From the April 2005 Idaho Observer:

Minuteman Project no April Fools joke

Tombstone Arizona

Citizen volunteers succeed where feds fail

DOUGLAS, Arizona—A 30-mile section of the 2,000-mile long U.S./Mexico border between here and Naco has been secured by volunteers.

Governments on both sides of the border, human rights groups and the media were expecting the Minuteman Project, which began April 1, to result in hostility and perhaps bloodshed. It never happened.

USA Today editorial writer Paul McGarry commented April 14, 2005, "Hundreds of Minuteman Project volunteers have done what the president refused to do: They have helped to effectively halt illegal crossings in a 23-mile section of the U.S./Mexico border. Volunteers have shown how easy it would be for the U.S. government to do the same."

Border residents on the American side have been reporting for years that illegal crossings imperil their safety and destroy their property. Areas where hundreds of illegals enter the country every day are strewn with garbage and human filth.

Edward and Robin are ranchers whose family settled near Naco in the 1880s. They requested that a Minutemen post be stationed on their property.

Robin said she and her husband and four children hear gunshots every night. Since the Minutemen arrived, she claims the gunshots have stopped.

It is reported that the 1,000 or so Minutemen volunteers, most of whom are armed and have a military or police background, have helped the U.S. Border Patrol to apprehend some illegals. But illegal crossings in the monitored sector have dropped to about zero in an area where over 200,000 illegals were captured last year.

The most common observations made by residents, Border Patrol agents and the media is how well-mannered, well-trained and well-organized the Minutemen (and women) have been. "The Minutemen are showing us not only how to seal our borders and protect our national security, they are demonstrating how we can take back our country from the political establishment," commented WorldNetDaily editor Joe Farah.

The Bush administration is strangely silent on this issue even though it has attracted national attention to the controversial border situation and further compromised public perception of his administration. Congress is expected to vote on the president’s amnesty bill within the next couple weeks.

Minuteman Project: Media disappointed by

the civil, respectful display of Americanism

by Kevin Tighe

Twenty eight seconds of violence 124 years ago put Tombstone on the map and made legends out of the Earp Brothers and Doc Holliday. The Minute Man Project (MMP) has put Tombstone back in the world spotlight as it serves as the staging area for the controversial citizen border patrol that will be conducted during the month of April.

Million dollar satellite uplink media trucks parked right in front of the OK Corral spewed their cargo of well-coiffed field reporters, their camera and sound crews. A Classic Car Show also was set for the weekend so classic cars streamed into town along with as many as 600 pre-registered border patrol volunteers.

The usual tourists who had come to see the site of the famous OK Corral Shootout and to be entertained by the many costumed gunfighters and their staged shows that happen throughout town were there. So were the Arizona State Police, Arizona Rangers in black uniforms with black western boots and hats, G-Men with their windbreakers and mirrored Aviator sunglasses and a dozen or so ACLU folks in their red t-shirts intent on watching out for civil rights violations. (Whose?)

A group of kids I named "The Fun Bunch (FB)" was there too, right on time, as MMP volunteer registration began, wearing their war paint and stylish haircuts. The FB was a racial rainbow of mostly young idealists who see only the surface of this deeply political issue. The FB was carrying signs made from convenience store banners that proclaimed "racists go home" and "open borders" (on the backside it screamed ….12 pack cans…. $9.99 !!!).

Little hippie white girls held signs demanding "Pilgrims go home," banged pots and pans, blocked traffic, screamed curses and generally had a good time. It was all great fun.

My 12-year-old son and I spent that busy morning going between the Tombstone Tumbleweed, the local weekly newspaper located in a vintage home on Toughnut Street in little downtown Tombstone and the registration center at Sheffelin Hall on Fremont Street. They’re two blocks apart in the historic downtown district of Tombstone. The MMP volunteers were queuing up in the alley next to the Hall while, across the street in a parking lot, the big media folks confronted volunteers with cameras and microphones looking for sidebar stories and interviews.

Civility reigned as MMP volunteers gave sane, sound answers to a lot of leading questions. A lot of media attention was paid to the many openly worn sidearms and the line of questioning made the media naiveté and squeamishness about guns seem kind of funny.

Around the corner on Allen Street, outside the Oriental Saloon, where Wyatt Earp used to deal cards, camera crews were busy ambushing the innocent and ignorant tourists caught in the cross fire of media coverage and those coming to town to be a part of the MMP.

Inside Sheffelin Hall speakers prepared to address the credentialed gathering in the main hall. Bay Buchanan was there along with Jim Gilchrist, Chris Simcox, Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), Frosty Woolridge and many others including some Arizona legislators.

The MMP was already being acknowledged both inside and outside as a success before any planned civilian patrols took place. The day before, on the 30th of March, the U.S. Border Patrol announced that they were sending 500+ additional officers to the southern border, presumably in the San Pedro Valley of Arizona, the hot spot these days. Additionally the national and international media attention given to the MMP in the weeks and days leading up to April 1st had made the southern border crossing crisis a national front burner issue—finally.

The MMP has staked out the high ground on this issue. This event was well-organized and volunteers were well-mannered. It makes common sense to try to deal with a problem in your own neighborhood when you’ve asked for real help until you are blue in the face. Of the 1.1 million illegals arrested last year, over 200,000 were captured in Cochise County. Border town residents report that illegals are coming over the border in groups of 50 and more and leave their filth and garbage strewn all over. Why wouldn’t residents of Southern Arizona want to bring attention to this serious problem?

Ironically, a great many of the MMP organizers and supporters are conservative Republicans who voted for George Bush—the man who accelerated the problem soon after his 2000 election by announcing his plan to declare amnesty for illegals already living in the U.S.

Now they have, by putting out a call to other Americans from all over the country to help them fill the gap in Border Patrol manpower that might shut down the flow of illegals, even for just a month. It can only be a gesture, but an important one. If only to point out the hypocrisy of a Federal government that claims to be spending all efforts to ‘secure the Homeland’ but leaves its borders unguarded while making air travelers take off their shoes and go through strip searches.

People like Chris Simcox and Jim Gilchrist are American heroes. They began organizing neighborhood watches several years ago to protect each other and their property. They have learned a lot since then. No longer a reactionary, hotheaded bunch with Rambos in their ranks, they are polite, patient, well-trained and well-organized. They have earned respect and appreciation from Border Patrol agents (most of whom do the very best they can with very little in the way of resources) and handle the press with an uncommon degree of confidence and class.

One might even say that the media flocked to this area on April Fool’s Day expecting to see blood, or at least some marketable controversy. But the entire event was so well-intended and honorable they were denied blood and guts and had to settle for human interest.

People standing up for what is right is not very popular in these pusillanimous times. For whatever reasons, Americans generally lay down for whatever injurious policies government decides to enforce. Maybe this 21st Century Boston Tea Party can start the ball rolling towards more Americans standing for what they believe is right.

In the smoke-filled room with Jorge’ and Vicente’

by The Idaho Observer

Estimates of Mexicans living illegally in the U.S. prior to President (Jorge’) Bush announcing his amnesty plans was somewhere between 6 million and 12 million. The estimates today range between 15 million and 30 million. If the Bush administration is willing to mobilize its war machine to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s "oppressive regime" and liberate the Iraqi people (halfway around the world) then why wouldn’t the warhawks in Washington pressure Presidente Vicente Fox (right next door) into being nicer to his people so they stay home?

Obviously there is a deal to which neither the Mexicans not the Americans are privy. Let us speculate:

1. The U.S. needs oil to supply its industrial and transportation needs and; it needs bodies to work to pay taxes to keep the bottom from falling out of its government entitlement Ponzi scheme (Americans are simply not reproducing fast enough to keep the phony system going).

2. Mexico is producing oil and has undeveloped reserves. Mexico also has a surplus of worker bodies.

3. (Maybe) Fox agreed to let U.S. oil companies develop Mexican oil reserves if the U.S. agreed to accept several million surplus Mexican workers. It’s kind of a "win/win" situation for both presidents (and their friends in high places). It also causes a great deal of social tension in the U.S., a bonus for the administrators of the burgeoning American police state.

4. Plus, an exodus of Mexicans from rural areas will leave more acreage open for agricultural operations, including the larger scale production of marijuana, cocaine and heroin for importation into the U.S.

Congress is expected to vote on amnesty very soon. Any guesses on the outcome?