from Arizona
Report from Cochise County , Arizona
By T.J. Woodard <http://www.americanthinker.
Being an avid American Thinker (AT) reader, and living on the Arizona border in Cochise County, I thought I would provide those who wish to be informed some insight into the truth about the state of the U.S.-Mexican border -- at least in this part of the state.
I moved to Cochise County after retiring from the Army in 2008 to take a position working at Fort Huachuca (pronounced "wa-choo-ka," an Apache word meaning "place of thunder" and referring to the time after the summer monsoon season). Having lived here in 1991 for eight months while attending an Army school, I soon realized that the place had changed considerably in the eighteen years of my absence.
The first thing I noticed was how many border patrol vehicles were on the roads in the city of Sierra Vista . The Border Patrol has a large station near here in the city of Naco . There are far more Border Patrol vehicles in the area than SV police cars. They come in many forms -- trucks for off-road work, trailers carrying all-terrain vehicles, pickups with capacity for carrying large numbers of people once apprehended, and even a staff car for the area chaplain. The Border Patrol presence has grown substantially, so one would think the border area was nice and safe.
Not so. Within a short time after arriving in southern Arizona while on my way to work, I noticed eight illegal immigrants on the side of the road. Fortunately, they were in the custody of capable and attentive Border Patrol agents. Unfortunately, they were less than a hundred feet from my daughter's bus stop. She gets personal service to school now, as the school district refuses to enter the gated community in which we live. There is a nice wash, a valley into which the rainwater drains during the monsoons, which provides a nice route for the illegals to follow into the city, and therefore into their locations for pickup by the vehicles that will get them farther north.
Later, after I attended a movie on a Friday night, a car passed by me in the next lane going nearly a hundred miles an hour. It took a few seconds before I saw the police behind -- way behind -- with lights and sirens, trying to catch up. Surprise, surprise -- the next morning's paper discussed a Mexican drug runner being caught by County Sheriff 's Deputies. On several occasions, the Border Patrol's helicopter has flown low and slow over the neighborhood, rattling windows and shining its spotlight in our backyard. When this happens, I strap on my pistol, grab a flashlight, and look and listen. Fortunately, I haven't found anybody within a hundred yards of the house -- yet.
Working on a U.S. Army fort, one would think we were fairly secure from these threats. Just not true. Reading the Fort Huachuca newspaper one morning, I noticed an interesting part of the "community" page. It asked for volunteers to assist in cleaning up "dumps" on posts where the illegals would drop their supplies used to cross the border and change clothing. They do this in order to blend in and not look like they just spent a day or two crossing the border in the dust and heat of southern Arizona . The most frightening part of this is that Fort Huachuca is the U.S. Army Intelligence Center, where the Army trains its intelligence soldiers -- analysts, interrogators, radio intercept specialists, and counterintelligence agents -- for operations overseas. If we can't secure the fort we use to train our intelligence soldiers, how can we secure anything else?
Much has been discussed about the new law in Arizona making it unlawful to be in Arizona in violation of federal immigration statutes. However, much less has been discussed about the shooting of rancher Robert Krentz. Robert was killed on his ranch on March 28, 2010. His ranch, on which the family began grazing cattle in 1907 (Arizona became a state in 1912), is a large, 35,000-acre area in remote Cochise County . It is so remote that the original Cochise, an Apache leader, used the mountainous terrain near it to hide from the U.S. Cavalry in the early 1870s. But much less is being said about the eight illegal immigrants and their load of 280 pounds of marijuana seized the day <http://www.wilcoxrangenews.
So Arizona should be boycotted because its people would like to keep it safe? Somebody please explain the logic of that for me. It doesn't take a bullet from a drug runner's gun to make those of us down here near the border understand that this is drug-related violence -- and Rob's death proves it.
It also doesn't take much more reading to see that the drug dealers are a huge problem with far-reaching capabilities. On April 27, 2010, a large drug bust took place here in Cochise County . Among those arrested was Angelica Marie Borquez <http://www.kgun9.com/Global/
This isn't a blatant effort by drug cartels to obtain control here in America ?
Many have already called Arizona residents racists. They are concerned that police will profile Hispanics and disproportionally harass them. But we understand something others in Washington , D.C. and San Francisco don't seem to remember -- we border Mexico . The fact is that most illegal immigrants coming across the border here are, well, Mexicans. Those of us down here facing the danger every day really don't care what some Hollywood actor has to say about the issue. Nor do we care about what the Colombian government or the Latino music community thinks of it. We just want to stay safe.
This is not about race; it's about facts. Use a few of these facts the next time somebody wants to engage you in discussion about the border. Tell him you learned these things from somebody who can see Mexico from his front porch.
T.J. Woodard is a retired Army officer who lives less than ten miles from the Mexican border. He carries a pistol even in his own house in order to be prepared to defend his family whenever necessary.
By T.J. Woodard <http://www.americanthinker.
Being an avid American Thinker (AT) reader, and living on the Arizona border in Cochise County, I thought I would provide those who wish to be informed some insight into the truth about the state of the U.S.-Mexican border -- at least in this part of the state.
I moved to Cochise County after retiring from the Army in 2008 to take a position working at Fort Huachuca (pronounced "wa-choo-ka," an Apache word meaning "place of thunder" and referring to the time after the summer monsoon season). Having lived here in 1991 for eight months while attending an Army school, I soon realized that the place had changed considerably in the eighteen years of my absence.
The first thing I noticed was how many border patrol vehicles were on the roads in the city of Sierra Vista . The Border Patrol has a large station near here in the city of Naco . There are far more Border Patrol vehicles in the area than SV police cars. They come in many forms -- trucks for off-road work, trailers carrying all-terrain vehicles, pickups with capacity for carrying large numbers of people once apprehended, and even a staff car for the area chaplain. The Border Patrol presence has grown substantially, so one would think the border area was nice and safe.
Not so. Within a short time after arriving in southern Arizona while on my way to work, I noticed eight illegal immigrants on the side of the road. Fortunately, they were in the custody of capable and attentive Border Patrol agents. Unfortunately, they were less than a hundred feet from my daughter's bus stop. She gets personal service to school now, as the school district refuses to enter the gated community in which we live. There is a nice wash, a valley into which the rainwater drains during the monsoons, which provides a nice route for the illegals to follow into the city, and therefore into their locations for pickup by the vehicles that will get them farther north.
Later, after I attended a movie on a Friday night, a car passed by me in the next lane going nearly a hundred miles an hour. It took a few seconds before I saw the police behind -- way behind -- with lights and sirens, trying to catch up. Surprise, surprise -- the next morning's paper discussed a Mexican drug runner being caught by County Sheriff 's Deputies. On several occasions, the Border Patrol's helicopter has flown low and slow over the neighborhood, rattling windows and shining its spotlight in our backyard. When this happens, I strap on my pistol, grab a flashlight, and look and listen. Fortunately, I haven't found anybody within a hundred yards of the house -- yet.
Working on a U.S. Army fort, one would think we were fairly secure from these threats. Just not true. Reading the Fort Huachuca newspaper one morning, I noticed an interesting part of the "community" page. It asked for volunteers to assist in cleaning up "dumps" on posts where the illegals would drop their supplies used to cross the border and change clothing. They do this in order to blend in and not look like they just spent a day or two crossing the border in the dust and heat of southern Arizona . The most frightening part of this is that Fort Huachuca is the U.S. Army Intelligence Center, where the Army trains its intelligence soldiers -- analysts, interrogators, radio intercept specialists, and counterintelligence agents -- for operations overseas. If we can't secure the fort we use to train our intelligence soldiers, how can we secure anything else?
Much has been discussed about the new law in Arizona making it unlawful to be in Arizona in violation of federal immigration statutes. However, much less has been discussed about the shooting of rancher Robert Krentz. Robert was killed on his ranch on March 28, 2010. His ranch, on which the family began grazing cattle in 1907 (Arizona became a state in 1912), is a large, 35,000-acre area in remote Cochise County . It is so remote that the original Cochise, an Apache leader, used the mountainous terrain near it to hide from the U.S. Cavalry in the early 1870s. But much less is being said about the eight illegal immigrants and their load of 280 pounds of marijuana seized the day <http://www.wilcoxrangenews.
So Arizona should be boycotted because its people would like to keep it safe? Somebody please explain the logic of that for me. It doesn't take a bullet from a drug runner's gun to make those of us down here near the border understand that this is drug-related violence -- and Rob's death proves it.
It also doesn't take much more reading to see that the drug dealers are a huge problem with far-reaching capabilities. On April 27, 2010, a large drug bust took place here in Cochise County . Among those arrested was Angelica Marie Borquez <http://www.kgun9.com/Global/
This isn't a blatant effort by drug cartels to obtain control here in America ?
Many have already called Arizona residents racists. They are concerned that police will profile Hispanics and disproportionally harass them. But we understand something others in Washington , D.C. and San Francisco don't seem to remember -- we border Mexico . The fact is that most illegal immigrants coming across the border here are, well, Mexicans. Those of us down here facing the danger every day really don't care what some Hollywood actor has to say about the issue. Nor do we care about what the Colombian government or the Latino music community thinks of it. We just want to stay safe.
This is not about race; it's about facts. Use a few of these facts the next time somebody wants to engage you in discussion about the border. Tell him you learned these things from somebody who can see Mexico from his front porch.
T.J. Woodard is a retired Army officer who lives less than ten miles from the Mexican border. He carries a pistol even in his own house in order to be prepared to defend his family whenever necessary.
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10 comments:
While I'm sympathetic to the people of Arizona and their problem, this law isn't the answer. Ironically, this article proves why.
The real problem here is drug cartels and drug runners. Does anyone honestly think that this new law will have one iota of effect on that? How will harassing day laborers and violating the rights of latino US citizens (this has already happened) do anything to combat the power and terror of the Mexican cartels? Its completely illogical.
That would be like New York saying it had a Mafia problem, so we'll just have the police hassle everyone of Italian descent. The crimes related to the drug trade have little to do with the fact that the people who commit them may be illegals. They have everything to do with the fact that running drugs is an extremely profitable, brutal, and violent business.
Another irony is that for all the talk about illegals and crime, Arizona's crime rate has been declining for years.
Ol' T.J. must be a riot at cookouts.
So let's boil it down a bit:
'Drug cartels are bad.'
'Illegal immigration is bad.'
'Thus, Arizona had to pass this law.'
Jesus Christ, do you not see even 10 feet
down the path you are taking?
And when this law fails, what next?
I'm nt sure about the truth of the rest of this, but Krentz was shot by a white guy, an American. As the guy says, "I notice there was not much said about that."
"Unfortunately, they were less than a hundred feet from my daughter's bus stop. She gets personal service to school now, as the school district refuses to enter the gated community in which we live. "
Illegal Meskins? Near mah daughter?!?!!
And a gated community? Wonder what citizenship the housekeepers and groundskeepers there are.
"[Rancher] Robert Katz was killed on his ranch on March 28, 2010. His ranch, on which the family began grazing cattle in 1907 (Arizona became a state in 1912), is a large, 35,000-acre area in remote Cochise County. It is so remote that the original Cochise, an Apache leader, used the mountainous terrain near it to hide from the U.S. Cavalry in the early 1870s...."
Oh, there is grand irony about immigration here. And they will never, ever see it.
After 40 years of a failed drug war, the only answer to drug trafficking is to repeal prohibition. Most older AZ residents can't even consider the idea, so they come up with this law to combat brown people--it will do nothing to combat drug trafficking. But they get to feel good for a few years, until they decide this law has failed too.
"a well written article" = an article written in actual complete sentences following recognized rules of grammer, all in the same font
Content is irrelevant, obviously.
But I admit, the grammer and font are an improvment.
There was a rancher from, I think, Douglas, AZ, who was most likely shot by a drug trafficker recently. The Native Americans in the Tohono O'odam reservation south of Tucson have been dealing with drug trafficers using their rez for border crossing and getting into the States. In both cases, the whites and the Indians on the border have stated that they had little problem over the years with illegals who crossed the border (and their lands) looking for work. In most cases, these people were harmless, and the whites and Indians were sympathetic to their plights.
Yes, perhaps immigration laws should be improved, but the answer isn't hassling all Latinos.
The whites and Indians who have suffered the most have stated clearly that the recent border problems involve drugs and gun running. And yes, I can confirm the Border patron presence all across the US - Mexican border has increased quite a lot.
But the racist AZ law will do not one thing to improve the situation bc it is not addressing the real problem. As gruaud points out, actually the crime rates in AZ have been dropping for years. If there's a lot of undocmented workers in AZ, it's bc local businesses (mostly construction until recently) have active recruited them to come work for crummy wages and poor conditions.
The law is a sop to racists in order that parasitic politicians, including local pols, can get themselves voted back into office. It really is a total waste of tax dollars, while doing nothing to address some very real problems.
Mr. Woodward likes to talk big and carry a gun around to show who's the boss... all while living in his gated community that used to be part of Mexico.
Cry me a river, Mr. Woodward, and go out get your facts straight first. The AZ law IS about hassling Latinos for no real reason and about racial profiling.
It will waste all your precious tax dollars on a scam that serves only to deflect precious resources towards not solving the real problem. I agree with others who commented. the problem is with drug and gun runners. It's not with illegals looking for work.
The governor who signed this act into law is just milking the racists to get voted back in. What a waste of border patrol resources. For shame.
Why is it that Republican men can only feel manly and safe and all if they carry a big old gun? Compensating much?
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