Posted on 05/28/2006 12:23:31 PM PDT by SandRat
PALOMINAS — Unimpressed by President George W. Bush’s pledge to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border and a Senate bill that would construct 370 miles of new border fencing, the Minuteman Project began building its own barrier Saturday at a local ranch.
By early afternoon, volunteers had planted posts and strung five tiers of barbed wire along an approximately 750-foot-long stretch of Jack and John Ladd’s property in Palominas. It was the first step in an ongoing project the civilian border watch group hopes will eventually be taken over by the federal government. Minuteman Project founder Chris Simcox told the estimated 150 volunteers and supporters at Saturday’s groundbreaking that the choice of the father-and-son ranch had been symbolic.
“The Ladds have been begging and pleading for help from the government for years,” said Simcox, who recalled starting his civilian border patrols 4 1/2 years ago at the property.
“This (fence-building effort) is a symbol that we are back to finish what we started,” he said.
Simcox said he hoped to have all 10 borderfront miles of the Ladds’ ranch fenced off by the end of the summer before taking the project to other local properties. But he said many land owners were hesitant to commit to the plan out of fear of reprisal from authorities.
The Minuteman leader singled out two members of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors who he said had been particularly obstructive to his group’s efforts in the area.
“I am speaking specifically of Pat Call and (Paul) Newman, who I think are working seditiously for the government of Mexico,” he said.
But while Simcox insisted his group would not ask for government permission as they continue building fences on private land, he said they would heed the wishes of individual property owners.
Last week, Jack Ladd told the Herald/Review that he did not like the design of the fence the Minuteman had planned for his ranch. Instead of the Israeli-style barrier proposal — two parallel 12- to-15-foot fences with anti-vehicle ditches and 8 feet of coiled barbed wire on either side — Ladd said he preferred a more modest barbed-wire fence that would stop drive-throughs and Mexican cattle.
On Saturday, Ladd’s son, John, expressed satisfaction with a compromise plan — 150 feet of the Israeli-style fence with the rest built to his father’s specifications.
“That part is just meant as a demonstration,” said John Ladd, motioning to two parallel rows of 15-foot-high poles.
Simcox said his group hopes to build larger stretches of the Israeli-style barrier at future sites — such as one potential property 4 1/2 miles east of Naco. And he said that while the fence-building will be somewhat patchwork at first, he hopes the government will someday take over and connect the structures into one uninterrupted barrier.
Like many of the volunteers who came to the Ladd ranch on Saturday, Liudyte Baker, a 41-year-old technical writer from Tucson, said she was acting out of frustration with Washington’s current border security efforts.
“The politicians aren’t doing it,” she said as she pulled a line of barbed wire taut and hooked it onto a fence post. “So this is a chance for ordinary, middle-class Americans to take back the sovereignty of our nation.”
Ronnie Richardson, who drove from Kingswood, Texas, to take part in the fence construction, called the border security measures in the immigration bill cleared by the Senate last week “a smokescreen.”
“That 300-some-odd miles of fencing is outrageous; it’s a joke,” he said.
Richardson said he would like to see a barrier cover the entire 1,950-mile length of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Former ambassador to the United Nations and two-time presidential candidate Alan Keyes, the keynote speaker at the groundbreaking ceremony, praised the Minutemen for doing a job he said the government could not be counted on to do. He accused Washington officials of being more interested in pocketing special interest money than listening to citizens who demand border security.
During the ceremony, two of the bright-orange pickup trucks from Mexico’s migrant assistance agency Grupo Beta pulled up quietly on the Mexican side of the border, 100 yards from the proceedings.
“We really have no idea what’s going on here,” said Bertha Alicia De la Rosa, coordinator of the agency’s outpost in Agua Prieta, Sonora, who asked a reporter what the gathering was about, whether there were any elected officials in attendance and if Gov. Janet Napolitano supported the project.
Asked what she thought of the Minuteman fence, she said her group did not have an opinion of events on the U.S. side of the border.
“We just provide aid to migrants and talk to them about the risks of crossing the border,” she said.
HERALD/REVIEW reporter Jonathan Clark can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathan.clark@bisbeereview.net.
Minuteman Ronnie Mac Richardson from Kingwood, Texas, muscles a post driver with his work partner as they and about 40 volunteers erect a fencing system in the windy desert in Palominas on Saturday. The group plans to install 750-foot fence on property owned by the Ladd family.Boder PING
Border PING
Doing the border protection that Americans (in Congress) won't do ...
By this poster's calculation, the Minutemen are personally building an effective fence along 1% of the border without any government support or financing.
If a private group can pull something that monumental off just on sheer determination, the federal government can certainly complete the other 99% without so much a blinking.
Call it matching funds.
BUILD THE FENCE. After it's 100% complete, then and only then discuss guest workers.
"The Minuteman leader singled out two members of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors who he said had been particularly obstructive to his group’s efforts in the area. “I am speaking specifically of Pat Call and (Paul) Newman, who I think are working seditiously for the government of Mexico,” he said."
Well aren't they just the most patriotic of citizens. No wonder Simcox said in Sunday's Az. Rep. that Americans are afraid of what their government is doing to them...
"Unimpressed by President George W. Bush’s pledge"
That's quite the understatement!
Thanks for showing the Washington doofuses how it's done. Good on youse guys!
Fences still need to be patrolled 24/7.
No, build the fence and after it's complete send 100% of the Mexican illegals back from whence they came (Mexico) and cancel the guest worker program. It always makes me mad when I hear "It would cost too much to send them back." No it wouldn't, just take the 20-something billion they're wiring back home to pay for sending them back. If that's still not enough, bill Mexico for the rest. If they want to come here to work/live then let them come in legally like everyone else.
It makes it sound like he just wanted a free fence, rather than an effective fence, doesn't it? I wondered about that, too. A pair of wire cutters on a couple of strands of the "more modest fence", and it seems like it will be business as usual for the illegals who wish to cross his land. Grupo Beta will probably even give them the wire cutters.
As an aside, was Grupo Beta the one's who were giving away the sneakers with compasses on them?
Yep, sure sounds like they think the Gov is in their pocket. Their very best buddy is el senatore Juan McCain. I'll bet he's furious about ANY efforts to secure the border.
Most likely Yes.
I have some suggestions for improvements and additions to HR 4437, the House Illegal Alien Bill.
1. Add an explicit statement that AMERICAN CITIZENS have explicit permission to observe and report border infringement, as well as border enforcement actions by local, state, or federal authorities.
2. The Border Patrol should be required to cooperate with citizens engaged in such observation and reporting. Interfering, or attempting to interfere with such activity should be a misdemeanor on first offense and a felony thereafter.
3. Perhaps we need to shut down some of the low-value "volunteer" government supported agencies and create a "Border Volunteer Organization" that would perform this service.
4. The "new Minutemen" should receive official recognition for the special service they have performed in reminding our government officials, to to bottom, of the duty they should have performed.
5. The Senate bill contains nothing of value to compromise on.
While I support the fence, anyone want to place a small wager on how long it is before some illegal walks into the fence intentionally, claims injury, and gets another liberal judge to award him the ranch?
America: Where the phrase "don't give away the farm" isn't just a metaphor anymore.
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