah, you caught me, I’ll pay up right on the spot.

So I’m giving Ms. Swank the benefit of the doubt. It’s very possible that she’s not being a hag but honestly feels the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.

Later,
Rob.

NP - Behind My Camel, The Police, Message in a Box

She’s a double Oscar winning actress earning millions per movie. US$150 to her is like $10 to most people. She’s being a dick for fighting over it.

Can a chick be a dick? Really, I wonder the same about the word “asshole” I always thought the term applied only to males. Anyway, I digress, back to the discussion…

Have you never been to Thailand? Oh, you said “be a dick”… as you were…

I haven’t been to NZ :blush: but I think Australia is probably comparable. Apart from international customs, it’s even illegal to take fruit from certain parts of Australia into others (ie the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone). There are massive signs along the highways, and checkpoints where your car will be stopped and you will be personally interrogated with respect to the presence or absence of fruit in your vehicle :slight_smile:

I haven’t been to NZ :blush: but I think Australia is probably comparable. Apart from international customs, it’s even illegal to take fruit from certain parts of Australia into others (ie the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone). There are massive signs along the highways, and checkpoints where your car will be stopped and you will be personally interrogated with respect to the presence or absence of fruit in your vehicle :slight_smile:[/quote]

Sure. Australia is a petrie dish. Remember when Bart Simpson brought a frog on down. Too right. Oy oy oy.

…and the long awaited update:
:bravo: good job silly hilly.

stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3232442a10,00.html

Hollywood actress fined for bringing fruit into NZ
30 March 2005

Double Oscar-winning actress Hilary Swank has been told to pay a $200 fine for trying to bring fruit into New Zealand in January.

The American actress has been fined $200 and ordered to pay $30 in costs after she failed to declare an apple and an orange when she arrived at Auckland International Airport from Los Angeles.

She faced a $200 instant fine at the airport but instead wrote a letter defending herself.

However, Manukau District Court, which covers the airport, rejected her letter and imposed the fine with costs in a hearing without lawyers.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) said Swank had admitted liability and explained the circumstances.

That letter went to the court and was considered on March 18 but court officials refused to say then what had happened until Swank had been told, saying she needed to know before the whole world.

MAF said New Zealand’s strict biosecurity regulations were to keep the country free of pests and diseases that could seriously damage our environment, natural resources, threaten our economy and undermine our way of life.

International passengers are obliged to declare all foodstuffs they may be carrying when entering New Zealand.

Swank, won her second Best Actress Oscar earlier this month for her starring role in the Clint Eastwood-directed Million Dollar Baby. She also won an Oscar for her transgender role in Boys Don’t Cry.

I can’t believe she wins an Oscar for Boys Don’t Cry and for Million Dollar Baby, but not for her fantastic work in The Next Karate Kid which was much better than either of those two movies. And man, that dress she wore to the Oscars was bitchin’.

(Oops, there goes my bullshit detector)

It actually made me happy to see that a celebrity was fined for this sort of thing and had me wondering if Mike Tyson was imprisoned in NZ whether he would be out (seriously I doubt his celebrity status would have meant early freedom).