Posted on 06/19/2005 1:14:43 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The leader of a controversial Arizona civilian border patrol will be in Goliad on Monday to finalize plans for an upcoming patrol in South Texas.
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leader Chris Simcox says it is "pure coincidence" that his meeting with ranchers and landowners will take place in Goliad, a town that, along with the Alamo, resonates as a reminder of the historic conflict between Texas and Mexico.
Simcox said he expects about 100 ranchers and other landowners to attend the meeting in Goliad on Monday evening. Today, Simcox was scheduled to get a tour of area ranches.
"We're stepping right into the middle of a multibillion-dollar crime syndicate, and they're not happy about it," Simcox said.
However, he said the group will focus on stopping the flow of illegal immigrants across the border and will not attempt to stop the flow of drugs that has become the source of so much violence along the border recently.
"That's a whole 'nother world," Simcox said of the violent drug trade. "We leave that to the professionals."
Bill Parmley, a petroleum geologist and lifelong Goliad resident, said he invited Simcox out because he has become so concerned by the illegal immigrants in the area. Though Goliad sits about 200 miles from the border, it has been overrun by illegal immigrants passing through, he said.
"Our children cannot ride their bicycles," he said. "Women cannot go out in the evening."
Drug-related violence has become particularly acute in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo, where the police chief was assassinated hours after taking office June 8. The escalating violence has led local officials on the U.S. side to call for help from Washington and Austin.
The Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition issued a plea last month for federal help to stop the violence from crossing the border. Laredo Mayor Betty Flores also has called for help from both the state and federal governments.
"Laredo continues to have to protect its border on its own," Flores said. She criticized the federal Department of Homeland Security for failing to protect her city.
"Their intent was to make the border safer, but it's not safer," she said.
But Flores isn't inviting the Minutemen. "They're not welcome in Texas," she said.
She says the problem needs to be addressed by professional law enforcement, and she worries that outsiders will discriminate against people on the border, most of whom are Hispanic.
"It's hard for people from (Arizona) to understand how we feel about the issue," she said.
Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores, no relation to the mayor, said he supports the idea behind the Minutemen, but he discourages them from coming because he worries they might get hurt.
"I respect them and I applaud their efforts," the sheriff said. "I just think the problem is a lot worse than they think."
Sheriff Flores said it would be impossible for the civilians to differentiate between immigrant smugglers and drug smugglers because sometimes the same cartels are moving both people and drugs. He also doubts many U.S. landowners in the Laredo area would cooperate, because he says many of them have been intimidated by the smugglers.
"Anyone who tries to disrupt their business will have a fight on their hands," Sheriff Flores said of the cartels. "These people don't take prisoners."
Gov. Rick Perry also thinks patrolling the border is better left to professionals.
"The governor certainly understands and shares the concerns of the Minutemen," said spokesman Robert Black. "But this is not the solution."
Simcox and others led a monthlong patrol of a stretch of the border in Arizona last April. The effort led to the proposal to expand the effort to all four border states.
The Minutemen now plan to do patrols in California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas beginning Oct. 1. Another organization, the Texas Minutemen, also will have a presence on the border beginning Oct. 1, according to Shannon McGauley, who heads the group out of Arlington.
McGauley said his volunteers will patrol separate areas from those chosen by Simcox's forces.
Though not as famous as the Alamo, Goliad was the site where a group of Texan revolutionaries under James W. Fannin Jr. surrendered to the Mexican Army in March 1836, after being assured their lives would be spared. But more than 300 were later shot in what became known as the Goliad Massacre.
The next month, Gen. Sam Houston's troops got their revenge at the Battle of San Jacinto, where they went into the fighting shouting: "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" Of the more than 600 Mexicans who were killed at San Jacinto, many were trying to flee or surrender.
edward.hegstrom@chron.com
Yes.
I believe this will get everyone off the dime.
"The leader of a controversial Arizona civilian border patrol...." = ratspeak for real Americans they can't control.
Code words for letting Washington continue to do nothing concerning the ongoing invasion of America by Mexican citizens with the Mexican governments blessings and by many other nationalities.
"The governor certainly understands and shares the concerns of the Minutemen," said spokesman Robert Black. "But this is not the solution."
Another very good indication why Governor Rick "Do Nothing" Perry (-RINO) has earned his nickname in some sectors of Texas politics.
They need to be reminded of this very often!
Texas Minutemen Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
I would expect to see more of this guy Shannon McGauley. He is persistantly popping up in Texas and have heard him on a few radio shows. He is from the DFW area and has a good grasp of the concept of border watch. I met him several times on the Arizona Project last April.
It looks like the Civil Homeland Defense folks are going to have their work cut out for them in Texas...the Governor is against them, the border mayors are against them, and the Press is against them.
Ummm...actually, that is exactly the situation they faced in Arizona; and nobody got shot, there was no violence, and they practically shut down the flood of illegals sneaking into our country.
I disagree. The National Guard takes orders from the people who take orders from the ones that want the borders open. Privatize. Minutemen!
Seeing a bunch of figures crossing the border and notifying the Border Patrol. That's discriminatory? What a wahzoo.
"we have not endured the trials that forge iron wills. No Great Depression and no W.W. ii. Ironic they managed to raise such a soft generation (the boomers), who then raised the luridly lacking crop of animals called the gen-X'e"
Speak for yourself jerk there are still plenty of us alive and willing!
"Anyone who tries to disrupt their business will have a fight on their hands," Sheriff Flores said of the cartels"
From what he spouts he must be on the take or spewing such filth as an advertisment for a cartel payoff and needs to be run out of office.
Minutemen joining volatile border mix in Texas
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1425986/posts
Governor Richardson has said he doesn't want the Minutemen in NM either. He's thinks it should be left to the professionals too. The problem is that he won't send them. His good buddy is Vicenti Fox. Richardson is a real jerk!
Perry seems to be backstepping from comments just a few weeks ago. His WIND METER must be blowing in another direction.
I wasn't there, but I've heard the orginal Minutemen were far from "PROFESSIONALS", but nonetheless did pretty good in respecting and defending American borders.
If Ma Strayhorn wants to win the governorship, all she needs to do is say that she would call out the Texas National Guard to defend our southern border. She would win hands down. Rick Perry could go back to raising cattle in Abilene.
According to an article in Sunday's Dallas Morning News about the fight among Mexican drug cartels to control I-35 throughout Texas and beyond looks like the violence will continue escalate into many major US cities.....and for that we can thank all the scumbag politicians that pushed thru NAFTA, GATT, etc.
He's busy drinking (non-alcoholic) margaritas with Vicente Fox, toasting to the new "North American Union" that Americans don't want.
I remember here in California when Prop 187 was up for a vote, two of the biggest anti-187 figures were prominent GOPr's--BILL BENNETT & JACK KEMP. The voters ignored the both of them and passed the freebie benefits ban for Illegals--
I don't think Texas CITIZENS will put up with the crap much longer.
I know Texans.
Some Texans are friends of mine.
I graduated from high school in a town called El Paso Del Norte,
later married a Texan.
"luridly lacking crop of animals called the gen-X'e"
Screw you too.
they aren't wanted here :-|
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