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| Report from Cochise County, Arizona |
| 2010-05-02 |
| Being an avid American Thinker 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. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #7 Besoeker, I lived in Cochise county for ten years: 1980-1990. There was an unofficial motto: "There are many laws but very little justice in Cochise County." I was there when the Aerostat (Blimp) was launched - for all the good it did. I have never lived in such an uptight atmosphere as that of Sierra Vista - retired military martinets everywhere (and I'm very pro-military). For three years I resided in Bisbee - and frequented the various Brewery Gulch saloons for entertainment: Sierra Vista is to Bisbee as Dubuque,Iowa is to Las Vegas. In both sites, many local, county, and federal officials were corrupt to the max. One example, I was stopped outside of Bisbee by a Border Patrolman who stopped me for "speeding" and I spent the night in the Bisbee county jail. MY attorney informed me that Border Patrolmen cannot stop people for speeding - furthermore I was driving an old Ford Escort up a mountain at 20mph! I later found out that I (being single) had been dating one of the Border Patrolman's mistresses - the real reason for my harrassment (and I was driving her car to boot!). I guess he stopped me expecting some booty and found me in the drivers seat!). Final point: easy money breeds corruption on both sides of the border. Do we really know what happens t all the pot and cocaine seized by the Border Patrol? Methinks there is the possibility of mucho recycling going on... |
| Posted by: borgboy 2010-05-02 18:46 |
| #6 This ain't 1915, the troops don't need the exercise and we don't have a Arango to betray. Posted by: Shipman|| 2010-05-02 09:40 |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-05-02 14:13 |
| #5 Fort Huachuca (pronounced "wa-choo-ka," The proper GI pronounciatonalism is "Fort Huck-hucka" |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2010-05-02 14:09 |
| #4 Sierra Vista is a nice town Frank And then there is Bisbee.....a bit more laid back. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-02 12:27 |
| #3 Sierra Vista is a nice town - visited several time when #1 son was training at the Fort. They have a surveillance blimp to track smugglers. Just east is Tombstone. Perhaps we need to restart traditions? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-02 11:38 |
| #2 This has been floating around for a week or two now. I got it in an email. Supposedly it's from a recently retired BP agent: As you know, one of the local ranchers was murdered in Douglas two weeks ago. His funeral is tomorrow. I received three messages similar to the one below from different officers within the Rangers and law enforcement. Yesterday afternoon I talked to another rancher near us who is a friend of ours and whose great grandfather started their ranch here in 1880. These are good people. He told me what really happened out at the Krentz ranch and what you won't read in the papers. The Border Patrol is afraid of starting a small war between civilians here and the drug cartels in Mexico. Bob Krentz was checking his water like he does every evening and came upon an illegal who was lying on the ground telling him he was sick. Bob called the Border Patrol and asked for a medical helicopter evac. As he turned to go back to his ATV he was shot in the side. The round came from down and angled up so they know the shooter was on the ground. Bob's firearm was in the ATV so he had no chance. Wounded he called the Cochise County Sherriff and asked for help. Bleeding in the lungs he called his brother but the line was bad so he called his wife but again the line was bad. Several ranchers heard the radio call and drove to his location. Bob was dead by this time. The ranchers tracked the shooter 8 miles back towards Mexico and cornered him in a brushy draw. This was all at night. The Sherriff and Border Patrol arrived and told them not to go down and engage the murderer. They went around to the back side and if you can believe it the assassin managed to get by a BP helicopter and a Sherriff's posse and back to Mexico. So much for professional help when you need it. One week before the murder Bob and his brother Phil (who I shoot with) hauled a huge quantity of drugs off the ranch that they found in trucks. One week before that a rancher near Naco did the same thing. Two nights later gangs broke into his ranch house and beat him and his wife and told them that if they touched any drugs they found they would come back and kill them. The ranchers here deal with cut fences and haul drug deliveries off their ranches all the time. What ranchers think is that the drug cartels beat the one rancher and shot Bob because they wanted to send a message. Bob always gave food and water to illegals and so they think they sent the assassin to pose as an illegal who was hungry and thirsty knowing it would catch Bob off guard. What is going on down here is NOT being reported. You need to tell people how bad it is along the border. Texas is worse. Near El Paso it's in a state of war. 5000 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez last year and it's over 2000 so far this year. Gun sales down here are through the roof and I get emails from people wanting firearms training. Something has to be done but I don't hold out much hope. These gangs have groups in almost every city in the US. This is serious business. The Barrio Azteca and their sub gangs are like Mexican Corporations and organized extremely well. If this doesn't get dealt with down here you guys will deal with it on your streets. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-05-02 00:56 |
| #1 However, much less has been discussed about the shooting of rancher Robert Krentz. What attention there was from the Arizona media was due to Mr. Krentz's leaving water out for the illegals crossing his ranch. Had he the habit of calling the Border Patrol instead, his murder would've been pretty much ignored. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-05-02 00:31 |