Posted on 09/19/2010 2:23:24 PM PDT by SandRat
BISBEE— About a dozen people gathered at a home a mile from the border on Saturday to raise money in support of people who need help on both sides. They also sent a special message to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the form of about 50 pairs of pink panties.
Arpaio forces inmates to wear pink underwear as a means to humiliate them. Progressive Democrats of Cochise County’s Pink Panty Party was inspired as a means to use his weapon against him, said Alison McLeod, Southern Arizona field organizer for the Progressive Democrats of America. She thought of the idea as she was standing in front of Arpaio in a silent protest at a tea party event near the border earlier this year.
This one event will do nothing by itself, but if other people and communities pick up the idea, it might hang him up a little bit, McLeod said. The activists want to use mostly women’s underwear because they do not want to send him anything that he could actually use for the inmates.
Used underwear is fine, though, McLeod joked. The idea can be used as a fundraiser for organizations, to call attention to Arpaio’s actions or simply for fun.
“It’s kind of fun to fight back against a big bully,” McLeod said. The group also raised money for Humanitarian Border Solutions, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people in need on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border, and members of the group also have strong feelings about the sheriff.
“Basically, Joe Arpaio is too busy appointing himself as the immigration enforcement officer for Maricopa County. That’s not his job; he’s a sheriff,” said Pamela J. Murphy, treasurer for the organization. Arpaio should focus on protecting the citizens in his jurisdiction, who elected him to do that job, she said.
“What he’s doing in Maricopa County is at least immoral and probably even illegal,” said Emilie Vardaman, secretary of Humanitarian Border Solutions. “People he is rounding up are primarily non-violent people who are working jobs, supporting their families. I’m not threatened by that.”
She feels he should be focused on people who might burglarize homes, drink and drive or operate meth labs instead of trying to round up illegal immigrants who are not guilty of any other crimes.
“His policies have cost the County of Maricopa a lot of money through lawsuits that have been settled out of court,” Murphy said.
Arpaio is the subject of a U.S. Justice Department civil-rights investigation that contends he unfairly targets Latinos. He is also the subject of a FBI inquiry regarding abuse of power.
One resident’s fears
Bisbee resident Maria Brinton never worried about racial profiling until the passage of Senate Bill 1070. She decided to attend the pink panty party on the spur of the moment because Arpaio is such a staunch advocate for the state immigration law, she said. Brinton was born in Agua Prieta, Sonora, but was adopted by a Bisbee family when she was 8.
She thought the adoption made her a legal citizen because her parents never told her otherwise but later discovered she had to get naturalized, which she did, Brinton said. Unfortunately, she had lost her papers during a series of moves and when SB 1070 came out, she was one of the people panicking.
“I thought, ‘OK, here’s this little short Hispanic woman driving a truck. OK, how obvious is that?’ I was always worried, and I even had nightmares about being stopped and deported because I didn’t have my papers,” Brinton said. Her truck has a cracked windshield she cannot afford to repair, so that could be a reason for an officer to pull her over and then ask for her papers.
Fortunately, Brinton found her papers about a month ago after searching through myriad moving boxes but otherwise would have had to pay a fee for another copy, which would take time to arrive, she said. Her adopted father is from Texas and she grew up with blond-haired, blue-eyed siblings, so she never had a problem with people judging her based on her skin color until recently.
“I had never felt that fear before,” Brinton said. She has never even been back to Agua Prieta and was terrified of being deported and trying to find a way back home.
“That became my nightmare: How would I make it across? How would I know who to trust to make it back across?”
Since 1997, McLeod has lived so close to the border that she can see it through her kitchen window and, though she understands the concern that rancher Robert Krentz was killed, McLeod has never had any problems, she said. “When I first moved here, the border wall was just a barbed-wire fence, and I would often see families passing through or groups of 20 or so, heads down, just trying to get through,” she said.
She has not seen anyone for a long time, which she attributes to the wall because it makes it impossible for families to cross the border on their own. Instead, they have to hire members of the cartels who now control all the access points and were also likely responsible for Krentz’ death, McLeod said.
“That’s who people are paying, and they’re exploiting these people who just want a better way of life,” she said.
Herald/Review reporter Adam Curtis can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at adam.curtis@svherald.com.
I’m sure Joe would like to thank you for saving the taxpayers money.
The out of state radicals and agitators can be angry with Sheriff Joe until their wrists fall off....it just doesn’t matter.
I like this!
ooohhh ‘a dozen protesters’ — that’ll show him.
I've heard this same EXACT story a number of times recently. Must be a DNC memo thing to their illegals. As for someone from Bisbee, what Sheriff Arpaio does is none of her business. She doesn't live in Maricopa County. What a jerk!
“It’s kind of fun to fight back against a big bully,” McLeod said.
funny... that’s exactly how we feel about standing up to the left.
That describes a goodly number of Bisbeeites.
Bisbee is apparently a People’s Republic in a different AZ County. They should just move a few miles South for true social justice.
Southern Arizona
PDA Tucson
Alison McLeod
alisonmcleod@wildblue.net
520-249-0558
Alison McLeod, who lives in Bisbee but works for a nursing agency that sends her to several Tucson hospitals
McLeod said she was recently fired from a hospital when she stood up to administrators
Ah, the good old days, no poblem there.
She has not seen anyone for a long time, which she attributes to the wall because it makes it impossible for families to cross the border on their own.
Can't be. All the liberals told us they will just bring a ladder.
No what I think he will do is have the Health Department get involved, I am more than positive that these leftist share the Clinton sentiment, of donating only their used underwear.
They have got to be treated as toxic and dealt with as a Health issue.
The measure would make no difference at University Medical Center, Tucson’s only Level One trauma hospital, since it is already meeting or exceeding the measure’s ratios, said spokeswoman Katie Riley.
But not all hospitals have such standards, said Alison McLeod, a Tucsonan and ICU nurse for the past 20 years.
“Arizona nurses need protection under the law,” said McLeod, who is supporting the Lopes measure. “Staffing is at the whim of the hospital administration and health care has become about making money.”
State Sen. Carolyn Allen, R-Scottsdale, chairwoman of the state Senate Health Committee, said she doubts the measure will get a hearing.
Allison McLeod, RN, NNU - Organizing for Change ...
This is the most egregious instance of distress caused by racial profiling they could locate/fabricate?
What does Brinton do when she needs to poop and there is no tissue on the roll?
Does she join a "crap in", which the Herald Review rushes over to cover, or does she open the dam cabinet and pull out a fresh roll?
Questions should be reffered to;
Herald/Review reporter Adam Curtis can be reached at 515-4683 or by e-mail at adam.curtis@svherald.com.
Give her a hand, Curtis!
However, not everyone attending the event was in support of the Tea Party movement or the recently passed state immigration law. Nearly 30 protesters lined up along the south side of the Highway 92 and Smith Avenue intersection, which had to be traveled by anyone going to the event, said protester Alison Mcleod. She came in opposition of what she said is an “inhumane and racist border policy.”
The only hitch in the program came when three protesters who had sneaked into the rally, Mcleod among them, stood in front of the stage, and as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio began his speech, turned their backs in silent opposition. “I believe this is a humanitarian crisis that needs a humanitarian solution,” said James Mustard of Bisbee, who was escorted to his car with the other protesters by a group of three or four security officials.
As the event concluded, a large group of supporters headed down to the international boundary fence with Arpaio, where the sheriff held a sign that read “We support Sheriff Joe” and even tried to put it through the fence so that it would point into Mexico. His actions were deterred, however, when the sign would not fit between the wooden slats placed along the fence to hold American flags.
He needs to send a pair tor Karl Rove.
Especially in the Tucson “Toostoned” area, there are a lot of leftist liberals, and it shows. It used to be the joke that the typical Tucson family was two burly lesbians with mullet haircuts and the dogs they were breeding.
Back in the early 1990s, for a time, there was even a micro pirate radio station that was Maoist in orientation. One minute they would give an impassioned plea to send money to the Shining Path terrorists in Peru, the next cursing the Germans for imprisoning the former dictator Erich Honecker, and demanding he be made dictator of all of Germany. And then there would be the low quality musical interlude of Joan Baez moaning about something. It was a hoot.
In any event, if you want luser kooks, it is a good place to look.
“Bisbee is apparently a People’s Republic in a different AZ County”
Sorry to hear that-I’m planning a trip to that area, and was going to spend some time there. Thought it sounded like a pretty cool place.
Hippy-Dippy capital of the universe, though, is Arcata, CA-spent an afternoon there once-WOW! EVERYONE on the town square either reeked of BO or pot, sometimes both!
Bisbee IS fun to see. Quite amazing actually. you SHOULD definitely go. I found Douglas interesting also - especially the Police Station - a former RR station.
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