13th Annual Corona Days

Song Of The Day #360

Ranch Radio's Gospel tune this Sunday morning is Shine Your Light sung by Ginger Boatwright. You'll find the tune on her 12 track CD Fertile Ground.

Drug violence kills 19 in Mexico

The latest spate of drug-related violence in Mexico left 19 people dead, including five factory workers near the US border and four police officers in Acapulco, officials said. The Chihuahua state prosecutor said the workers were gunned down when armed men burst into a party at a house in Ciudad Juarez late Friday. Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas, is a key battleground for drug traffickers seeking routes to the United States. It is also home to many factories, called maquiladoras, for US firms that can use Mexican workers. Six other violent deaths were recorded in Ciudad Juarez, including a man and his daughter, who were shot by gunmen who entered his home early Saturday, authorities said. In other municipalities of Chihuahua, which shares a long border with Texas, there were four killings late Friday, prosecutors said. Separately in Acapulco, four policemen were shot dead Saturday by unknown assailants on a rural road near the port in the Mexican resort, state officials said...more

Gun Battles in Mexican Border City Leave at Least 12 Dead

At least 12 people were killed in three gun battles involving Mexican army soldiers and suspected drug cartel hit men in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, officials said. “Nine criminals, two civilians and a soldier were killed in the three clashes between elements of the National Defense Secretariat and members of organized crime, and 21 people were wounded,” the Government Secretariat said in a statement. The secretariat added that seven of the wounded – including three minors – are in serious condition and are being treated at a Social Security clinic in Nuevo Laredo, while the other 14 are in “delicate but stable” condition and receiving treatment in that city’s general hospital. For its part, Sedena said in a statement that it repelled four attacks Friday by armed gangs in different parts of Nuevo Laredo. It confirmed the deaths of the suspected cartel members, the soldier and the civilians, as well as the seizure of several weapons and vehicles...more

Border Patrol Catches Convicted Sex Offender in California Desert

U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to Calexico Station arrested a convicted sex offender who was illegally present in the United States early Thursday morning in the desert east of Calexico, Calif. On July 8, at approximately 5:45 a.m., agents encountered a 41-year-old male approximately 16 miles east of the downtown Calexico port of entry. It was determined he was a citizen of Mexico without any legal immigration documents. He was subsequently arrested and transported to the Calexico Border Patrol Station for further processing. At the station record checks revealed the man had previously been convicted of Lewd and Lascivious acts with a minor in Santa Paula, Calif. The individual is being prosecuted for 8 USC 1326 re-entry after deportation. [link]

Convicted sex offender is arrested crossing border near Deming

U.S. Border Patrol agents near Deming arrested a convicted sex offender who attempted to enter the U.S. illegally. Agents arrested Jose Suarez-Ramirez, 29, on Wednesday after they spotted him and another person crossing the border. Suarez-Ramirez admitted to agents that he had no immigration documentation, agents said. Agents eventually discovered that Suarez-Ramirez had an "extensive" criminal history, including convictions for criminal sexual penetration of a child younger than 13, burglary, conspiracy, larceny and possession of a controlled substance. Suarez-Ramirez remained in custody Wednesday pending prosecution for the illegal entry, agents said. [link]

Drug cartels smuggling illegals create security risk, officials say

Smuggling of potential terrorists across the border is evolving into a billion dollar industry for Mexican drug cartels while posing a significant threat to the United States, according to federal law enforcement officials. That was echoed in a recent assessment by the U.S. military's Southern Command that found drug cartels are taking advantage of a "largely unregulated" border to create security risk for the United States. "Of particular concern is the smuggling of criminal aliens and gang members who pose public safety threats to communities throughout the border region and the country," said the Southern Command report obtained by The Washington Examiner. "These individuals include hundreds of undocumented aliens from special interest countries, primarily China, but also Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan." Department of Homeland Security policy requires that many illegal immigrants from countries that have been breeding grounds for anti-American sentiment, known as "special interest aliens," be released unless there is specific evidence of threat. Most fail to appear for hearings. "We don't always know who we have in custody," said a DHS official who asked not to be named. "We still have a catch and release program, and we don't always know if those are good or bad guys. It's difficult to coordinate with our Mexican counterparts, and many times we have no idea who made it across with the aid of the cartels."...more

Drug cartels escalate war using car bomb

The first successful car bombing by a drug cartel brings a new dimension of terror to a Mexican border region already shocked by random street battles, bodies dangling from bridges and highway checkpoints mounted by heavily armed criminals. The attack, seemingly lifted from an al-Qaida playbook, demonstrated once again that the cartels are a step ahead of both an already guarded public and federal police, who have recently taken over command from the military of the battle against traffickers in Ciudad Juarez, a city across the border from El Paso, Texas. "It's a lot like Iraq," said Claudio Arjon, who owns a restaurant near the scene of the attack and was surveying the damage from behind police lines Saturday morning. "Now, things are very different. It's very different. It's very ugly." People in Ciudad Juarez already live under siege. Like many restaurant owners, Arjon closes his business long before dark every day to avoid criminal gangs that threaten him and his clientele. Parents take separate cars to the same place so one can warn the other of dangers up ahead. Ambulance drivers and emergency room doctors come under fire from gang members trying to finish off wounded rivals. A car bomb was the one thing nobody was expecting. It was a carefully planned attack designed to catch the extremely wary population and security forces off guard. A street gang tied to the Juarez cartel lured federal officers and paramedics to the site of the bomb by dressing a bound, wounded man in a police uniform and calling in a false report of an officer shot, said Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes...more

Mexican drug cartels' newest weapon: Cold War-era grenades made in U.S.

Grenades made in the United States and sent to Central America during the Cold War have resurfaced as terrifying new weapons in almost weekly attacks by Mexican drug cartels. Sent a generation ago to battle communist revolutionaries in the jungles of Central America, U.S. grenades are being diverted from dusty old armories and sold to criminal mafias, who are using them to destabilize the Mexican government and terrorize civilians, according to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials. Grenades have killed a relatively small number of the 25,000 people who have died since Calderón launched his U.S.-backed offensive against the cartels. But the grenades pack a far greater psychological punch than the ubiquitous AK-47s and AR-15 rifles -- they can overwhelm and intimidate outgunned soldiers and police while reminding ordinary Mexicans that the country is literally at war. There have been more than 72 grenade attacks in Mexico in the last year, including spectacular assaults on police convoys and public officials. Mexican forces have seized more than 5,800 live grenades since 2007, a small fraction of a vast armory maintained by the drug cartels, officials said...more

Increased use of UAVs in border protection hobbled by shortage of UAV pilots

As hopes that SBInet, the ambitious virtual fence project along the U.S.-Mexico border, will ever live up to its promise recede, DHS has increased the role of UAVs in border monitoring; UAVs require pilots to fly them remotely, though, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has had trouble finding trained pilots remotely to fly the aircraft; Maj. Gen. Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner of CBP's Air and Marine Office: "The greatest near-term challenge faced is a shortage of pilots and sensor operators, specifically pilots certified to launch and land the aircraft". Indeed, Nextgov’s Jill R. Aitoro writes that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has increasingly been relying more on unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the U.S. borders, but the bureau has had trouble finding trained pilots remotely to fly the aircraft, a DHS official told Congress yesterday. The use of UAVs has expanded from primarily the military to homeland security, with CBP using the vehicles to scan the border for illegal immigrants and to support disaster relief operations...more

Immigrant deaths in Arizona desert soaring in July

A county medical examiner says deaths among illegal immigrants crossing the southern Arizona desert from Mexico are soaring so much this month the office is using a refrigerated truck to store some of the bodies. Pima County medical examiner Dr. Bruce Parks said Friday that the bodies of 40 illegal immigrants have been brought to his Tucson office since July 1. At that rate, he says deaths could top the single-month record of 68 in July 2005. Authorities believe the high number of deaths are likely due to above-average heat and tighter border security that pushes immigrants to more remote terrain. The deaths occur despite the efforts of the Border Patrol and humanitarian groups to help those in distress...more

Armed Escorts to Accompany New Mexico Livestock Inspectors

When inspectors in New Mexico begin surveying 32 livestock scales along the increasingly dangerous Mexican border later this month, they'll have armed escorts at their sides. It will mark the first time armed deputies will travel with New Mexico Department of Agriculture inspectors, who certify the scales used to weigh livestock, Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos said. "These scales that the ranchers use to ship their cattle are in isolated areas," Cobos told FoxNews.com. "And the administration decided since those inspectors and personnel are not armed, they wanted to be able to concentrate on their work without worrying about their security." Cobos said that beginning on July 26, deputies will accompany inspectors to the scales in a corridor that stretches southwest from Interstate 10 at Las Cruces to the New Mexico-Arizona border, along Luna, Hidalgo and Grant counties. "It also helps the deputies become more familiar with the ranches and their particular layouts," Cobos said. "It's a benefit to all of us."...more

3 Different Camera Views of Trinity Explosion, July 16, 1945

Watch this short video and see the Atomic Age begin in NM.

Third Mexican gray wolf found dead

Federal authorities confirmed Friday they are investigating the death of another endangered Mexican gray wolf that was found shot along the New Mexico-Arizona border. The male wolf is the third to be found dead within the past month. It was a member of the Hawks Nest Pack. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Tom Buckley called the latest death "very troubling." He says that leaves the Hawks Nest Pack with an alpha female and a yearling female to hunt for seven pups. The pack's alpha male was found shot to death last month on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Another alpha male, a member of the San Mateo Pack, was found dead of unknown causes a week later. Buckley says there was a cow found shot to death near where the latest wolf shooting death occurred. AP

Judge allows Nevada wild horse roundup to resume

A government roundup of wild horses can resume in Nevada, a judge ruled Friday, dealing a setback to animal rights activists who had hoped to halt it after 13 mustangs died. Federal land managers hailed U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks' order, warning that more than 500 horses in northern Elko County could die of dehydration in the next week if the roundup didn't continue. On Wednesday, Hicks issued an emergency order stopping the gather. U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Doran Sanchez said the condition of the horses is "deteriorating rapidly," and the roundup will resume Saturday morning. BLM officials blame the deaths on the drought and not the roundup. "We have a major crisis here, and given the critical condition the animals are in, we could lose a lot of animals," Sanchez said. "Our main goal is to save as many animals as possible given the extreme emergency conditions." But activists have expressed outrage over the roundup, saying the deaths were predictable, given the hot summer temperatures and the weakened state of colts and mares that recently gave or were about to give birth. In her lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order halting the roundup, horse advocate and author Laura Leigh of Minden argues the BLM violated its own policy not to conduct helicopter roundups until at least six weeks after peak foaling season ends. She said she has doubts about the BLM's explanation of the situation...more

Do We Need “Alternative Energy” Because of the Oil Spill?

As crude oil continues to pour into the Gulf of Mexico, the politicians are waving the “green energy” shirt again. The logical chain goes as such: (1) crude oil is messy and dirty, especially when it is spilled into water; (2) “green” fuels and energy methods are clean and don’t result in oil spills; (3) therefore, the government should force us to use “green energy.” Throw global warming into the pot, and you have yet another round of government intervention into the energy business, as though there was not “enough” intervention already. To make matters worse, the new plan from President Obama would make gasoline prohibitively expensive, and gasoline price increases no doubt would trigger yet more condemnation of oil and lead to more demands that the government “nationalize” the industry. In reality, government intervention played an important role in the spill’s happening in the first place. As Judge Andrew Napolitano points out, BP originally sought to drill in 500 feet of water, a plan approved by the state of Louisiana but then nixed by the federal government, which demanded the company drill in 5,000 feet depths instead. Judge Napolitano writes: Never mind that no oil company had ever cleaned up a broken well at that depth and never mind that the feds had never monitored a broken well at that depth and never mind that BP only needed to set aside $75 million in case something went wrong. The feds trumped BP’s engineers and the feds trumped the wishes of the folks who live along the Gulf Coast and the feds decided where this oil well would be drilled....more

Injunction on roaming bison takes effect

An injunction to stop roaming bison in their tracks went into effect Thursday in King County. The injunction was issued in a lawsuit involving the January shooting of 51 bison on a ranch in the county northwest of Abilene. The bison are supposed to be at home on the QB Pasture Reserve, better known as the QB Ranch. The 20,000-acre outfit bills itself as a place to hunt not only bison but also Watusi cattle and trophy whitetail deer. In January, several head of bison roamed onto the neighboring Niblo Ranch, where ranch employee Jackie Doyle Hill allegedly shot 51 head of the QB herd. Hill has been charged with felony criminal mischief in the incident. His trial date has yet to be set. Meanwhile, the farming and ranching partnership that leases the Niblo Ranch filed suit against the QB, and the QB has countered with a suit for damages to recover the value of the slaughtered bison. Don Ross Malone, an attorney who practices in Vernon, is representing the 3-S Texas General Partnership in civil proceedings against the QB. “We went to court,” Malone said. “We asked them for an injunction to abate a private nuisance.” Houston attorney Andrew Sher is representing the interests of the QB. A side note in the case is the classification of the bison as wild animals. “The classification of these animals as livestock, that’s how the QB wants to classify them,” Malone said. “Our position is that they’re wild animals. It’s stated in the Texas Agricultural Code. That’s a determinative factor that’s going to decide who has to build the fence.”...more

Luna County wind energy project stokes debate

A proposed wind project in Northeastern Luna County has the Board of Commissioners on the fence. During a Tuesday work session, representatives of the Macho Springs Wind Project, Element Power and locals with deep agricultural roots in Luna County joined the Board of Commissioners to hear details on a proposed industrial revenue bond and potential impacts on the surrounding area, the Nutt Grasslands. A local rancher, Joe Bill Nunn, whose family owns ranches in the area, voiced concerns that wind turbine development could not only hurt the aesthetic value of the grasslands, but the property value as well. "We don't want to sell our property," Nunn told commissioners. "We plan on dying on this land, but we want to preserve the value of these lands, not only for the generations of our family that come after us and the generations of our neighbors' families, but also for the public and the people that enjoy the beautiful views that this area of Northeast Luna County has." On Wednesday, when reached for comment, local resident Jack Harmon expressed concern that some regulations might not be followed, as he has personally experienced when dealing with other large projects...more

"For me, I think they give a really good sales pitch, but it doesn't leave me with a comfortable feeling," he said. "My instincts tell me they are looking at us like other large contractors in the past, like we're a bunch of hicks and they can do what they want."

How Gillette landed the rodeo

Diane Shober hadn’t been on the job long as Cam-plex marketing director when the chairman of the Campbell County Public Land Board began to push the group to think beyond the run-of-the-mill events that so far had defined Cam-plex. “We were getting nowhere and the public didn’t think Cam-plex was worth a damn,” said Jim Anderson, who was chairman of the land board, which governs Cam-plex. “At one board meeting I said, ‘Look, let’s get this straight. You’ve got to get a national event that is going to get this place on the map.’” Some different ideas were tossed around, from RV rallies, to the National College Finals Rodeo. And somehow — neither Anderson nor Shober remember whose idea it was — the idea of the National High School Finals Rodeo came up. t wasn’t long before Shober and Rex Brown, then assistant marketing director at Cam-plex, were in Denver, dropping by the NHSFR office and asking for the specifications to be a host site. They headed back to Gillette with five long pages of criteria. Brown drove home and Shober read the specifications to her, noting those things that already existed at Cam-plex — like the rodeo arena and grandstands at Morningside Park — and circling those things they did not — like stalls for 1,400 horses. Despite the number of circles, the two began to have a glimmer of hope. This was possible. This could be done...more

Remington Museum to unveil bronze of Seabiscuit and jockey

On Saturday, July 17th, Canada’s contribution to America’s ‘Race of the Century’ will be honoured with the unveiling of a spectacular life-size bronze statue of the racehorse Seabiscuit mounted by The Iceman, George Woolf — the Cardston native who rode the horse in the 1938 win over War Admiral. The event was noted as the most famous horse race of the 20th Century. The frenzy was such that one out of every three Americans or 40 million tuned in to the broadcast that pitted Seabiscuit against the aristocratic Triple Crown winner. The immortal story will be commemorated in a life-size bronze capturing a moment from that fabled race. The statue will take pride of place near the stables of the Remington Carriage Museum in Cardston. “I always felt that George needed recognition for what he did. To go from a kid raised in a sod shack with nothing to becoming one of the best jockeys who ever lived; well, that’s quite the achievement,” said Jack Lowe, an area rancher who commissioned the bronze and grew up hearing about Woolf’s exploits. Seabiscuit and his two Canadian jockeys were the perfect story during the hard times of the Great Depression. Stocky and low-slung, the horse looked nothing like a winner despite being descended from the great Man O War. In the beginning of his racing career, Seabiscuit lost an outrageous 35 races as a two-year-old. It took a special trainer and two jockeys from Alberta to turn Seabiscuit into a superstar...more