Song Of The Day #276

Ranch Radio wishes everyone a wonderful Easter.

Here is the bluegrass group IIIrd Tyme Out with It's Not What You Know (It's Who You Know) from their 12 track CD Singing on Streets of Gold.

Krentz family statement

On March 27th, our Husband, Father, Grandfather, Brother and Uncle was murdered in cold blood by a suspected illegal alien on the Ranch.

This senseless act took the life of a man, a humanitarian, who bore no ill will towards anyone. Rob loved his family instilling in them the importance of honesty, fair dealing and skill managing all aspects of a large 100 year old ranching operation producing food to make our Country strong and healthy.

He was known for his concern and kindness helping neighbors, friends and even trespassers on his ranch with compassionate assistance in their time of need.

We hold no malice towards the Mexican people for this senseless act but do hold the political forces in this country and Mexico accountable for what has happened. Their disregard of our repeated pleas and warnings of impending violence towards our community fell on deaf ears shrouded in political correctness. As a result, we have paid the ultimate price for their negligence in credibly securing our Borderlands.

In honor of everything Rob stood for, we ask everyone to work peacefully towards bringing credible law and order to our Border and provide Border Patrol and County Law Enforcement with sufficient financial resources and manpower to stop this invasion of our country.

We urge the President of the United States to step forward and immediately order deployment of the active U.S. military to the Arizona, New Mexico Border

Thank you for all for honoring Rob. We want the truth known.

Feds have fiddled too long as border security failed

The killing of rancher Robert Krentz in Cochise County has put a microscope on the situation along the U.S.-Mexico border that has been simmering dangerously for a long time. It's far too little to say "I told you so" to the federal government - but Arizonans who must live with the destructive effects of a dysfunctional immigration policy and a porous border knew that this kind of violence could, and in a matter of time would, happen. After such a tragedy, it's common to hear laments of "it didn't have to happen." This killing brings into stark relief the security failures that have persisted along the border for years, despite warning signs and plain common sense. Law enforcement officials suspect Krentz was murdered by a smuggler who then crossed back into Mexico. The area is well-known as a drug-smuggling route and immigrants who cross the border illegally into Arizona also traverse through the ranch land. It's unconscionable that problems ranchers and others who live and work along the border have warned of for years have been allowed to persist - problems that are fixable and within the federal government's control. The federal government has thrown millions upon millions of dollars at the border, but still law enforcement agencies - or even different groups within the same agency - cannot communicate easily via radio because they use different systems...more

Why the silence from Janet Napolitano about putting troops on the border?

Eight days ago, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced “significant progress” in securing the border in the year since President Barack Obama launched his Southwest Border Initiative. Words like “decisive action”, “sustained security efforts” and “major progress” were employed. One day later, Rob Krentz was dead, shot to death just 20 miles from the border on land his family has ranched since before Arizona became a state. Investigators tracked a set of footprints from the scene of the shooting to the border and it's widely believed that he was killed by a drug smuggler. Krentz's death prompted Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to renew her 13-month-old call for the feds to send National Guard troops to the border, a call echoed by Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson flat out ordered the New Mexico National Guard to the border on Wednesday, saying “I want residents in southern New Mexico to know we are taking this border violence very seriously.” Meanwhile in Washington, we saw the sort of bold, decisive action we've long come to expect from the feds when it comes to the border. Napolitano offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Krentz's killer. This, from a woman who two years ago pleaded with her predecessor for troops at the border. Napolitano's press aides didn't return a call to explain this week's curious lack of response from the official now responsible for the security of the homeland – presumably including the open back door here in her own home state...more

Ariz. AG: Rancher's slaying the work of cartels

Arizona's attorney general says the killing of a southern Arizona rancher appears to be the work of a scout working for a drug cartel. Robert Krentz was found shot to death Saturday on his ranch near Douglas. Attorney General Terry Goddard said Friday that evidence at the scene appears consistent with the known behavior of drug runners working for cartels based in Mexico. In an interview with The Associated Press, Goddard disputed a media report that he had said the murder was committed by a professional hit man working for a cartel. Goddard says there is no evidence that a professional killer was involved. Goddard says cartels often place scouts in remote areas to monitor and coordinate the flow of drugs across the border, but he says the scouts aren't necessarily trained killers. AP

Rancher Robert Krentz didn't deserve to die on his own land in the USA

Robert Krentz was a good man. People who knew him say he was a humanitarian and a Good Samaritan. He didn’t deserve to die in the dirt - on his own land - at what law enforcement investigators believe was the gunpoint of an illegal border crosser. His family didn’t deserve to lose him. The nearby Cochise County communities of Douglas and Portal didn’t deserve to lose him. But all did some time on March 27. And why? There’s plenty of blame to go around. Let’s allocate some of that blame. Maybe it will become obvious what we have to do to make sure we don’t lose more good people in this fashion. Most of the blame falls on the Mexican drug cartels. They are willing to do anything for money. The Mexican government has been unsuccessful in curbing their reign of terror. It is almost as though the cartels are fighting it out to prove one or more of them is the government. Next, blame goes to the United States government. Notwithstanding many requests, federal officials have failed and refused to militarize the border which desperately needs military control. When Janet Napolitano was governor of Arizona, she seemed to understand the problem, not that she ever did anything about it. Now that she is in Washington, she serves only her beltway masters. No Army troops for the border. Not even National Guard troops are allowed...more

Border security debate intensifies in Arizona

The murder of a prominent Arizona rancher has intensified an election-year debate about border security, with Republicans stepping up calls for National Guard deployments. Facing a tough primary contest, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been drawn into the fight, with his conservative opponent J.D. Hayworth accusing him of “28 years of inaction” on border security. Smack in the middle of it all is Napolitano, who in 2006, as governor of Arizona, persuaded President George W. Bush to send in the Guard to bolster border patrol forces fighting illegal immigration. Now she’s on the other side, the head of the agency in charge of Customs and Border Patrol and securing the nation’s borders. The administration, however, hasn’t yielded to the requests that came in a year ago from the governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas for a National Guard presence on the border. It maintains that security along the border has improved...more

Mexican border town on High Alert as Mexican Drug Cartels threaten to start killing children

Most residents of Mexican border towns feel they are under siege by the powerful and rich Mexican Drug Cartels (MDC'S) who seem to be operating with immunity. Partly as a result American cities along the U.S. Mexican border are on high alert and preparing for a surge of illegal immigrants should that threat to start killing the children be carried out. Mexican citizens have told this reporter that they believe the MDC's do pretty much as they want because the Mexican Army has been bought off just as the politicians, police and judges have. According to the El Paso Times officials of the Texas border town of Fort Hancock, report that they consider the situation serious. “We just got word that the cartel has threatened to kill children in schools across the border unless parents paid $5000 pesos,” said Mike Doyle, chief deputy sheriff of Hudspeth County. And that time might come sooner than later. Schools Superintendent Jose Franco said word has spread that everyone in the Mexican town must stay indoors while members of rival cartels prepare for a shootout.
“I may not be working in school that day. I may be working as a medic,” said Franco, who moonlights as an ambulance paramedic. Franco also confirmed the ransom demand for students across the border, adding that some of his students had already paid the money to be left alone. Mexican Drug Cartels have reached across the international border into the United States to kill people including Americans and their reach extends North, East and West across our nation. MDC'S have ordered the killings of drug dealers, American gang members, U.S. Consulate employees, a Detention Officer with the El Paso County Sheriff's Office, DEA agent, ICE informant and U.S. Military personal. MDC'S are also responsible for many kidnapping's of Americans on American soil and have taken Americans to Mexico to be tortured, maimed and murdered, without any retaliation from the U.S. Government...more

Journals of Texas Students Reveal Horrors Across the Border

The journals of second-grade students in a tiny Texas border town reveal the very real horrors just across the Rio Grande River, a teacher told FoxNews.com. Duvy Torres, a teacher at Benito Martinez Elementary in Fort Hancock, Texas, said her students "constantly" recount tales of murder, fear and intimidation suffered by their relatives in El Porvenir, Mexico, a town of roughly 10,000 just across the border. One student recently recalled a murdered relative who was buried in a shallow grave, she said. Other journal entries vividly describe burned homes in El Porvenir and orders from the drug cartel operating in the area that residents leave the town by Sunday or face kidnapping or death. "They draw the pictures and they're so graphic," Torres told FoxNews.com on Saturday. "These are 7-year-old kids talking like this. I'm at the point where the less I know, the better off I am." Torres said three new students were enrolled in the school's second grade just last week alone. Their relatives came into Fort Hancock seeking asylum and refuge from the ongoing drug cartel-related in the Mexican town...more

Border Security: What is the appropriate response?

Progreso interim Police Chief Alberto Rodriguez would like to have a few more guns. Inside the Progreso Police Department, one half of a small building on FM 1015, there’s a copy machine, a dry erase board for recording arrests (just one entry on April 1 for public intoxication), and a few computers. Rodriguez has nine other officers on his police force, and he worries about the home invasions, kidnappings, and drug trafficking that have been seeping into the 4,851 person town in the past year from Mexico, just across the river. But more than a fancy office, or guns, or even fast cars, Rodriguez says this stretch of borderland would benefit from more tactical specialists, who are able to connect the dots between cartels and gangs on this side of the border. The violence in Progreso is clandestine and retaliation is feared. Rodriguez learns of home invasions and kidnappings through gossip rather than police reports. Whether spillover violence is the term used to describe the recent kidnapping of a man from a McAllen Starbucks, or a shooting in a Wal-Mart parking lot, politicians, law enforcement, and intelligence specialists agree with Rodriguez: There has been an increase in certain kinds of drug-related violence along the U.S. side of the border, and the trend is of concern. The question is, what is the appropriate response?...more

Border drug war: Violence wears on Valley of Juárez residents

El Porvenir is about 40 miles east of Juárez in a sparsely populated part of Mexico. Fewer than 18,000 people live in the low-income communities between El Porvenir and Juárez, but the area has become a place of rampant death threats and murders. In March, more than 50 people died violently in the Valley of Juárez. About 180 homicides occurred in Juárez during that time. Morales said it has become increasingly difficult to run his store, La Ferreteria Y Carpinteria, because about half of his customers have fled the town. Across the border from the valley are Texas towns stretching from San Elizario to Fort Hancock. Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West recently said that Mexicans crossing into the U.S. were abandoning El Porvenir because criminal organizations had posted notices near the center of the colonia, ordering the residents to get out. The notices said people had 30 days to vacate or their families would be kidnapped or killed...more

Feds halt fast-track drilling

The U.S. Department of the Interior moved to halt fast-track approvals for drilling across the Rocky Mountains in a legal settlement reached just hours before President Barack Obama's announcement Wednesday that his administration will open offshore oil and gas reserves to development. That suit was brought in Salt Lake City federal court in 2008 by the Wilderness Society and other conservation groups that challenged the Bush administration's interpretation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which allowed federal land managers in some cases to issue fast-track drilling permits without a full environmental review. The U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City confirmed Wednesday that the settlement all but closes the loophole that approved nearly 7,000 oil and gas development projects from 2006 to 2008. Most of the fast-tracked projects were approved in Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah. Bruce Pendery, an attorney for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said that under the settlement, the Interior Department has agreed not to use fast-track permitting in areas with "extraordinary circumstances," such as places considered ecologically significant. In addition, the federal Bureau of Land Management will halt use of so-called categorical exclusions to approve oil and gas projects pending the release of new guidelines, said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City...more

Since the feds settled, the enviros will get their attorneys fees and go sue someplace else.

Official asks for review of Forest Service's ban on nighttime helicopter water drops

Local Rep. Adam Schiff is calling for a congressional subcommittee to review the U.S. Forest Service's ban on using nighttime helicopter flights to fight wildfires. On Thursday, Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich praised Schiff's efforts while strongly criticizing the Forest Service's decision last August to keep helicopters grounded during the first hours of the Station Fire. "This issue is vital, absolutely vital for the people who live near the borders with the mountains and forest," Tony Bell, Antonovich's spokesman, said, adding the ban on night flights contributed to the Station Fire spreading to over 160,000 acres. Two firefighters died while fighting the Station Fire. Hillsides denuded by the fire triggered repeated mud slides this past winter that destroyed or damaged about 100 homes. And the county has spent more than $50 million on mudslide cleanup and storm preparations, Bell noted. Schiff, D-Pasadena, said in a news release Tuesday questions about the Forest Service's decision to keep helicopters on the ground as the Station Fire burned prompted him to call for the policy review. He asked the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies to include the review as part of its bill that includes funding for the Forest Service for 2011. Specifically, Schiff wants the subcommittee to look at whether the policy banning night flights should be repealed and how...more

Idaho wolf hunt draws to close

As the nation's first regulated public wolf hunt in decades drew to a close, Idaho wildlife managers credited sportsmen for helping stabilize a species that was growing rapidly across the Northern Rockies and lived up to its billing as an elusive, cunning target. Idaho's seven-month season ended at dusk Wednesday, with the tally showing hunters bagged 185 wolves, short of the 220-wolf limit set by the state last year. Already, wildlife officials in Idaho and Montana are making plans to expand quotas for next season and give hunters more advantages for tracking and killing a species that has been growing in Idaho by an average of 20 percent a year. Idaho officials praised the hunt Wednesday, claiming the way it was managed and the goals it achieved demonstrate that states can effectively and responsibly manage a species the federal government spent millions of dollars over the last 15 years restoring in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming...read more

Arguments heard over liability in bear attack which kills boy

An attorney for the family of a Utah boy killed by a black bear told the state Supreme Court on Wednesday that wildlife officials didn't do enough to warn them to steer clear of an area where the troublesome bear had been seen earlier. In a special session of the Utah Supreme Court at the University of Utah, state officials argued immunity on several fronts, including that the bears are a "natural condition" on public land, a distinction that shields the state from liability. A state judge last year dismissed a negligence suit filed against the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources by the family of Samuel Ives, the 11-year-old who was pulled out of his tent by a black bear in American Fork Canyon in 2007. The bear had caused problems in the same area earlier that day. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources called it a "level 3" nuisance bear -- considered the most dangerous -- and crews set out to find it and kill it. They weren't immediately successful but did clear the camp site of anything that might attract the bear again, state officials said. Ives' family arrived at the camp site later that day. The attack happened that night. Attorney Jonah Orlofsky, representing the family, told the court on Wednesday the state should have put up some kind of a warning there was a problem bear in the area. He also said the state should have asked the U.S. Forest Service, which owns the land, to close the site...more

Lone wild horse on Wildhorse Island gets company

He has - or at least had - a name, the last wild horse on Wildhorse Island, though no one remembers it. He also had ribs, and they were visible through his hide. It wasn't due to lack of food. "He's getting up there in years," explains Jerry Sawyer, who manages the seven state parks located around Flathead Lake for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. But it was a mild winter in northwestern Montana. The horse may have survived, Sawyer says. If he did, he's got a partner, a wild mustang transplanted to the island in December, and three to four more on the way later this spring. What's an island called Wildhorse, after all, without wild horses? The last horse standing on Flathead's largest island was the final surviving member of a group transplanted to the primitive state park in 1993...more

Song Of The Day #275

Ranch Radio is in need of a spelling lesson this morning, and none other than Ernest Tubb will provide it with his 1950 recording G-I-R-L Spells Trouble.

Tubb's stuff is widely available as you can see here.

The Krentz Tragedy - Murder on the Border

Note: Rancher and author Wilmeth attended Wednesday's meeting, and I asked him to share his observations and thoughts.

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

Apache, Arizona: On a wind swept flat outside of the two room school house at Apache, Arizona, more than 500 people gathered last night to discuss the consequences of the death of local rancher, Rob Krentz. Rob was murdered sometime before noon on Saturday, March 27, in a pasture on his ranch. The perpetrator was thought to be connected to one of the drug cartels who have found the Mexican border too easy to cross.

The Krentz family has been in the ranching business on the New Mexico/Arizona border in the southern Rodeo Valley for more than 100 years. Rob was remembered by friends who referred to him as Mr. Community and the man who would always be objective and fair minded in all matters and in all situations.

As area and national news crews videoed the proceedings, a panel of 10 speakers made recommendations to Gabrielle Gifford (D-Az) so that this murder is the last rather than the first of a series of such tragedies as drug related violence spreads onto American soil.

As Representative Gifford took notes, the remoteness of the place had to make an impression on those gathered. The Boot Heel of New Mexico and the adjacent mountains of southeastern Arizona have become a funnel for illegal activities. While the incidence of human smuggling has diminished, drug related smuggling has escalated. In this corridor in particular, drug related activity has increased dramatically. The rugged terrain and the north south orientation of the valleys extending south into Mexico have made this area one of the most heavily accessed routes of entry along the entire border.

"For the first time in their lives, they look at the immensity and grandeur of their surroundings with fear rather than hope."

Along with that activity, the threat of violence has increased. With Rob Krentz’ murder, the threat to the local community has been elevated to an entirely new level. Residents cheered as requests were made to give Border Patrol agents law enforcement authority rather than observation and interdiction authority only. Similar responses occurred when requests were made to introduce a United States military presence on the border. To those present, there was an undeniable concern that something terrible was amiss. Rob Krentz’ murder was not just the cartel intrusion into their lives, but a more insidious disconnect between the American government and the people it was elected to serve.

Ranchers Edward Elbrock and Bill McDonald both shared that they now question their insistence that their families remain on the land and in the business of ranching. The danger of the surroundings and the diminishment of the freedom to act and manage their businesses have affected their expectations for the future. For the first time in their lives, they look at the immensity and grandeur of their surroundings with fear rather than hope.

Rodeo business owner, Nancy Klute, made a decision not to attend the meeting. Her rationale was that the words had already been spoken too many times already. “This country is the only country in the world that can’t come to the decision to close its borders to protect its citizens when such protection is so desperately needed,” she said.

Following the death of Mr. Krentz it was hours before officials allowed the tracks of the murderer to be followed. When the trail was finally followed, local rancher and outfitter Warner Glenn assisted in the tracking. The trail went south 20 miles before the sign was so corrupted by other tracks of illegal aliens that it was lost within mere feet of the border itself. “The culprit was obviously no stranger to the art of accessing American territory,” Mr. Glenn said. He had elected to access the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge for his escape back to Mexico.

He took full advantage of administrative obstacles that federal land agencies continue to place on the Border Patrol. The public comments at the gathering did not exempt the Border Patrol administration from blame, but the Border Patrol continues to be hamstrung by Department of Agriculture and Interior land management actions and internal policies. In various 2009 letters from USFW Regional Director, Benjamin Tuggle, the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector Chief was served notice that the Border Patrol henceforth would be given only conditional motorized access to the all important border access corridor that the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge south from the Krentz Ranch provides. Dr. Tuggle informed the Border Patrol that they would only be allowed motorized access if the immediate threat of life, health, and safety of humans was imminent and then only on administrative roads. Furthermore, each six months the necessary submittal of reports by the Border Patrol would be evaluated, and, if the actions of the Border Patrol did not comply with the order, USFW would suspend all motorized access by the Border Patrol.

Dr. Tuggle, with the stroke of a pen, imposed on the Border Patrol the full limitation and restriction of access that federally designated Wilderness imposes without any Congressional authority of Wilderness legislation. Such administrative action recklessly puts American citizenry at risk at all points north from areas like San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge. Innocent Americans like Rob Krentz have and will continue to pay the price for it.

Arizona Senatorial candidate, J.D. Hayworth, made it his priority to attend the Apache function. In closing the presentation portion of the public gathering, Mr. Hayworth reminded all that were gathered that the Constitution promises the American people their government would control their borders and protect them from a foreign invasion. The Constitution, however, is silent on the threat of a foreign invasion manifested by that same government. “It is time,” he said, “to make sure that the “First Defenders” are made the priority rather than the emphasis placed on the promotion of the “First Responders”.

By the time the first responders arrive it is too late. Rob Krentz is a victim of that growing American tragedy. Friends and colleagues can only hope that his death is the factor that will change the direction of the American government’s actions on the border. If his death doesn’t become that sign post, however, American freedom will be further diminished.

Giffords holds ranchers' meeting

"Listen to us. Take action. Don't turn away." Former rancher Pam DiPeso, of Pearce, said the feeling that it would take the death of someone before Washington showed any interest in curbing the tide of illegal border crossers and drug runners has haunted the folks living in the San Bernadino Valley and eastern edge of Cochise County all the way up to San Simon. "These people know what they're talking about. They deserve to be heard," DiPeso added. It was evident that these people were not going to let this death be glossed over or forgotten. Instead, they want to make his tragedy a jumping off point for a better and safer border policy that protects U.S. citizens on the front lines of the war no one talks about. One family was afraid to give their names. The fear of drug cartel retribution is paramount in their minds. One young woman holding her four-month old baby girl told of just such a circumstance. Her neighbor called the Border Patrol on drug runners and his horses were stolen. A local veterinarian who offers services in Mexico said he had found the stud horse that he had tended to over the years in a Sonoran pasture. But how do you serve such a vast area with limited resources? The community's answer was: Send down the National Guard with ammo in their guns. Keep the Border Patrol on the border not 20 miles away sitting on the side of the road. Install operating stations on the border. Put up communication towers. Add patrols by county deputies. Make the ranches and homes safe enough to raise a family...more

Luna Co. Sheriff calls meeting on border security

A meeting Wednesday on increasing border security included getting cell phone service in less-populated areas such as Southwest New Mexico. Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos called the meeting, held at the Mimbres Valley Learning Center to accommodate the 75 or so who attended, in response to the shooting death last Saturday of Arizona Rancher Robert Krentz, 58, on his ranch between Douglas and Apache. "We need cell phones," said James Johnson, "whose family farms in Southern Luna County. "We need to look at this as an issue of national security. We need to be able to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and get something done." The meeting was attended by area and regional law enforcement, government agency reps and ranchers and farmers. Xochitl Torres, of Sen. Tom Udall's office; Jake Rollow, of Sen. Jeff Bingman's office; and Ginette Magaöa, of Rep. Harry Teague's office, attended. They are aware of the cell phone absence, they said. "We've been looking at Broadband," Torres said of one option. Johnson raised the cell phone issue years ago, as ranchers, farmers and others met with area officials in a Border Security Task Force. Radios were supplied to help ranchers in outlying areas with emergency contacts. Those phones, some said Thursday, no longer work. Law enforcement personnel told ranchers and farmers to be vigilant, report what seems out of place, be aware of surroundings and, if possible, not to work alone outside in remote areas...more

Yes, I know what you're thinking about ranchers not working alone in remote areas.

The article quotes John Wheeler, New Mexico's Secretary of Homeland Security, as saying "In addition to the operation, one of the keys is the amount of dissemination of information. Knowledge is power." How profound. Of course, they had just requested cell towers so they could provide and receive information. I'm sure these poor Luna Co. locals didn't realize what a powerful tool that was until Secretary Wheeler told them. After all, they didn't use the word "dissemination".