On a Dusty Mesa, No Water or Electricity, but Boundless Space

Fermin Roman knew he was a pioneer when he bought his homestead on the Pajarito Mesa, a treeless plateau outside Albuquerque. But the seller assured him that water and power would arrive in a year or two. “I’m still waiting,” he said the other day, nearly 20 years later. Now home to more than 400 families, the mesa is one of the largest communities, other than some along the Mexican border, to survive entirely off the grid — without running water, electricity, streets or mail. Here is a maze of unnamed dirt roads, with nary a grocery store or barbershop in sight. Adding to the sense of dislocation, Albuquerque’s skyline shimmers, Oz-like, on the horizon, a half-hour’s drive away. Mr. Roman, like many of the hardy residents of the mesa, has improvised a frugal kind of comfort. Working evenings after his construction job, he wore out three wheelbarrows leveling an arroyo to build his cinder-block house. He hauls purchased water to elevated tanks that feed the kitchen sink, showers and flush toilets. Four solar panels run lights and television, while the refrigerator, stove and even his wife’s hair curler run on propane. The Pajarito Mesa community, scattered over 28 square miles, is 90 percent Hispanic and mostly poor, and includes an uncounted but large number of illegal immigrants. But they are not squatters: residents buy or rent their plots, and the owners pay property taxes, one of the many oddities of a community that is isolated in plain sight...more

Court favours rancher over energy giant

A southern Alberta ranching family won another victory in its fight with Imperial Oil after Alberta's highest court dismissed an appeal launched by the energy giant. Bragg Creek rancher Agnes Ball filed the lawsuit in 2004, arguing a sour gas leak in an Imperial Oil pipeline had contaminated a patch of her family's land and sickened some of their cattle. Her family won the initial ruling -- a decision Imperial Oil appealed last April. That appeal was dismissed in a 2-1 decision in favour of the ranching family this week. "We're relieved, we're happy that the appeal was dismissed," said Susan Graham, Ball's daughter. She said it's been a frustrating few years, but also empowering as the family successfully faced off with the major energy company. It's too soon to say whether Imperial Oil will try to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada, said spokesman Pius Rolheiser...more

Goldman Prize honors activists working to save land, animals

Lynn Henning, a small farmer, exposed the water pollution caused in her Michigan county by concentrated animal feeding operations. In Costa Rica, biologist Randall Arauz forced his government to enforce its laws to protect endangered shark species from slaughter just for their fins. They're just two winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize being presented today in San Francisco. The prize, the largest for grass-roots activists in the world, comes with a $150,000 check for each of six recipients, one for each inhabited continent. Henning and her husband farm 300 acres of corn and soybeans. But in the past decade, 12 large-scale CAFOs — concentrated animal feeding operations — have opened within 12 miles of their farm, 10 for cows and two for pigs. "There are 60 lagoons with over 400 million gallons of untreated waste in them," she says of the manure ponds the operations create to deal with the excrement of their animals. The stench is so overwhelming she can't hang her laundry when it's warm, and the ponds are emitting odor and gases. To force the operations to abide by local laws, she helped to found the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan (nocafos.org). It hasn't made her popular. "I've had dead animals on my car, in my mailbox on my farm, we've had stuff put into the tank of our combine, I've been chased to the police department. It's divided the community."...more

Conservative Women Are Burning the Boats instead of Bras

Sarah Palin has brought to our table a new kind of conservative woman, the conservative activist. All over the United States, women from all walks of life who had been cowed in the work place by liberal feminist rhetoric. These women watched and listened. Now, the skills they learned about organizing, fund raising and campaign management are being used by these women to return their communities, their schools, their precincts and districts, to sanity. I have had the privilege of being invited into the company of women such as these. Jennifer Leslie, Southern Arizona District Coordinator for Smart Girl Politics, is active recruiting women to be educated and run as conservative candidates. She is part of a larger network of women whose stated purpose is to engage, educate and empower women to take a more active role in politics. Jennifer said “We debate and develop clear positions that encourage conservative activism. ” As I write this, her group is voluntarily cleaning up trash at the US –Mexican border to honor the memory of Robert Krentz, an Arizona rancher recently killed by a probable illegal entrant drug smuggler...more

Cattle Ranching a Green Profession, Survey Finds

When your office is the great outdoors and your commute is on horseback, preserving and protecting the Earth is part of the job description. This Earth Day, America's 1 million cattle farmers and ranchers are being recognized as having one of the greenest jobs. In a new national survey of American beef eaters, cattle ranchers and farmers were selected as the third greenest profession from a diverse list of jobs, with park rangers topping the list. This survey was conducted by IPSOS Public Affairs for The Beef Checkoff Program. It's no surprise to Gary Teague, a Colo. cattle rancher and environmentalist: "We work every day to teach our three children what it means to be truly passionate about the land and the animals. Preserving natural resources is how we make our living and how we secure our family business for our children and grandchildren." Two-thirds of US cattle farms and ranches have been in the same family for two generations or more (Aspen Media & Market Research, 2008). American cattle farmers and ranchers have embraced the values of Earth Day for generations, and Americans recognize that commitment. Eighty-six percent of Americans surveyed think cattle farmers and ranchers are committed to environmental preservation. In honor of Earth Day's 40th anniversary, cattle ranchers are celebrating 40 different ways raising cattle can contribute to environmental sustainability...more

Court ends claim to Kenedy family fortune

A nine-year quest to prove that a South Texas woman was the illegitimate daughter of renowned rancher John G. Kenedy Jr. and heir to the legendary family's vast fortune ended in defeat Friday with a flurry of state Supreme Court rulings. Ann Fernandez, now 84, is not entitled to one penny of the fortune, even if she could prove paternity, because she waited too long to challenge Kenedy wills that years ago divided the family's wealth between two charities, the unanimous court said. The combined charities, with deep ties to the Catholic Church, might be worth up to $1 billion. Fernandez's rags-to-riches dream had captivated South Texas, but in four related rulings, the court dismissed a handful of her lawsuits and denied a request to exhume Kenedy's body for DNA testing, saying Fernandez has no viable claim on his inheritance. "In light of today's ruling, we conclude that none of Fernandez's claims for heirship or inheritance rights to the Kenedy estate remain viable," Justice Paul Green wrote for the court. John Kenedy was a hard-drinking, hard-living rogue who died in 1948 without, it was thought, having fathered a child. Maria Rowland was a teenage maid on his ranch, the 400,000-acre La Parra, when she became pregnant and gave birth in 1924 at a Waco home for unwed mothers. Their stories would reconnect in 2000, when a physically deteriorating Rowland told her grandson that he was related to Kenedy, according to Fernandez lawsuits. Rowland died two months later...more

Awards round up Western heroes in Oklahoma City

A sellout crowd of local folks in party clothes and a host of entertainers and celebrities energized the 49th annual Western Heritage Awards on Saturday at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. More than 1,000 people attended the black-tie banquet at the museum, 1700 NE 63. Actor Rex Linn, who grew up in Oklahoma City and is a regular on the television series "CSI-Miami,” reprised his role as emcee. Actors Tom Selleck and the late Charlton Heston were inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers, an honor reserved for those who have made significant contributions in the perpetuation of traditional values of the American West through motion pictures, film or theater. Western musician and historian Don Edwards was presented with the Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award, named for the museum’s founder and recognizing an individual whose body of work perpetuates the ideals, history and heritage of the American West. For 50 years Edwards has written and performed songs that celebrate traditional cowboy music. Also honored were Texas rancher and photographer Bob Moorhouse and the late Gordon William Lillie, better known as the Wild West performer "Pawnee Bill.” Both were inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners...more

Mama bear will be happy with me again.

It's All Trew: The past delivers unusual stories

Most everyone has heard of Judge Roy Bean and his Law West of the Pecos. The man was self-appointed as judge, outrageous in behavior and arrogant beyond belief. He was once confronted with an unidentified corpse found on the prairie with a pistol and $50 in the pockets. After due consideration Judge Bean fined the dead man $50 for wearing a concealed weapon. A local Pecos butcher was hauled into Bean's court accused by a black washer-woman of failure to pay his laundry bills and even throwing her out of his butcher shop when she tried to collect her due. Bean sentenced the man to "deliver in person, four pounds of his freshest beefsteak, to the woman's home the first day of every month for one year or go to jail." I have read two notations, one years ago and another recently in Ivan Cate's new book, "XIT Ranch, A Texas Legacy," about how well-trained and well-behaved cow horses were sometimes confiscated by the rich ranch owners to use on their polo fields. Some ranches like the XIT often built training facilities for the hobby. With access to many good horses, the cowboys all had their favorites. Each learned quickly to be aware of the visiting bosses when they came out on the range. The employees went to great lengths to hide or disguise a good working ranch horse from confiscation. They compared the "loss to the boss" the same as the old-time horse thieves...more

Song Of The Day #288

Ranch Radio continues with our Monday tradition of uptempo or swing type songs to help you get the week started.

Our selection today is Don't Want To Do That Again by the Domino Kings.

The tune is available on their 11 track CD Some Kind Of Sign.

Ranch Radio likes this song, but I want to assure all my loyal listeners that The Westerner has never been involved in the kind of situations described in this swinging tune.

Securing the border is the first priority

A feud between the Departments of the Interior and Homeland Security over federal wilderness areas that constitute 40 percent of the nation's southern border has been undermining the mission of both agencies for nearly a decade. This adolescent refusal to cooperate threatens the security of all Americans. That much was made clear March 27 when Arizona rancher Rob Krentz and his dog were shot to death by someone crossing the border illegally. The murderer then escaped in a pronghorn antelope protection area that the Interior Department placed off limits to Border Patrol agents. Krentz had repeatedly complained that illegals were threatening his family, stealing and destroying his property, and even sabotaging his ranch's water supply. Something's very wrong when law-abiding, tax-paying citizens like Krentz have to live in constant fear and get less protection from their own government than desert pronghorns. On April 6, the Examiner's Sara Carter quoted a confidential law enforcement report warning that 23 Somalis with suspected ties to al Qaeda were headed for the same unguarded border areas after being mistakenly released by Mexican authorities. If they entered the United States via the 4.3 million acres of federal wilderness areas, the Border Patrol was powerless to stop them. But legislation introduced last week by House Republicans would bar Interior from interfering with Border Patrol efforts to keep drug smugglers, human traffickers and potential terrorists...more

Border security proposals worthy of investigation

Two new border security proposals have merit. Multiple agencies joining as one task force, and headquartered in El Paso, is a great idea. And placing border land under the Border Patrol can work, too, providing there is enough sensitivity to the natural habitats. We like what Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said: "The problem on that (southern) border is becoming so desperate and so dangerous and so threatening to our entire country. ... I think we have to do something quickly, and I think it has to be bold." It should be quick, and it should be bold. And let there be plans on a table that are devoid of the separate federal fiefdoms that now seem in play. The second proposal is a shift in control of border land from the Interior Department or Forest Service to the Department of Homeland Security. Presently the Border Patrol can sometimes be blocked from doing their job by land managers. In one instance, a tower used by Border Patrol agents was ordered removed because of concerns about endangered species. The Border Patrol should be granted more freedom to do its job; and it can and should do so in a way natural habitats are not adversely affected...more

Editorial - State must organize to fight cross-border crime

The March 27th murder of Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz has renewed calls for increased efforts to secure the border and stop illegal aliens from coming into Arizona. The problem of confronting and winning the war against cross-border crime will take more than politically popular legislation and tough talk that targets petty offenders and made-for-TV illegal alien roundups on the streets and down on the border. Arizona isn’t up against a bunch of misdemeanants; the state is up against the Mexican drug cartels, “the greatest organized crime threat to the United States” according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Arizona has become the path of least resistance for the Mexican mob over the years and is now recognized internationally as the “gateway” for drugs and organized crime entering the U.S. from Mexico. The time has come for the governor, attorney general or U.S. attorney to take the lead and design a comprehensive statewide law enforcement strategy that incorporates city, county, state and federal agencies and the National Guard in an all-out attack on organized, cross-border and serious crime throughout Arizona. The job of protecting the people of Arizona, from human and drug smuggling to murder, isn’t getting done...more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

The civilizing of Taco

by Julie Carter

Becoming an American citizen and Texas resident has been a work in progress for Taco the Border Horse.

You will recall that Taco's former employment involved carrying contraband across the border from Mexico to Arizona. The night the Border Patrol put an end to that career was the beginning of his new journey as a Texas team roping horse, thanks to a kind offer from Dan the Team Roper.

Discovery of Taco's likes and dislikes has been an ongoing adventure for everyone involved.

Dan bought a radio for the barn in an effort to orient Taco to the ways of a world that he never encountered in his former profession.

Living in ranch isolation in Mexico, it seemed Taco had never heard music and very few voices other than Jose Maria's.

Dan thought music would not only get him used to the sound of talking but could also soothe him. He was trying to decide whether to put it on a Country or a Spanish station but nixed the later because of the blaring of 50 trumpets with the accordion and guitars. Although it is possible that Taco might have been to a quinceañera or two in his life, he didn't want to risk it.

What he discovered was Taco does not tolerate music in any form or fashion, nearly tearing down the barn to get that point across. Dan has been thinking ahead to the roping competitions where they always play "Who Let the Dogs Out" before the short round. He knows he'll have to warn anybody that ropes with him that it could get entertaining.

Taco has only reluctantly accepted talk radio into his environment. In that, it was determined that he is a Republican, possibly the only Mexican Republican in Texas.

According to Dan, Taco seems to prefer political commentary with conservative Republican rhetoric being his favorite. No laughter there, just grim predictions delivered with a serious voice. Liberals of all stripes will make him back his ears, but so far he has not destroyed any property because of them.

In trying to teach Taco to stop by voice command, Dan was having little or no luck until he hollered, "Alto!" At which point, Taco put the brakes on and Dan like to have gone over the dashboard of his saddle. It's all in the translation.

After spending most his life out in the boonies, Taco is afraid of things that most horses accept as a way of life. Not long after Taco's arrival in Texas, Dan fixed the light on his back porch, which involved putting in a new light bulb. He turned it on and again, Taco showed his dislike and fear by nearly remodeling the barn.

Ambulance sirens drive him to a frenzy. A CareFlight helicopter came over when he and Dan were in the middle of a coastal field and Taco had to go in circles in time with the blades until the chopper was gone over the horizon.

A serious series of hissy fits over the operations of the hydraulic roping chute, as well as repeated panic explosions when a motorcycle went down the road, made it clearly apparent there were no máquinas in Taco's former life. The HotHeels roping dummy is still a life-threatening moment for both horse and rider.

However, Dan can go out in the backyard, sit on the fence of Taco's pen and shoot at the coyotes. Taco calmly just looks at him. His world in Mexico obviously had bullets but no lights.

One day, Dan and Taco were following a steer around in the trap right next to the road. When Dan finally got the steer lined out he jabbed Taco with his spurs.

Instead of grabbing a faster gear, Taco took a huge leap, unseating Dan in the most awkward of ways.

Dan had one foot stuck completely through the stirrup up to his knee, totally lost the other stirrup and was hanging on by bear hugging Taco around his neck.

Taco bucked around a little and finally gave up with Dan still aboard. When things got still, Dan got his leg out of the stirrup, got off and looked around.

There was a truckload of guys on the road that had pulled up alongside the fence. They were laughing hysterically. After they finally calmed down some, one of them fished a beer out of cooler in the back of the truck and set it on the fence post. Still laughing, they hollered, "Thanks," as they pulled away with a wave.

There used to be a saying about horses that had never been to town. "He ain't never seen no light brighter than a coal oil lantern." Evidently that is the case with Taco.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. Visit her website for a taste of her two books, Cowgirl Sass & Savvy and Cowboys You Gotta Love ‘em.

The Wilderness Border and its Implications on American Security

Editor's Note: This piece was written 7 months ago, but is very relevant to today's headlines. It's long, but if you care about this issue you will find it plenty educational.


By Richard E. Hays and Stephen L. Wilmeth

For hundreds of years the desert of what is now Arizona has been the route of goods coming north from Mexico. The flow of merchandise was created by demand from citizens and settlers of del Norte, the expanse of territory generally north of the 54th Parallel. Over time, the goods became as often illegal as they were legal. Today, the goods passing through the rural, isolated expanse of sand, rock, and heat are more often than not, illegal. The circumstances and conditions surrounding the flow are dangerous, and the consequences of stemming the tide must be a national priority.

Since 911, the emphasis of border security has become a national debate. In fact, recent polls in Arizona indicate that 51% of residents believe that border security is more important than the national health care debate. In a margin of 65% to 20%, those same residents believe enforcing border security is more important than dealing with the legalization of aliens already in the United States. As distance from the border increases, these same questions don’t stimulate the same responses. The phenomenon of changing priorities as the distance from ground zero increases is clearly in play on the Mexican border.

Through time, the economics and the conditions of illegal entry have resulted in the evolution of dominant entry points along the border. During the late 80s and early 90s, due to the ease of entry within or adjacent to urban centers these areas became focal points for entry. Ultimately, the Border Patrol responded with organized enforcement tactics that concentrated activities at those points. Examples of this were El Paso, Nogales, and in the expanded urban area at Tijuana. When the El Paso operation was instituted the data was very clear. The incidence of illegal entry was reduced.

In 1994, Operation Gate Keeper was undertaken along the California urban border areas. The entry of illegals was dramatically reduced at the point of asset concentration, but a far different result occurred elsewhere. The success of halting entry in the urban areas was mirrored by the expansion of entry in the desert areas to the east. It was what the Border Patrol expected and wanted. Illegals would be easier to catch in open rural areas than they had been in the congestion of the urban centers in southern California.

"Organ Pipe statistics indicated that finding abandoned vehicles in the monument in 1994 was unusual. By 2001, they had reached nearly 150 per year. In 2003, National Geographic declared that Organ Pipe Monument was the most dangerous park in the United States. It got so bad that signs were posted in the park not to stop for dead bodies. It could be a trap set to lure unsuspecting park visitors!"

Several conditions existed to support this reaction to Gate Keeper. First, the economic conditions north and south of the border only expanded the flow of illegal entry. Jobs were available north of the border. Second, Mexican Highway 2 ran adjacent to the border for miles into vast and isolated expanses. Third, the American invention of designated wilderness areas stretched for miles east/ west and north/ south along that boundary in national wildlife refuges and monuments managed by the Department of Interior (DOI). The soft underbelly of the American border was discovered.

The Wilderness becomes a dangerous place

By 1998, visitors entering Organ Pipe National Monument with back country permits were estimated to be outnumbered by illegal aliens trekking north by a two to one ratio. By the following year, the permits issued to park visitors had dropped in half and the number of illegal nightly visitors had nearly tripled. The monument had become a place to be avoided by American citizens.

The increased illegal entry also meant there was no longer a safe place for the illegals as well. The Border Patrol recorded five deaths in what they describe as the “West Desert Corridor” in 1998. By 2002, there were more than 130 deaths in the same corridor. This count is particularly alarming in that the deaths were occurring in the face of declining apprehensions in the Border Patrol sector as a whole. Deaths were running at the rate of about 40 per 100,000 apprehensions whereas five years earlier there had only been four deaths per 100,000 apprehensions . . . a tenfold increase!

Other statistics tied to crime were no different. Organ Pipe statistics indicated that finding abandoned vehicles in the monument in 1994 was unusual. By 2001, they had reached nearly 150 per year. Number of high speed pursuits, tons of marijuana captured, and illegal apprehensions in the park all reflected similarly alarming trends. In 2003, National Geographic declared that Organ Pipe Monument was the most dangerous park in the United States. It got so bad that signs were posted in the park not to stop for dead bodies. It could be a trap set to lure unsuspecting park visitors!

Organ Pipe Staff Quantifies Damage Left by Illegals

In the midst of the chaos the National Park Service, the managing agency of the Organ Pipe National Monument, embarked on an effort to quantify the damage being done to the monument. Their approach and their findings were interesting. They mapped transects across the monument on predominately east/west directions rather than north/south. Their logic was simple. They would be able to observe the north/ south illegal traffic more dynamically.

What they found was more impact on the monument in the designated wilderness areas than in the nonwilderness, fully accessible areas. Why . . . because Border Patrol and Park Service officials were limited in their ability to access the wilderness areas on a continuous basis. They didn’t have full and unrestricted access. Motorized access in wilderness areas is not allowed. The illegals were taking full advantage of easy access through areas preserved for posterity.

In an internal report done by the Park Service monument staff, very alarming results were presented. The most glaring example pertained to a representative one square kilometer parcel of land in the Valley of the Ajo. The following was quoted. “Results of a GIS model, based on transect data, of what a “typical” square km of valley floor habitat might look like to a monument visitor taking a hike.” The one square kilometer had transected indications of the following evidence of illegal impact on the monument:

1. Seven rest sites
2. 15 incidences of vehicle tracks
3. 40 sites of trash disposal
4. 48 discarded water bottles
5. one set of bicycle tracks
6. one set of horse tracks
7. three abandoned camp fire sites
8. 254 foot trails!

The report went on to quantify the establishment of “wild cat” roads which serve as access for drug runners. On a map in the presentation, 35 such illegal roads can be counted. That compares to 13 legal, established roads in the monument.

The Reciprocal or Mirror Effect

As the data was analyzed something very interesting began to emerge. The damage was not confined to designated wilderness areas managed by United States agencies on the north side of the border. What was occurring was that similar damage was occurring in desert areas adjacent to the international border on the south side of the fence.

El Pinacate, the “sister park” to Organ Pipe had become a staging area for illegal entry into the United States. In an aerial survey done for the purposes of mapping air strips used by drug runners, not only illegal airstrips were found, but roads and trenching done by the Mexican military to dissuade the establishment of the airstrips were being created in the fragile cinder landscape of the Pinacate Biosphere Reserve.

Twenty two airstrips were found that had been trenched by the Mexican military. Twelve other trenching sites were found that were intended to prevent the establishment of airstrips. Five illegal, “wildcat” roads were mapped, and six fully operational illegal strips were being used for loading and flying drugs north.

In addition, “colonias” continue to sprawl out along Highway 2 as the infrastructure is built in response to the business of moving goods and services north. Mountains of trash, extensive wood cutting, and vandalism to border fencing and facilities lead the Organ Pipe staff to write that the activity will “impact natural and cultural resources along the border”. Pictures of such activity lead any observer to surmise that the statement was understated at best.

The Greater Picture

Land agencies of the United States are charged with managing massive stretches of lands that lie near and adjacent to the Mexican border. The DOI through its various agencies alone manages about 47% of those lands in Arizona and 48% of the lands adjacent to the border in New Mexico. Every stretch of that land today is under assault from illegal entry with many areas that reflect conditions very similar to those in Organ Pipe. If Department of Agriculture lands (Forest Service) are added, the list is expanded.

Two additional examples include the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation and the Coronado National Memorial. The Tohono O’odham, administered by DOI’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), is a reservation with a native Indian population that has an historical extension into Mexico. In that expanse of land, Tohono O’odham people do not have allegiance to powers north or south of the border. The native Indian population, originally known as Papagos, move back and forth across the border. Drug cartels have made permanent inroads into the area with cash and the promise of greater wealth. The BIA has little ability to deal substantively with the issues.

Further east, the Coronado National Memorial magnifies the risk that roadless border areas pose to the entire nation. In a 3 X 3.5 mile corridor, the Yolanda Molina de Hernandez Organization runs drugs like greyhounds on a racetrack. Once inside the monument, runners either go north or northeast into USFS lands and the Huachuca Mountains where there are over 70 miles of trails. Citizens who enjoy the adventures of an outdoor excursion know what this area has become. It is not for the faint of heart and it gives a new meaning to the Wild West.

"What they found was more impact on the monument in the designated wilderness areas than in the nonwilderness, fully accessible areas. Why . . . because Border Patrol and Park Service officials were limited in their ability to access the wilderness areas on a continuous basis."

In both of these cases, the mirrored effect of infrastructure expansion seen at Organ Pipe has occurred. Where roads are absent and railroads are present, the drug cartels have established facilities and or terminals for staging and running drugs and humans north. The buildup of infrastructure is continuing. Airstrips are established, colonias are expanding, more roads into DOI and USDA managed lands have been made, and degradation of fauna and flora continues.

The El Paso Experience

In the first major effort aimed at reducing illegal entry in urban areas, Operation Hold the Line was started in El Paso in1993. Data from that operation indicates that apprehensions fell quickly from about 22,000 per annum to about 7,000 and stabilized near 9,000. What was not seen was the wholesale displacement to entry elsewhere as seen in the desert corridor of Arizona. What was occurring?

One prevailing expert theory is that at the time the illegals didn’t have the soft entry points through federal wilderness areas to fall back to. All New Mexico areas allowed fully motorized access by the Border Patrol and had “engaged resident ranchers” that lived and were constantly present on the expanse of border running west from El Paso. East from El Paso was even less accessible. Those lands are dominated by private land holdings with residents who constantly patrol and communicate with the Border Patrol and local law enforcement. Illegals were being monitored and constantly ran the risk of being in the path of American citizens who would and could report their presence.

Further evidence of this phenomenon was found in radar records of drug flights from Mexico. In Texas, the concentration of such flights and apprehensions of drugs is relatively sparse considering the expansive landscape across south Texas. New Mexico shows similar results while the Arizona situation is staggering. The situation there is akin to a full scale invasion by a foreign power. There, isolated federal lands made worse by wilderness designation are an outright threat to American security and well being.

The Theory Tested

In the Boot Heel of New Mexico, the Border Patrol installed a communication device on Big Hatchet Mountain. The facility handled sensor signals from the entire eastern half of the Boot Heel area. The device was placed without the consent of Bureau of Land Management (BLM). When word spread of the device’s presence, environmental groups demanded that the device be removed claiming that it would interfere with desert bighorn and the lesser and Mexican long nosed bats’ breeding and life cycles. The BLM, under pressure because the area is a wilderness study area, pressed the issue and the Border Patrol capitulated and removed the device.

For several years, the eastern half of the Boot Heel adjacent to a very dangerous Mexican border was without this device! When the Border Patrol finally got approval to put the device back into service some astounding data was found. From 2006 records, it was found that mechanical traffic had increased by 671% and foot traffic had increased by 348% from the same period the year before. Soft entry points are sought and found by illegal operatives along the border. When they are found the cartels take full advantage of them! In the case of Big Hatchet, the Border Patrol was denied full access and was operating with diminished ability because of environmental demands. American security and American people were put at risk.

The Opportunity for New Territory

Today, there is a continuing effort to designate wilderness on federal lands along the Mexican border. The Wilderness Society through its affiliated groups, the Sky Island Alliance and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, has proposed huge areas on and or near the border for wilderness legislation. Two of these areas, the Tumacacori Highlands of southern Arizona and the Potrillos Mountain complex in Dona Ana County, New Mexico are large isolated areas that pose the same risks to the United States as the Arizona lands already under siege.

The question becomes what will happen if wilderness is successfully legislated. In Arizona, what is going on all around the Tumacacori Highlands will expand. In New Mexico, the outright risk of duplicating the Arizona experience is fully in play. The American people must remember that the Wilderness Act of 1964 prohibits motorized access and man-made facilities. Notwithstanding the promises of bastardizing that wilderness standard with “cherry stem” roads providing limited access, locals fear what will happen when the legislation reaches the committee hearings and horse trading in Congress. Any agreements made conditionally with local needs in mind will likely be altered, more roads will be closed, the Border Patrol will fight for access, and the drug cartels will find a new soft underbelly of access into the United States. The protection in play with the combination of resident ranchers, state and local law enforcement, and the Border Patrol will become constrained and conditional. What is arguably the sole reason the Arizona experience hasn’t been duplicated in New Mexico will be forever altered.

The New Mexico component even has some of the characteristics of the Arizona model. In addition to the vast areas of federal lands, Highway 9 runs parallel to the border. Experience with trucks being loaded at staging areas in Mexico and crossed to be unloaded at points along that road becomes the same kind of opportunity. What makes matters even more dangerous is that a portion of the northern boundary of the proposed Potrillo Mountain Wilderness area is formed by an ultramodern east-west transcontinental rail line just 24 miles from the border. The specter of accessing that major east-west transportation line with a weapon of mass destruction provides a heightened security risk.

The Lessons Unlearned

When legislation designating more wildernesses on the U.S. border is heralded by environmental groups and Mexican drug cartels alike, American leaders need to reassess their position. It isn’t the casual visitor to Organ Pipe, Cabeza Prieta, or segments of the Coronado National Forest making new roads, trashing the travel corridors, setting fires, poisoning water holes, and carrying AK-47s. The American visitors are the only people who will follow the rules and honor the spirit of wilderness as it was intended. Those big, blacked out Jeep Gladiators that are running across desert wilderness areas at night are not occupied by folks who are maintaining a bird identification list nor do they care in the least about any fragile cinder cone formation. They are just glad that the chances of encountering a Border Patrol agent or any other American who has a vested interest in maintaining the integrity of the lands are limited because of the restrictions placed upon that agent or that citizen.

What is more insidious is the manifestation of our actions on like areas to the south of the border. The El Pinacate phenomenon needs to be reviewed. When our lands are being ravaged by an onslaught of humanity and our actions have unwittingly created the same devastation across our borders because of the infrastructure and policing actions that are taking place to combat it, shame on us for our idealism. In this case, we run the risk of having met the true enemy, and . . . he is in our midst.

Song Of The Day #287

Ranch Radio features one of my favorite gospel tunes this morning: Lonesome Valley by Tom T. Hall & Earl Scruggs. That's Scruggs finger pickin' the guitar, just like he did on those great Flatt & Scruggs gospel songs.

The song is available on their 11 track CD Storyteller & the Banjo Man.

NMSU Rodeo places strongly at mid-season rodeos

The New Mexico State University Rodeo team maintained its regional lead during the Central Arizona College National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association rodeos March 20-21 in Florence, Ariz.

“The women’s team a great weekend, solidifying our lead going into the last two rodeos of the season, and the men’s team still maintains a good 300 point lead within the region. We will have to step up and be aggressive at the last two rodeos to keep our number one spot, though,” said Jim Dewey Brown, NMSU Rodeo coach.

During the first rodeo of the weekend, the men’s team placed third overall and the women’s team won first.

Steve Hacker, of Battle Mountain, Nev., and Thor Dusenberry, of Desert Hills, Ariz., placed second and third, respectively, in saddlebronc riding.

Daniel Scalva, header, of Durango, Colo., and Aaron Shelley, heeler, of Cliff, N.M., placed third in the team roping event.

Jordan Bassett, of Dewey, Ariz., won first in breakaway roping and third in barrel racing.

Staci Stanbrough, of Capitan, N.M., received third the goat tying.

The women’s team again won first at the weekend’s second rodeo. The men’s team placed second.

Dusenberry won first in the saddlebronc riding event.

Rodee Walraven, of Datil, N.M., Johnny Salvo, heeler, of Horse Springs, N.M., won first in team roping.

Carleigh Marr, of Belen, N.M., placed second in breakaway roping, with teammate Jessica Silva, of Tularosa, N.M., placing third.

In the goat tying event, Silva won first. She also was named the women’s all-around champion for the rodeo.

The NMSU Rodeo team next will travel to Taylor, Ariz., for the Northland Pioneer College NIRA rodeo April 23-24.

Teen cowboys from New Mexico remembered as remarkable

It was Michael Hillman's first professional rodeo win, and the first professional rodeo for his friend, Jesse Andrus.

Andrus and Hillman recently turned 18 and were following dreams of joining the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association when they came to Arizona last weekend.

They'd driven a white Dodge pickup truck with a camper shell from their home in Roswell, N.M., to Cave Creek to compete in Saturday's Fiesta Days Rodeo.

They never made it back.

After the competition, where Hillman took first place in saddle bronc, the young men told a rodeo official they planned to leave Arizona early Sunday morning, because they wanted to be home in time for classes on Monday. Both were seniors at Goddard High School.

Word spread quickly Monday that the young cowboys were missing. By 10:30 a.m., Roswell police contacted Scottsdale police to help find them.

Officers used a cellphone's GPS and found Andrus and Hillman dead in a north Scottsdale Safeway parking lot later that morning. Investigators suspect the men died of accidental carbon-monoxide poisoning. The generator on the rear of the vehicle may have been running, Scottsdale police said.

Adults who knew Hillman always joked "that when we grew up, we wanted to be like Mike," said Riley Henson, saddle bronc director for the New Mexico High School Rodeo Association.

There has been an outpouring of support from the rodeo community, Henson said. High-school rodeo officials considered canceling a rodeo in Belen, N.M., this weekend, but opted to keep it scheduled.

"The rodeo family needs to be together to continue to honor them and their family," he said. "They were remarkable young men. They were born leaders. There's plenty of 18-year-olds that you wouldn't send across to the street to get milk by themselves. They were the complete opposite. We didn't worry about them being off this far."

Henson described Hillman's meteoric rise through the rodeo ranks. "It was a gift," he said. "Same with Jesse. Both boys were both unbelievably talented in what they did," he said.

Tilt James came to know the young men through his work as the pastor with the high-school association. Andrus had passion for riding a bull, he said.

"He went after bull riding with a great intensity. I really liked that about that kid."

Hillman and Andrus always showed up for the prayer before the rodeo started and attended church services, James said.

"Rodeo-wise . . . they had a gift," he said. "But their greater gift was life. That surrounded them, everywhere they went. Our young athletes liked to be around them."

Riding off into the sunset

Family, friends and classmates of Jesse Andrus and Michael Hillman comfort each other Friday at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center during a memorial service held to remember the teens who were found dead in Arizona earlier in the week from carbon monoxide poisoning. The Goddard High School seniors were returning to Roswell from a weekend rodeo in Carefree, Arizona. (Mark Wilson Photo)

The voice of a young man lost in a tragic accident sang from the speakers which hung high above the some 2,000 mourners at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center on Friday. Despite such a large number of people present, the hall was silent except for the a cappella tune that filled the somber room. “I was sitting on the chutes talking to my mom. She teared up and I asked what was wrong. She said, ‘It’s about your friend and you’ll never see him again.’ I hit my knees and I began to cry, and asked the Lord, ‘Why, oh why, did he have to go, did he have to die?’ He didn’t get the chance to live his life,” went the lyrics...Roswell Daily Record (Subscription Required)

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