Border, April 8, 2004

supervisors every opportunity to act responsibly. We do, and they need to accept our help until the President does the right thing - puts the troops on the border to assist Border Patrol with national security.

Last weekend’s cold wet rain turned to a full - fledged late winter storm around most of Cochise County, even dropping lots of snow above 4,500 feet of elevation. After weeks of near 90-degree temps, it rained four consecutive days, washing out all CHD patrols on the border –the roads on the border were inaccessible even to Border Patrol vehicles. CHD volunteers concentrated on the lay-up areas near Tombstone and with weather as bad as we experienced last weekend, our patrols turned to search and rescue missions.

And rescue is exactly what volunteers did over the weekend. CHD volunteers rescued a total of 23 people, raising our life saving rescues to 111 since beginning operations 16 months ago. The total number of assists is now 2,841 and counting. Homeland security is as porous as ever only because our federal government is weak. President Bush, has the will to go door- to - door in Iraq and Afghanistan, but does not have the will to secure the borders of the homeland. ]

Mr. Bush, and now good ol’ Senator McCain, expect our troops to go door- to -door in Falusha to get the bad guys who don’t like being occupied by a foreign enemy, but neither of them has the will to stop the invasion of the United States of America. Our fearless stuffed shirts say they advocate going door to door to kill people yet they do not have the will peacefully to go door - to - door to employers (not homes) to deport illegal aliens from our country and fine the hell out of or arrest any employer who has committed a class 5 felony by hiring illegal aliens. Hey, you would think they would at least have the will to enforce the law against employers who hire illegal aliens; but then those employers donate tons of money to their campaigns –it’s an election year and deals are in the making again.

I digress. Back to CHD activities. Friday, 8:40 a.m., a group of international travelers from Mexico City were found waiting for their ride in a wash along Moson Road. Someone had supplied them with dry clothes, and bags of food from Food City in Sierra Vista. The coyote, who had beautiful gold plated teeth, also had his wife with him – I guess it was a family operation. Still two hours away from their scheduled pick-up, the group waited patiently until Border Patrol arrived. Then they all ran, and it took three agents another hour to round them up so they could be repatriated to their home country.

Saturday morning another CHD patrol visited the area again. This time we found 8 young males near a hypothermic state of desperation, hiding in a deep wash in the Murray Springs area off Moson Road. All of the men were soaked to the bone and were shaking uncontrollably in near freezing temperatures. They had been traveling all night through the cold rain and were glad to give up their journey. We provided them water and Border Patrol brought blankets. We assume the men are now safely back in Mexico warm, dry and with a hearty meal in their bellies –they’ll be back because President Bush condones illegal activity.

An Air Force noncommissioned officer from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was caught smuggling five illegal immigrants into the United States on Tuesday. It seems the 41-year-old Air Force grunt was seen parked off Arivaca Road around 11 a.m. A Border Patrol agent saw the vehicle sitting off the road and investigated.

The underpaid public servant was found to have five illegal immigrants, all from Mexico, hiding inside his jeep. What is everybody so upset about –it’s just a little free enterprise moonlighting.