Free Republic

NACO – An incomplete cross-border tunnel was uncovered by a construction worker clearing old fencing near Naco. According to Christopher Sullivan, a public information officer and Border Patrol agent based out of the Tucson sector, the construction worker contacted Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents at the Brian A. Terry Station to report a “possible smuggling tunnel.” Following an investigation, agents discovered the unfinished tunnel. “The tunnel was approximately 15 feet deep and extended into the United States about four feet from the international boundary fence,” he said. “The tunnel has no ventilation or lighting.” The tunnel has already been filled...

SIERRA VISTA — Looking for the latest info on where the best fishing spots are in southern Arizona and across the state? The Arizona Game and Fish Department has regular updates from anglers all over Arizona detailing what fish are hitting what baits and where as part of its weekly Fishing Report. Compiled from regular input from fishermen and women as well as Game and Fish officials, the report covers the fishing conditions at dozens of lakes and waterways, as well as stocking schedules, water levels and updates on which fish species are most active and when. “The idea is...

SIERRA VISTA — The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office has corralled more than a dozen donkeys and shipped them off for auction after their previous owner repeatedly let them loose to wander the Naco area. Animal control officers and livestock agents with the Arizona Department of Agriculture recently rounded up 19 of the animals, which have caused everything from traffic hazards to property damage, with reports to the sheriff’s office dating back to last summer, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office. “They would be in the roadway or near the roadway, on people’s private property and causing damage,” Capas...

NACO, Arizona — As a motorcade carrying GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson down to a service road behind part of the border fence that was built here, there were no Border Patrol agents in sight. The fence—which local law enforcement from the Cochise County sheriff’s office confirms could easily be cut through with a blow-torch, something illegal aliens do quite frequently—ends a few miles up the road.

Just a quick note ... We are recieving information concerning a train derailment and a sulfuric acid spill approximtely seven miles south of Naco, Sonora, earlier today. Apparently a small wooden bridge over a wash collapsed. At this point the spill is not thought to be a danger to the waters of the San Pedro river and there are no reports of casualities. I have no additional information at this time Below is the report from Mario Novoa, the Douglas Fire chief. Pat. "... HazMat techs from Nogales Sonora are in route to the scene of a train derailment in...

NACO, Ariz. — Approximately 40 bundled-up protesters and a few of their pets gathered several hundred yards east of the Naco port of entry between the United States and Mexico on Sunday to speak out against the border fence that continues its way west through Cochise County. “I was down here about a month ago,” said Greta Anderson, formerly of Bisbee. “And I almost cried when I saw that it was only about a quarter-mile from the river.” Anderson is a volunteer with the Sierra Club in Tucson and an environmental activist. On the chilly and blustery afternoon, Citizens for...

NACO, Ariz. — Thousands of American troops swarmed here long ago, a response to border friction of a different era. A visible reminder of that turbulent 1911-1923 timeframe — the stucco-walled barracks and officers quarters of Camp Naco — has been placed on the Arizona Preservation Foundation’s 2007 Most Endangered Historic Places list. “All of the properties we have named are important historic landmarks in Arizona, but unfortunately are in grave danger of collapse, demolition, or destruction,” said Vince Murray, president of the Arizona Preservation Foundation board. “It is critical that residents and government officials act now to save these...

A little after 7 p.m. I was in was in my backyard being interviewed by two student film makers. We were surrounded by my seven German Shepherds and had been talking on camera for about a half hour when a shot rang out, then another, then another, about a second apart. The shots were coming from the southwest. The shots seemed to come from a location very nearby. I and the film makers heard bullets whistle over our heads. We immediately took cover behind my house. I began yelling at Star and her pups to come to me as I...

NACO, Ariz. -- Chainsaws and weed-eaters buzzed as volunteers swarmed over an old Army border post Saturday. Local historians searched for clues to the past as they cleared decades of debris and desert vegetation that have nearly enveloped Camp Naco. “No task is too big,” said volunteer David Lawson, a 22-year-old Army second lieutenant from Cedar Falls, Iowa. The volunteers ��” soldiers from Fort Huachuca, neighbors, local firefighters and others ��”� heaved old mattresses and other junk out of the old buildings. As they removed linoleum, they discovered old newspaper articles, forgotten pieces of mail and other tantalizing scraps from...

The border town of Naco is on heightened alert after fierce gun battles in Mexico. The violence started Wednesday after dozens of armed gunmen raided a police armory and kidnapped and killed several officers. Friday, Mexican port officials in Naco were not allowing cars to enter Mexico. The people trapped in Naco left their vehicles behind and walked across.

BISBEE — Mexican President Felipe Calderon yesterday voiced his “most energetic protest” against the shooting death of a young illegal Mexican immigrant by a Naco-based Border Patrol agent on Friday and expressed frustration with a lack of information in the case. Speaking at a press conference at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City, Calderon opened his remarks by expressing condolences over the death of 22-year-old Francisco Javier Dominguez-Rivera, a native of the south-central state of Puebla. Dominguez-Rivera was shot and killed as he and six others were being detained after an illegal border crossing between Naco and Douglas...

PALOMINAS — The Naco Border Patrol Explorer post added four new members Wednesday with a ceremony at Valley View School honoring the newest graduates of its training class. “You came in as individuals and now you graduate as a team,” Darcy Olmos, Patrol Agent in Charge at the Naco Border Patrol station, told the graduates. The new Explorers are Alexalyn Hardgrave, 15, of Sierra Vista; Sammy Collins, 16, of Sierra Vista; Devin Humphries, 16, of Hereford; and Christopher Tillman, 15, of Sierra Vista. Humphries was honored for having the group’s highest test score average at 91 percent. Hardgrave also was...

"SHAMEFUL" is the word that Mexican President Vicente Fox has used, seemingly without irony, to describe American proposals to build a fence along the two nations' massive border. One might argue that the term is a better description of the corrupt, opportunity-stifling government Fox oversees, or that "ineffective" would be a better characterization of the border-wall idea. After all, it's Fox's country and its policies that compel millions of Mexicans to risk their lives fleeing north a force that no American barrier could ever thwart. True solutions to the immigration problem are neither within our borders nor under our exclusive...

SIERRA VISTA — A man robbed, kidnapped and threatened to kill the owner of a local eatery Saturday morning before fleeing into Mexico, Sierra Vista police said. The man was able to get away when he forced the store owner to give him a ride to the Naco Port of Entry. Police said the incident began at about 4 a.m. when the store owner heard a strange noise while working in the Bread Basket Bakery, 355 W. Wilcox Drive. After going outside, he was robbed by a man with a black-colored, semi-automatic pistol. The robber also took an undisclosed amount...

HEREFORD - Stu Dutcher lives five miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. A field used by illegal immigrants trekking north is near his rural home between Hereford and Palominas. The retired U.S. Border Patrol agent knows when illegal immigrants pass through the field. The area's "fleabag sensors," including his, sound an alarm. "Dogs have different barks when its about humans, another bark when it's animals and a third bark they make just to bark," he said. In some ways, dogs are more reliable than high-tech equipment because they help track the direction illegal border crossers go, he said. "The only...

Video from KVOA Tucson. Puts some pictures to the BP story.

Minuteman Project to issue major planning statement - Organizers reviewing project's future, direction April 17, 2005 (Tombstone, AZ)---On Monday, April 18, organizers of the Minuteman Project will be issuing a major statement on the immediate and long-term direction of the project. Rumors have been circulating that the project might cut short its originally planned month-long monitoring of a 23 mile section of the Arizona-Mexican border by citizen volunteers. The project's cofounders, Chris Simcox and Jim Gilchrist, said it would be a mistake to think the border will be abandoned. "However, our overwhelming early successes along with more recent developments have...

These pic were taken on the street during the MMP Naco rally

Published: 02.22.2005 Border-watch group: All talk? Plan for action against entrants may be just hype By Michael Marizco ARIZONA DAILY STAR   Civilian border-watch groups:  >> Minuteman Project: The organization is supposed to patrol the Cochise County border with hundreds of protesters beginning April 1.   >> Civil Homeland Defense: The Tombstone-based group began after founder Chris Simcox launched a "call to arms" in October 2002. The group patrols the border, and leaders say they apprehend illegal entrants and turn them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.   >> American Border Patrol: The border-watch group uses its Border Hawk,...

PALOMINAS - More than $1 million worth of marijuana was seized Wednesday by agents from the U.S. Border Patrol's Naco Station after a vehicle pursuit. At approximately 9:45 p.m., agents observed a pickup truck illegally enter the United States about eight miles west of the Naco Port of Entry, according to a press release from the agency's Tucson Sector. The truck's driver was unaware he had been spotted and drove slowly along local ranch roads until the truck reached Highway 92. When an agent attempted to stop the vehicle on the highway near Miller Canyon Road, the driver performed an...