Posted on 04/01/2005 12:09:02 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
TOMBSTONE, Ariz. An eerie tension lurked in the alleys of this historic town Thursday as locals braced for the arrival today of hundreds of self-appointed border guards who want to protect the Arizona-Mexico border against undocumented immigrants.
The streets were tranquil Thursday afternoon, as tourists milled about in the sunny breeze while cowboy actors did their best to lure visitors into buying tickets for the next gun-shootout show.
But many knew the scene could be quite different today with the launching of the Minuteman Project, a grass-roots effort that organizers pledge will draw more than 1,000 volunteers from across the country to the Arizona border to protest U.S. immigration and national security policies.
Starting today, participants will register with ground organizer Chris Simcox, who has been conducting similar, albeit much smaller operations since 2002 as leader of the Civil Homeland Defense.
On Monday, participants will be assigned to teams of four to eight people that will be placed at strategic lookout points.
Their objective will be to observe immigrants crossing the border illegally and report sightings to the Border Patrol, organizers said.
Locals have been reluctantly dealing with Simcox's presence for several years, but some said he has gone too far with the Minuteman Project.
"He probably thinks he's going to change the town, but he's not going to. Most people around here just wished he would leave, but that seems impossible," lamented Teresa Dotson, a clerk at the Tombstone visitor's center.
Chris Laycook, who arranges horse-carriage rides for tourists, said the project already has chased away potential visitors.
"He's just stirring up trouble, is all," said Laycook. "Who knows if they have one or two real bad apples and they start a chain reaction."
Project directors insist their actions are peaceful, noting volunteers will be prohibited from confronting or detaining migrants.
But concerns have been raised about the potential for violence or confrontations between project volunteers and others who oppose their views.
The Border Patrol announced Wednesday that more than 500 agents will be dispatched by summer to the Arizona border, the heaviest-patrolled section of the U.S-Mexico border that for years has led the count of immigrant arrests and deaths.
Though officials wouldn't say if the measure was in response to the Minuteman Project, they also announced plans to send about 155 agents to Arizona immediately.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government also has expressed concern placing its border consulates on alert and ready to file criminal complaints if abuse is reported. Mexican troops also are being sent to the border for protection purposes.
And according to published reports, leaders of Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, a violent Central American gang, have ordered their California and Texas-based members to the Arizona border to confront the volunteer border guards.
Rallies meant to support the Border Patrol will be held during the weekend outside agency stations in the border towns of Naco and Douglas, and there are concerns that they could become confrontational.
No such escalation of words and action would be necessary if outside agitators minded their own business and remained home, several Tombstone residents said Thursday.
Organizers have dismissed such criticism as exaggerations and at least one local business owner agreed.
Russell Jennings, owner of the Tombstone RV Park and Resort, said all he has seen so far are concerned, levelheaded citizens who want to make sure their government pays more attention to border security.
"I may not agree with everything they have to say, but at least they're getting people talking about this problem. You can't blame them for that," Jennings said.
Inside his office, he had 90 T-shirts on sale with the project's name emblazed upon an image of an eagle's head over a map of the United States draped with the U.S. flag. On the back, the shirts read: "Undocumented Border Patrol Agent."
They sold for $16 apiece, he said.
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hrozemberg@express-news.net
"Whose your huckleberry? What a headline!"
Would make a good bumpersticker too. Kinda the "Make my day" of that era.
"No such escalation of words and action would be necessary if outside agitators minded their own business and remained home, several Tombstone residents said Thursday."
Unfortunately the illegal type aliens that go through there end up in places like Colorado and Nebraska. They don't stay as the guests of people in Tombstone. We end up having to support them up here. Kinda tired of it. Disgruntled tax-payer.
I see - so the Mexican Army and the Salvadorean drug lords will be escorts for the coyotes?
Great still from the movie. Black and white makes it better
The Best Quotes From Westerns
"Look at all the stars. You look up and you think, 'God made all this and He remembered to make a little speck like me.' It's kind of flattering, really." -- Tombstone
"I want your blood. And I want your soul. And I want them both right now!" -- Tombstone
"You gonna do somethin'? Or are you just gonna stand there and bleed?" -- Tombstone
Doc Holliday: "A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of himself. And he can never steal enough, or kill enough, or cause enough pain to fill it up. And so he walks the earth, forever seeking retribution..."
Wyatt Earp: "For what?"
Doc Holliday: "Being born." -- Tombstone
"All right Clanton, you called down the thunder and now you've got it. You see that? It says United States Marshall. Take a good look at him Ike because that's how your gonna end up. The cowboys are finished you understand me? I see a red sash, I kill the man wearing it. So run you cur, run, tell all the other curs that law is coming, you tell I'm coming, and Hell's coming with me you hear? Hell's coming with me." -- Tombstone
"Damn that Texan, when you need him he's dead." -- True Grit
"Fill your hand you son-of-a-b*tch" -- "True Grit"
"You better bury Ned right; and don't you be cutting up or otherwise harming no whores, or I'll come back and kill all you sons a b*tches." -- Unforgiven
Little Bill: "I don't deserve this... to die like this! I was building a house!"
Will Munny: "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." -- Unforgiven
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:3QEVPXxH7YAJ:www.rightwingnews.com/quotes/cowboy.php+%22hell%27s+coming+with+me%22++earp&hl=en
What kind of list of Best Western quotes leaves out "It's Twue! IT'S TWUE!??!"
That's from a comedy not a western
That was a better western than most westerns...
You got that euphemism right! This author is such a phony...I suspect most of her quotes are confabulations, Jayson Blair crap. La Raza BS. Note how she calls these invading illegals not the border-violating trespassers they are but simply "immigrants".
ok.....you did it...
I'm gonna have to get the tape out and watch it again tonight.lol
the problem with mexico is that it's a parasitic state dependent upon the united states.
if mexico were a normal, developing country, they'd be well...er...d-e-v-e-l-o-p-i-n-g.
by developing, we mean developing educational and infrastructure to compete within the world economy. take korea , for example. p*ss poor, but they worked themselves into a developed country. they now export cars.
does mexico export cars? only the ones the europeans and americans make there. do the mexicans know, after 20 years of making cars, HOW to make a car? nada.
why isn't mexico developing?
answer--a couple dozen billionaires and several thousands of manorial class white, europeans run the country. there's virtually no middle class.
this mexican elite is racist. they hate the mexican poor because they are either part indian or all indian.
it's this mexican white elite that yells "racism" at the united states while keeping their peasants down.
Yup. That's my take on them. And truth be told, these self-styled pure-bloodeds, they regard most "Americanos" with not much less disdain.
ken21: The problem is, every time Mexico tries to build their own car, twenty factory workers immediately take it for a test ride to the border, and there's nobody left to build the next one.
"Wyatt Earp" was a better movie.
"Tombstone" was much more entertaining.
the mexican elite treats americans like their servants.
si.
I hate to disabuse you of your fanciful notions, but nothing you said applies to this situation.
This project ends at the end of April, this isn't the kind of desert you get lost in, nobody is going to travel more than a mile off a paved highway, their communications will probably put most local LEOs to shame, and I believe most teams are going to have at least one local with them.
I'm not saying what you said about desert survival is wrong, just that none of it applies to the MMP volunteers.
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