American Knife & Tool Institute
A.G. Russell, AKTI Board Member, Takes a Simple First Step, Gets Invitation to
Meet with U.S. Congressman and Gets Response from Commissioner of U.S.
Customs
Every enterprise, great or small, starts with a single first step. A.G. Russell, Chairman of an Arkansas
knife company with the same name, learned the power of that lesson in February 2001. “As individuals
and individual knife companies and as an entire industry, we are in jeopardy unless we’re willing to stand
up to be counted as owners and makers of knives,” he said.
When a fellow-AKTI-member-company, Columbia River Knife and Tool Company (CRKT) of Oregon,
endured a 16-day seizure by U.S. Customs of 50 of its models of one-hand-opening knives in October
2000, A.G. Russell realized a severe injustice had been done. Thanks to a costly legal defense and a U.S.
Congressperson and U.S. Senator writing a letter to U.S. Customs on its behalf, CRKT ultimately got its
knives back. But the price the company paid was enormous. Lost sales prior to Christmas were estimated
in excess of $1 million, legal bills topped $30,000 and the personal toll on CRKT owners and employees
was significant.
“As if that wasn’t enough,” A.G. said, “U.S. Customs dropped their action only after CRKT agreed not to
sue them and to pay U.S. Customs for any costs of wrongly charging them in the first place.”
The entire CRKT fiasco struck very close to home for A.G. Russell. Several years ago an arbitrary decision
by a local U.S. Customs office nearly cost A.G. his business and wreaked considerable havoc in his
personal life.
He decided it was time to stand up and be counted. What did he do? He took the simple first step of
writing a letter. That letter went to his U.S. Representative, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, who happens to
be the brother of one of the U.S. Senators from Arkansas, Tim Hutchinson. Asa Hutchinson is also on the
powerful Oversight Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.
A.G. identified himself as a voter, taxpayer and business owner in Arkansas. Then he got to the reason for
writing. He raised his primary concern about the treatment of CRKT by personnel in the Portland office of U.
S. Customs, their supervisors up the line, and ultimately by the U.S. Customs Commissioner in
Washington, D.C.
“There are two issues in the CRKT case that have not been widely publicized,” A.G. noted. “One of the
CRKT knife models has a pivot screw that applies tension to the blade. Customs personnel loosened that
screw so it would be easier to flip the blade open and support their argument that the knife acted like a
switchblade. Then they admitted they loosened that screw, and their wrongful action was supported all the
way up the line of supervision to Washington.”
A.G. made the point that tampering with a product in that way would be analogous to adjusting a set-
screw on an automobile carburetor so it failed an EPA test. “The job of Customs is to evaluate whether
imported products are coming into this country legally and whether they meet certain established
standards. It is a clear abuse of power for Customs personnel to interfere with product performance or its
basic characteristics,” A.G. declared.
Within a few weeks of sending his letter expressing these concerns, A.G. received a reply from Asa
Hutchinson. Representative Hutchinson had sided with him and also written a letter of protest to
Commissioner Kennedy of U.S. Customs.
Since Congress controls the purse strings for U.S. Customs, the Hutchinson letter had gotten the
attention of Commissioner Kennedy. Kennedy, as expected, defended his field people and their
supervisors. However, he did admit Customs personnel had loosened the set-screw.
When Congressman Hutchinson conveyed this report to A.G. in a letter of reply, A.G. sent his second
letter. He thanked the Congressman for his time and attention to the matter, and once again re-capped his
concerns about product tampering. He concluded the letter by asking the Congressman whether they
could meet at a convenient time in the near future.
A.G. then got a follow-up call from an assistant to the Congressman. He was going to be in his field office
in Arkansas in early February 2001. Did A.G. want to meet with him?
“I expected I would get 15 minutes with him.” A.G. said. “He gave me 45 minutes. He was very gracious
and I came away feeling very positive about having taken this initiative and about getting help from the
Congressman.”
A.G. once again reiterated his concerns about the product tampering and the further support of
misbehavior by Customs supervisors. Congressman Hutchinson reportedly assured A.G. he would put
this episode before the House Oversight Committee.
“U.S. Customs has been given a lot of money to pursue drug traffickers but it appears they are using that
money to pursue responsible American companies,” A.G. adds. “I would encourage every manufacturer,
distributor and retailer in this industry to meet with their Senators and Representatives to make sure they
are providing real oversight of such agencies as U.S. Customs.”
A.G. offered this final advice. “It doesn’t matter what political party you belong to, these lawmakers have
been elected to serve you. Call their offices. Write them a letter. Ask for a meeting. Get to know them. In
today’s business and political climate, you need to have a relationship with your elected representatives.”
