This dog could go beserk at any second.
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
Truth hurts doesn't it!
That's odd.
The kids can't go and play and the women are afraid to go out at night because the town has been over run with illegals, yet the business people are ready to fight the Minutemen at the drop of a hat?
Something is not quite right here.
Go the Minutemen !
So where is Sheriff Flores when it comes to the drug runners?
BTTT...
But Flores isn't inviting the Minutemen. "They're not welcome in Texas," she said.
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Eff you, Betty.
We live here...this is OUR state...not the wetbacks.
This dog could go beserk at any second.
"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."
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"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."
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Uh, ok...so why should WE take any prisoners?
You paint a sad picture in your post #17 Steve, and mict42
in his post #14 also presents a bleak scenario. I don't have much faith in the urbanites of today but there are enough folks in rural America who will stand tall when their backs are to the wall (I hope).
The MM are my heroes.
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