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Posted on 08/09/2006 11:22:15 AM PDT by Spiff
Sierra Vista Herald/Review
BISBEE — Plans by the Minuteman Civilian Defense Corps to build a border barrier on the Bisbee-area ranch of Richard Hodges are moving forward, with groundbreaking on the project likely to begin later this month, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
“We’re getting ready to survey, we’ve got bulldozers and materials ready to go, and we’ve got the camera company ready to test camera systems down there,” said Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair. “Everything is pressing forward.” The civilian anti-illegal-immigration group had initially hoped to break ground on the fence in July, but the project was stalled when the Cochise County planning department told Hodges it wanted to review the barrier’s design.
County Planning Director Judy Anderson eventually ruled last month that Hodges’ proposed barrier — two parallel 14-foot fences topped with razor wire and outfitted with security cameras — was exempt from county jurisdiction, and local citizens were given 30 days to appeal her decision.
Hair said her group was waiting for the appeal period to expire before breaking ground on the fence, which will cover 0.9 miles of Hodges’ border-front ranch east of Naco.
“As soon as we get clear of that usual grace period, we will begin construction,” she said.
County Planning Manager Mark Apel said Hodges was sent a letter on July 18 notifying him of Anderson’s decision, which would make Aug. 17 the deadline for an appeal. He said no appeals had yet been filed.
Hair stopped short of naming a specific groundbreaking date for Hodges’ fence, saying that weather conditions and the coordination of materials and labor would ultimately determine a building schedule.
She also said weather conditions had been playing havoc with recent efforts to complete the 2.5 miles of border fencing that the Minutemen put up earlier this summer on the ranch of John and Jack Ladd in Palominas.
Plans call for that fence — a typical five-strand, barbed wire range fence — to be surrounded by concertina wire and vehicle barriers. But Hair said recent downpours had opened up a sinkhole on an access road, slowing the delivery and installation of materials.
“We can’t put the concertina wire in until we get the vehicle barriers in because we have to protect the Ladds’ cattle from the concertina wire,” she said. “But (contractors) are down there today, I believe, doing surveying for vehicle barriers that will be going in right away.”
Contacted at his home Tuesday, Hodges said he had not had much contact with the Minutemen since the fence project was OK’d by the county. But he said he had heard suggestions from the group that construction would begin on or around Aug. 21 — once the appeal period had ended.
Hodges, who asked the Minutemen to build the barrier in order to keep drug traffickers off his land and to protect his cattle, said someone, presumably an illegal border-crosser, left a gate open on the ranch last week, allowing one of his cows to get out and break two of its legs on a cattle guard.
He was cautiously hopeful that the fence would go up soon.
“Until this thing actually starts to materialize, it’s just a real nice theory,” he said. “I know that a lot of what the Minutemen do is just to see what can be done — a testing of the waters type of thing. So we’ll see.”
Ping
God speed with this project. Hopefully it'll really slow down the traffic and bring out a simple fact.
AAre they going to fence the sides? At 0.9 they will just go around it.
I bet not. I think the guy is just trying to keep them away from his cattle. Hopefully they won't just cut back around onto his property.
It'll be interesting to see just how much fencing they can get put up along the border. If the gov. won't do it. I guess we'll have to.
They need a wall at the parking lot of Extended Stay America in Malvern, PA.
The illegals appear to be under the employ of Petrocelli, LLC, Verizon Contractor.
I mentioned them to cop the other guy; his reply. "They've been here a long time and keep to themselves".
Put up a wall, yes, but also go after the employers.
.9 miles, eh? That'll stop 'em, fer shure.
This is silly. What we need is for the federal government to put up a real fence...one long enough to do some good.
This is silly. What we need is for the federal government to put up a real fence...one long enough to do some good.
Absolutely! And the MCDC's fence is a demonstration designed to a.)highlight the issue of border insecurity, b.)garner news coverage to embarass the government into action, and c.)pressure the government to erect and improve border barriers along the entire border. The MCDC does not intend to erect enough border barrier to secure the entire border nor even large parts of it. It is a political project with the goal to get the Federal Government to do their job and secure the border. This is much like the original Minuteman Project who secured a tiny portion of the border with volunteers. That effective demonstration has lead to much of the border security measures we're seeing voted on or put in place today. If it wasn't for the MMP, there would not have been HR 4437 and President Bush would have sent 6,000 (this number is alleged, but its the number he's using) National Guard Troops to the border. That's the point of this and it is going to do some good.
"Are they going to fence the sides? At 0.9 they will just go around it."
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If I was his neighbor I would want in on the project.
And as Spiff says, that's the whole point of the exercise.
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"I was thing though that if they can't get across they may just go around to show they can."
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I understood what you were getting at.
If successful bit by bit a border fence will be built on private land, then the pressure will mount concerning public land.
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Bttt!
They should borrow a few laborers from Sheriff Joe.
This bears repeating!
There are some posters who are either too stupid to understand this, or are deliberately misconstruing the purpose of the MCDC fence project in order to lampoon it.
Devolve, you've got way too much free time on your hands. LOL
Good job!
Ping
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