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Life in Paradise
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| While beauty abounds in and around Portal, the gateway to the Chiricahua Mountains, dangers exist due to the flow of illegal immigrants. (inslee S. Wittig/ARN) |
A view of immigration, drugs and life near the Arizona border
By DICK KAMP/wick communications
Fire on the Mountain
It's mid-late June in Paradise, Ariz., on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains by the Arizona-New Mexico border and 50 miles north of the Arizona-Sonora border. Weather is nothing out of the ordinary: hot in the day and still below 50 at night. Dry and green after a very wet winter. To the east, smoke rises lazily from the Horseshoe Fire on the ridge between Horseshoe Canyon (where the fire was "human" caused) on the east-facing side of the mountains and the South Fork of Cave Creek near Portal Ariz.
Chiricahua residents say the fire was started by "illegals"; the Forest Service refuses comment. The fire, to most locals, is one more cause for concern over the intruders in their wooded Paradise (or Portal or Whitetail Canyon). Passing Border Patrol agents in Paradise confirm that Horseshoe Canyon has been a staging area for migrants and narcos; they presume the fire was started by them. At least three people say that someone listening to a scanner heard a comment in Spanish that "we started the fire," but nobody can confirm who heard it nor provide a clear motive for starting the Horseshoe Fire, other than carelessness.
The South Fork fire, that covered several hundred acres nearby during late spring, was "human-caused" immediately after an encampment of suspected drug-carrying "mules" was broken up by the Border Patrol. Other fires since 2007 in Pothole Canyon, Buckhorn Saddle, Sulphur Draw, and the Mayday fire are blamed by several locals on drug-runners, and called "human-caused" by Coronado National Forest spokeswoman Heidi Schewel.
"The drug-runners watch from high up on the ridges with infrared night goggles to see where the border patrol is; they have radio communications and they're well-equipped," says Paradise resident George Walker, who owns House Bed and Breakfast owner and volunteer fire fighter Jackie Lewis. "If a fire starts while they move their cargo, why should they care?"
Full disclosure
I have a small cabin in Paradise that was broken into in late April. Food, sleeping bags, stove and lanterns were stolen. I began to take notes on the comments of my neighbors regarding their perceptions of immigrants, drugs from within their (and my very part-time) 'hood in the wild, beautiful mountains. A lot of strong opinions, not surprisingly, surfaced. (I also had secure window-covers built "after the horse was out of the barn.")
I lived in Paradise 25 years ago with my young children. Today, I like my young and old children to be able to take refuge there. From the mid 1970s to early 1990s, I mostly lived in Bisbee Junction, Ariz about 3 miles from the border The day-to-day movement of migrants by our front door was joined by violent drug cartel thugs who pistol-whipped older people in the early '90s. They were believed to be "madrinas"-the mafia "Godmothers" who up until 1992, were paid by the Mexican government for law-enforcement. It was a frightening time; especially for people who often left their doors unlocked in spite of and because of, the cross-border traffic.
After the Paradise theft, I spoke with my neighbor to the north, Wayne Morrow, who, coincidentally, had seen my stolen goods on his driveway after he saw an encampment lit up by LED lanterns and called the Border Patrol. Not knowing that they were mine, Wayne did not move them, instead leaving them "for the coyotes who left them" and who will transport migrants. By common Chiricahua consensus, many "coyotes" live in the agricultural community of San Simon 20 miles north along I-10.
I also spoke with a few neighbors with some years in the area on their experiences with uninvited guests. Also about their thoughts about what could be done about the border, the drug trade and immigration. A few, uncomfortable young and green Border Patrol agents were questioned on the same drug and immigration issues; I walked a couple of migrant trails with a long-time neighbor, Harold Bradford.
They aren't ranchers close to the Arizona-Sonora border who see the March murder of Rob Krentz as a new cry to arms, or at least to better self-defense. The border ranchers I've known in the past, going back 30 years, historically accepted the drug trade as one that they avoided, by establishing zones they didn't use close to the fence.
My Chiricahua neighbors are people who moved to a beautiful island range that has recently been the northern tip of the border drug battles 50 miles from the line. It's a more gentle climate than high desert, but so rugged that it takes mules-the animals not the drug-runners-to traverse terrain that horses cannot easily handle. Trees and sometimes water are a part of the landscape; it was home to the Chiricahua Apache. There's more diversity of birds in those mountains than anywhere but South Padre Island, Texas.
Other races
Jerry Kammer, who is currently writing for the conservative Center for Immigration Reform recently, came back from a tour of border ranchers with an odd image, a quote from Indian historian Dee Brown regarding 'an 1871 meeting between Cochise and General Gordon Granger. Cochise says this as he rejects the proposal that he go to a reservation at Tularosa, N.M.
"When I was young I walked all over this country, east and west, and saw no other people than the Apaches," so said Cochise during this meeting. "After many summers I walked again and found another race of people had come to take it."
"That "other race" of largely white usurpers, my neighbors, feel some version of that same alien image that Cochise did over their presence 140 years ago. Beyond their anger, they voice more than media soundbites," says Kammer "They share the frustration, fear, and outrage of dealing with vicious Mexican drug cartels and night goggles, rather than the ordinary mountain lions, coatimundi, and bear."
Wayne Morrow, Paradise
A few months short of 80, an ex-lawman and a mining engineer, Wayne's father Ralph moved to Paradise as a child in 1903, not too long after the Chiricahua Apache left.
"Before we have immigration reform, you need to secure the border-- all 2000 miles-- and not by putting up fences that only ever worked minimally.
"Like the Gulf disaster, first you plug the leak, then you go after British Petroleum. We have a fairly steady amount of traffic thru Paradise, but generally there are little problems with "mojados" They do go through here; I ran into 20 going thru my property dressed in black w packs on.... told the Border Patrol I saw them about 10 minutes later. They got here two hours later and the guy says he needs backup, and Lordsburg tells him it's out of their jurisdiction.
"There's always been migrants running through here but the drug trade is serious and violent, and I always bring up legalization of pot. You'd stop 95 percent of the traffic; a lot of people are making too much money on our side of the line and especially on their side of the line. It's absurd not to legalize pot, and as a health hazard it certainly is no worse than cigarettes and we could tax it.
"You have to sell people on both enforcement and legalization. I don't think the average person has any say and if Demos are kicked out of the White House and Congress and Republicans get in it won't make a damn bit of difference
"I think quite a bit of Jan Brewer, she's no dummy. Whether (SB1070) does any good or not, it basically has brought immigration to the forefront.
"Legal immigration is a must; we should go on developing a program. Meantime, I disagree with giving amnesty to illegal citizens and we're not talking about just Mexicans. We have a hell of a lot of people from every country and not all have our good intentions at heart. My idea would be put a good paved highway on the border, restricted to law enforcement where practical, and put outposts, checkpoints and garrisons and 20 ,000 Border Patrol- if needed- on the line and make sure nobody is in the country illegally.
"Then we need old veterans on horseback after these drug runners and not a bunch of kids in trucks.
"People who are given permits to legally be in the country for any reason and who could rightfully apply to be citizens should have the chance to be citizens.
"There's hardly an old family on this border who doesn't have a lot of ancestors from Mexico including the Morrow family; my mother in law was born in old Mexico. I can remember Douglas as a boy and there were signs on the highway saying, "Chinaman don't let the sun go down on you in this town."
"We don't want that type of thinking today anymore than we did then. In Mexico and elsewhere, they have a miserable situation in their country."
Trail
It's moving toward sunset when I begin following my neighbor Harold Bradford along a trail on Forest Service land to the south of Paradise toward Silver Peak and then moving to the right through arroyos and small springs and long-abandoned homesteads and a 110 year old sawmill site. The trail would link up with Horseshoe Canyon to the east above the San Simon Valley, if you reversed the route.
Brad saw new footprints a week or so ago but now 4-wheel drive truck tire prints cover them. Given the lack of rainfall, we see mostly old footprints, and about half a mile in we find Mexican canned good labels-bleached and at least months old. No signs of burlap that covered bails of pot, nor any humans.
The route would lead migrants to Turkey Creek Road just above Paradise where they would walk through the tiny town perhaps two miles to Wayne Morrow's driveway or some other area for pickup. During the spring, a couple of residents said they saw a few people regularly "walking down the main street" at sunset. Others saw nothing but the Border Patrol agents.
Lynn May, Whitetail Canyon, north of Paradise
"I've ridden mules in very rough areas of these mountains for 20 years and it used to be pristine. Now, there isn't an area from Onion Saddle to Cochise Head and the monument to Whitetail Canyon, to the east that hasn't been impacted with junk, litter, campfires.
"One huge camp on north side of the mountains that I cleaned up had 20-25 backpacks, but the Border Patrol told me that backpacks don't have drugs in them and to look out for burlap. In Jhus Canyon, I've found burlap along with sharp cans that can cut deer, mountain lions or bear. Also little zip-carriers like those that hold GPS units so I guess if they are running drugs they can keep in touch with whomever and tell them where they are. Horseshoe and Price Canyons are really impacted. I've washed some clothes I found and given them to the Salvation Army.
"My mother's 94 and she used to live on her own in Portal, with no car, but with the number of break-ins we moved her in with us. This has really impacted her life and it's sad.
"We don't fear migrants, and we have dogs. That helps. Knock on wood, I've never seen a single illegal and I guess you just don't know if they are poor people looking for work or worse. I carry a gun and I'd use it, but if you run into somebody with an AR 15, you can kiss your life goodbye. I don't care if they hurt me, but I don't want them to hurt my mules.
"When we lived outside Tucson, we just left the house open; we didn't care about migrants. But it got so they were smoking inside our house so my husband welded window and door protection and they beat in the side of the house in frustration.
"The druglords are beyond evil. They're psychopathic -- cutting off heads. I feel very sad that because of them, these mountains aren't our country anymore. We have friends in Rucker Canyon, the other side of the Krentz's. They killed her dogs, killed cattle, cut fences, let 5,000 gallons of water out of their tank. That is just meanness.
"My feeling is that if we had a decent guest worker program in place, it would have gone a long way to take care of the immigrant issue. But I don't think that would affect the drug cartels.
"I wouldn't want to legalize any drug trading because I've seen such serious drug problems within my own family. But everybody should be allowed to grow their own pot; that might help reduce the drug trade some.
"I feel selfish saying that I want my life back; you know Susan Hayward said that in the 50s and got in trouble. I want to go back to an innocent time."
Harold Bradford
"Drug dealers didn't come through the mountains until recently; they stayed in the foothills and around Cave Creek.
"I think it's ridiculous that pot and most drugs are illegal since the Bible tells us to use all seed-bearing plants. The illegal trade is the threat, but the real drug threat is overdosing and overprescribing prescription drugs, especially to the elderly who get totally confused.
"We need border stations every 15-20 miles along the border and the Border Patrol should be patrolling far enough back from the line to catch all the drug tunnels."
Jeff Gee, Portal
Jeff Gee cares for Galapagos turtles on his land and is the archivist of Chiricahua "illegal" crime. He distributes surveys to local residents on specifics of break-ins by email, pushes for the presence of more sheriff and Border Patrol, hosts community meetings and takes photographs of garbage and break-in locations. He has produced reports on Portal-Paradise area break-ins.
Quoting from a Gee report: "The nearest (box stores) are about 100 miles away, and certain kitchen items and clothing are available only at twice that distance. Even when losses are small, they can be inconvenient if replacements cannot be acquired for months. Still worse, burglaries leave us with feelings of vulnerability and being "under siege" all the time. Couples plan their activities so that one or the other person can always be home, and singles fear to leave home at all- even to buy groceries or pick up mail."
"The border is still wide open. The drug cartels must be laughing at us," says Gee.
Gee and others are pushing for a cell tower to be installed near Portal and a permanent Border Patrol substation in the old Portal Forest Service Ranger Station with a phone available for local calls.
He is, "one hundred percent against legalizing any drugs. However if all public assistance like free medical, welfare, food stamps, education,...all government handouts were denied to anyone testing positive for drug use...even emergency medical care, then I would agree."
Jackie Lewis, Paradise
"Border patrol hands are tied and they can't do their job by freely arresting suspects or protecting themselves. We don't really have hot pursuit in the Chiricahuas.
"The fence doesn't work, agents are too far away from the border and we cant protect our borders while fighting to protect the borders of other countries.
"Pot? Legalize it and tax it like alcohol and the taxes will provide the base for needed services instead of giving the money to the cartels hauling bales through here.
"Illegal immigration as it stands right now doesn't work. If we can get people processed at a border station who want to work, and get them a green card and a Social Security card, they can earn the benefits of work. We also need workers to come across on a seasonal permit. But the ones who want to come up for the free ride need to be turned back and the processing needs to be done at the border.
"I'm real cynical right now; we have people coming across the border getting more aid than my brother-in-law did from the border patrol when he fired on an illegal attacking him.
"We need seasoned vets on horseback to counter those with night vision goggles and radios. Illegals have been crossing through Horseshoe Canyon during the fire.
"Who have I sighted in Paradise? The two I've seen in the last year and one prior to that as an EMT have been coming up to find a job. Dehydrated and footsore, they stopped and asked for help. They were treated and sent to a holding area to go back home. Two others in nearby Jhus canyon were stopped by accident; the search and rescue personnel reported an illegal close to being dead. They weren't carrying anything and one had three suckers left and offered the two of us in the back his suckers. It was really sad. I haven't run into any drugs or guns yet."
Common threads
Most of those interviewed for this story believe that reducing the illegal market for pot by regulating it would halt a large percentage of the cross border drug trade and the presence of the evil killers who sell it. Most believe that it should be legalized.
I haven't found anybody who doesn't believe that there should be some regulatory migrant worker program allowing those in the country to apply to be here legally. Some believe there should be a path to citizenship; others not.
They all believe that the border should remain at the border; that as long as the drug problem remains violent, the border should be armed and fortified to control entry. Most believe that the military and border patrol should be told to shoot to kill armed invaders. However, they want experienced border patrol on horseback with knowledge of wild places who are paid commensurate with the risk-and not green kids-to patrol the isolated places where the drug runners go.
I believe that Arizona is a state within a country that is at times racist, and at times tolerant; both versions of Arizona seek stilted solutions to "solve" border related problems.
The situation in Paradise Ariz., is frightening and goes beyond what the average person in Colorado experiences, but it is not worst case. Fear will legitimately lead to strong reactions and the questions my part-time neighbors pose aren't abstract. Jerry Kammer told me that he seeks a humane face while defining and addressing difficult problems of immigration and drugs. To some degree, I heard the same in the eastern Chiricahuas, while residents await a quieter time, if not a more innocent one as Lynn May described it.
I had breakfast in Silver City, N.M. with long-time border advocate and historically liberal investigator, Tom Barry. Tom said something that resonated: "I spent many years with the philosophy that immigrants who come here are hard-working people who came to contribute to our economy and they are the soul of struggling people everywhere. I think now that it is better when envisioning solutions to see immigrants as just like the rest of us: good, bad, and everywhere in-between."
Editor's Note: Dick Kamp is an award-winning journalist who lives in Santa Fe and has reported on the environment, water and border issues since 1983, when he began conducting news analysis on copper smelting pollution in two Sonoran towns along with the Phelps Dodge Douglas smelter. Later, Kamp reported on river and water issues regarding the San Pedro River, near where he lived for many years. His work has appeared in nationally circulated magazines, including the High Country News.
By DICK KAMP/wick communications
Fire on the Mountain
It's mid-late June in Paradise, Ariz., on the east side of the Chiricahua Mountains by the Arizona-New Mexico border and 50 miles north of the Arizona-Sonora border. Weather is nothing out of the ordinary: hot in the day and still below 50 at night. Dry and green after a very wet winter. To the east, smoke rises lazily from the Horseshoe Fire on the ridge between Horseshoe Canyon (where the fire was "human" caused) on the east-facing side of the mountains and the South Fork of Cave Creek near Portal Ariz.
Chiricahua residents say the fire was started by "illegals"; the Forest Service refuses comment. The fire, to most locals, is one more cause for concern over the intruders in their wooded Paradise (or Portal or Whitetail Canyon). Passing Border Patrol agents in Paradise confirm that Horseshoe Canyon has been a staging area for migrants and narcos; they presume the fire was started by them. At least three people say that someone listening to a scanner heard a comment in Spanish that "we started the fire," but nobody can confirm who heard it nor provide a clear motive for starting the Horseshoe Fire, other than carelessness.
The South Fork fire, that covered several hundred acres nearby during late spring, was "human-caused" immediately after an encampment of suspected drug-carrying "mules" was broken up by the Border Patrol. Other fires since 2007 in Pothole Canyon, Buckhorn Saddle, Sulphur Draw, and the Mayday fire are blamed by several locals on drug-runners, and called "human-caused" by Coronado National Forest spokeswoman Heidi Schewel.
"The drug-runners watch from high up on the ridges with infrared night goggles to see where the border patrol is; they have radio communications and they're well-equipped," says Paradise resident George Walker, who owns House Bed and Breakfast owner and volunteer fire fighter Jackie Lewis. "If a fire starts while they move their cargo, why should they care?"
Full disclosure
I have a small cabin in Paradise that was broken into in late April. Food, sleeping bags, stove and lanterns were stolen. I began to take notes on the comments of my neighbors regarding their perceptions of immigrants, drugs from within their (and my very part-time) 'hood in the wild, beautiful mountains. A lot of strong opinions, not surprisingly, surfaced. (I also had secure window-covers built "after the horse was out of the barn.")
I lived in Paradise 25 years ago with my young children. Today, I like my young and old children to be able to take refuge there. From the mid 1970s to early 1990s, I mostly lived in Bisbee Junction, Ariz about 3 miles from the border The day-to-day movement of migrants by our front door was joined by violent drug cartel thugs who pistol-whipped older people in the early '90s. They were believed to be "madrinas"-the mafia "Godmothers" who up until 1992, were paid by the Mexican government for law-enforcement. It was a frightening time; especially for people who often left their doors unlocked in spite of and because of, the cross-border traffic.
After the Paradise theft, I spoke with my neighbor to the north, Wayne Morrow, who, coincidentally, had seen my stolen goods on his driveway after he saw an encampment lit up by LED lanterns and called the Border Patrol. Not knowing that they were mine, Wayne did not move them, instead leaving them "for the coyotes who left them" and who will transport migrants. By common Chiricahua consensus, many "coyotes" live in the agricultural community of San Simon 20 miles north along I-10.
I also spoke with a few neighbors with some years in the area on their experiences with uninvited guests. Also about their thoughts about what could be done about the border, the drug trade and immigration. A few, uncomfortable young and green Border Patrol agents were questioned on the same drug and immigration issues; I walked a couple of migrant trails with a long-time neighbor, Harold Bradford.
They aren't ranchers close to the Arizona-Sonora border who see the March murder of Rob Krentz as a new cry to arms, or at least to better self-defense. The border ranchers I've known in the past, going back 30 years, historically accepted the drug trade as one that they avoided, by establishing zones they didn't use close to the fence.
My Chiricahua neighbors are people who moved to a beautiful island range that has recently been the northern tip of the border drug battles 50 miles from the line. It's a more gentle climate than high desert, but so rugged that it takes mules-the animals not the drug-runners-to traverse terrain that horses cannot easily handle. Trees and sometimes water are a part of the landscape; it was home to the Chiricahua Apache. There's more diversity of birds in those mountains than anywhere but South Padre Island, Texas.
Other races
Jerry Kammer, who is currently writing for the conservative Center for Immigration Reform recently, came back from a tour of border ranchers with an odd image, a quote from Indian historian Dee Brown regarding 'an 1871 meeting between Cochise and General Gordon Granger. Cochise says this as he rejects the proposal that he go to a reservation at Tularosa, N.M.
"When I was young I walked all over this country, east and west, and saw no other people than the Apaches," so said Cochise during this meeting. "After many summers I walked again and found another race of people had come to take it."
"That "other race" of largely white usurpers, my neighbors, feel some version of that same alien image that Cochise did over their presence 140 years ago. Beyond their anger, they voice more than media soundbites," says Kammer "They share the frustration, fear, and outrage of dealing with vicious Mexican drug cartels and night goggles, rather than the ordinary mountain lions, coatimundi, and bear."
Wayne Morrow, Paradise
A few months short of 80, an ex-lawman and a mining engineer, Wayne's father Ralph moved to Paradise as a child in 1903, not too long after the Chiricahua Apache left.
"Before we have immigration reform, you need to secure the border-- all 2000 miles-- and not by putting up fences that only ever worked minimally.
"Like the Gulf disaster, first you plug the leak, then you go after British Petroleum. We have a fairly steady amount of traffic thru Paradise, but generally there are little problems with "mojados" They do go through here; I ran into 20 going thru my property dressed in black w packs on.... told the Border Patrol I saw them about 10 minutes later. They got here two hours later and the guy says he needs backup, and Lordsburg tells him it's out of their jurisdiction.
"There's always been migrants running through here but the drug trade is serious and violent, and I always bring up legalization of pot. You'd stop 95 percent of the traffic; a lot of people are making too much money on our side of the line and especially on their side of the line. It's absurd not to legalize pot, and as a health hazard it certainly is no worse than cigarettes and we could tax it.
"You have to sell people on both enforcement and legalization. I don't think the average person has any say and if Demos are kicked out of the White House and Congress and Republicans get in it won't make a damn bit of difference
"I think quite a bit of Jan Brewer, she's no dummy. Whether (SB1070) does any good or not, it basically has brought immigration to the forefront.
"Legal immigration is a must; we should go on developing a program. Meantime, I disagree with giving amnesty to illegal citizens and we're not talking about just Mexicans. We have a hell of a lot of people from every country and not all have our good intentions at heart. My idea would be put a good paved highway on the border, restricted to law enforcement where practical, and put outposts, checkpoints and garrisons and 20 ,000 Border Patrol- if needed- on the line and make sure nobody is in the country illegally.
"Then we need old veterans on horseback after these drug runners and not a bunch of kids in trucks.
"People who are given permits to legally be in the country for any reason and who could rightfully apply to be citizens should have the chance to be citizens.
"There's hardly an old family on this border who doesn't have a lot of ancestors from Mexico including the Morrow family; my mother in law was born in old Mexico. I can remember Douglas as a boy and there were signs on the highway saying, "Chinaman don't let the sun go down on you in this town."
"We don't want that type of thinking today anymore than we did then. In Mexico and elsewhere, they have a miserable situation in their country."
Trail
It's moving toward sunset when I begin following my neighbor Harold Bradford along a trail on Forest Service land to the south of Paradise toward Silver Peak and then moving to the right through arroyos and small springs and long-abandoned homesteads and a 110 year old sawmill site. The trail would link up with Horseshoe Canyon to the east above the San Simon Valley, if you reversed the route.
Brad saw new footprints a week or so ago but now 4-wheel drive truck tire prints cover them. Given the lack of rainfall, we see mostly old footprints, and about half a mile in we find Mexican canned good labels-bleached and at least months old. No signs of burlap that covered bails of pot, nor any humans.
The route would lead migrants to Turkey Creek Road just above Paradise where they would walk through the tiny town perhaps two miles to Wayne Morrow's driveway or some other area for pickup. During the spring, a couple of residents said they saw a few people regularly "walking down the main street" at sunset. Others saw nothing but the Border Patrol agents.
Lynn May, Whitetail Canyon, north of Paradise
"I've ridden mules in very rough areas of these mountains for 20 years and it used to be pristine. Now, there isn't an area from Onion Saddle to Cochise Head and the monument to Whitetail Canyon, to the east that hasn't been impacted with junk, litter, campfires.
"One huge camp on north side of the mountains that I cleaned up had 20-25 backpacks, but the Border Patrol told me that backpacks don't have drugs in them and to look out for burlap. In Jhus Canyon, I've found burlap along with sharp cans that can cut deer, mountain lions or bear. Also little zip-carriers like those that hold GPS units so I guess if they are running drugs they can keep in touch with whomever and tell them where they are. Horseshoe and Price Canyons are really impacted. I've washed some clothes I found and given them to the Salvation Army.
"My mother's 94 and she used to live on her own in Portal, with no car, but with the number of break-ins we moved her in with us. This has really impacted her life and it's sad.
"We don't fear migrants, and we have dogs. That helps. Knock on wood, I've never seen a single illegal and I guess you just don't know if they are poor people looking for work or worse. I carry a gun and I'd use it, but if you run into somebody with an AR 15, you can kiss your life goodbye. I don't care if they hurt me, but I don't want them to hurt my mules.
"When we lived outside Tucson, we just left the house open; we didn't care about migrants. But it got so they were smoking inside our house so my husband welded window and door protection and they beat in the side of the house in frustration.
"The druglords are beyond evil. They're psychopathic -- cutting off heads. I feel very sad that because of them, these mountains aren't our country anymore. We have friends in Rucker Canyon, the other side of the Krentz's. They killed her dogs, killed cattle, cut fences, let 5,000 gallons of water out of their tank. That is just meanness.
"My feeling is that if we had a decent guest worker program in place, it would have gone a long way to take care of the immigrant issue. But I don't think that would affect the drug cartels.
"I wouldn't want to legalize any drug trading because I've seen such serious drug problems within my own family. But everybody should be allowed to grow their own pot; that might help reduce the drug trade some.
"I feel selfish saying that I want my life back; you know Susan Hayward said that in the 50s and got in trouble. I want to go back to an innocent time."
Harold Bradford
"Drug dealers didn't come through the mountains until recently; they stayed in the foothills and around Cave Creek.
"I think it's ridiculous that pot and most drugs are illegal since the Bible tells us to use all seed-bearing plants. The illegal trade is the threat, but the real drug threat is overdosing and overprescribing prescription drugs, especially to the elderly who get totally confused.
"We need border stations every 15-20 miles along the border and the Border Patrol should be patrolling far enough back from the line to catch all the drug tunnels."
Jeff Gee, Portal
Jeff Gee cares for Galapagos turtles on his land and is the archivist of Chiricahua "illegal" crime. He distributes surveys to local residents on specifics of break-ins by email, pushes for the presence of more sheriff and Border Patrol, hosts community meetings and takes photographs of garbage and break-in locations. He has produced reports on Portal-Paradise area break-ins.
Quoting from a Gee report: "The nearest (box stores) are about 100 miles away, and certain kitchen items and clothing are available only at twice that distance. Even when losses are small, they can be inconvenient if replacements cannot be acquired for months. Still worse, burglaries leave us with feelings of vulnerability and being "under siege" all the time. Couples plan their activities so that one or the other person can always be home, and singles fear to leave home at all- even to buy groceries or pick up mail."
"The border is still wide open. The drug cartels must be laughing at us," says Gee.
Gee and others are pushing for a cell tower to be installed near Portal and a permanent Border Patrol substation in the old Portal Forest Service Ranger Station with a phone available for local calls.
He is, "one hundred percent against legalizing any drugs. However if all public assistance like free medical, welfare, food stamps, education,...all government handouts were denied to anyone testing positive for drug use...even emergency medical care, then I would agree."
Jackie Lewis, Paradise
"Border patrol hands are tied and they can't do their job by freely arresting suspects or protecting themselves. We don't really have hot pursuit in the Chiricahuas.
"The fence doesn't work, agents are too far away from the border and we cant protect our borders while fighting to protect the borders of other countries.
"Pot? Legalize it and tax it like alcohol and the taxes will provide the base for needed services instead of giving the money to the cartels hauling bales through here.
"Illegal immigration as it stands right now doesn't work. If we can get people processed at a border station who want to work, and get them a green card and a Social Security card, they can earn the benefits of work. We also need workers to come across on a seasonal permit. But the ones who want to come up for the free ride need to be turned back and the processing needs to be done at the border.
"I'm real cynical right now; we have people coming across the border getting more aid than my brother-in-law did from the border patrol when he fired on an illegal attacking him.
"We need seasoned vets on horseback to counter those with night vision goggles and radios. Illegals have been crossing through Horseshoe Canyon during the fire.
"Who have I sighted in Paradise? The two I've seen in the last year and one prior to that as an EMT have been coming up to find a job. Dehydrated and footsore, they stopped and asked for help. They were treated and sent to a holding area to go back home. Two others in nearby Jhus canyon were stopped by accident; the search and rescue personnel reported an illegal close to being dead. They weren't carrying anything and one had three suckers left and offered the two of us in the back his suckers. It was really sad. I haven't run into any drugs or guns yet."
Common threads
Most of those interviewed for this story believe that reducing the illegal market for pot by regulating it would halt a large percentage of the cross border drug trade and the presence of the evil killers who sell it. Most believe that it should be legalized.
I haven't found anybody who doesn't believe that there should be some regulatory migrant worker program allowing those in the country to apply to be here legally. Some believe there should be a path to citizenship; others not.
They all believe that the border should remain at the border; that as long as the drug problem remains violent, the border should be armed and fortified to control entry. Most believe that the military and border patrol should be told to shoot to kill armed invaders. However, they want experienced border patrol on horseback with knowledge of wild places who are paid commensurate with the risk-and not green kids-to patrol the isolated places where the drug runners go.
I believe that Arizona is a state within a country that is at times racist, and at times tolerant; both versions of Arizona seek stilted solutions to "solve" border related problems.
The situation in Paradise Ariz., is frightening and goes beyond what the average person in Colorado experiences, but it is not worst case. Fear will legitimately lead to strong reactions and the questions my part-time neighbors pose aren't abstract. Jerry Kammer told me that he seeks a humane face while defining and addressing difficult problems of immigration and drugs. To some degree, I heard the same in the eastern Chiricahuas, while residents await a quieter time, if not a more innocent one as Lynn May described it.
I had breakfast in Silver City, N.M. with long-time border advocate and historically liberal investigator, Tom Barry. Tom said something that resonated: "I spent many years with the philosophy that immigrants who come here are hard-working people who came to contribute to our economy and they are the soul of struggling people everywhere. I think now that it is better when envisioning solutions to see immigrants as just like the rest of us: good, bad, and everywhere in-between."
Editor's Note: Dick Kamp is an award-winning journalist who lives in Santa Fe and has reported on the environment, water and border issues since 1983, when he began conducting news analysis on copper smelting pollution in two Sonoran towns along with the Phelps Dodge Douglas smelter. Later, Kamp reported on river and water issues regarding the San Pedro River, near where he lived for many years. His work has appeared in nationally circulated magazines, including the High Country News.
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jerry wrote on Sep 18, 2010 8:22 PM: