Small Town News

Would Washington lawmakers care if they knew?

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It's a pity that our lawmakers in Washington, D.C., don't have access to the story by Dick Kamp that ran in last week's Arizona Range News.

Kamp, who generally writes about the environment, spent several weeks in the Paradise-Portal-Whitetail Canyon area talking with residents about the practical implications of illegal aliens and drug runners. These are not extremists on either side of the issue. They are just average folks whose daily lives are being impacted by a situation that is terribly out of control.

The story started for him after a cabin he owns in the area was burglarized. Food, sleeping bags and lanterns were stolen. They were left near a neighbor's where there was an incampment of illegals. The episode got Kamp to talking with his neighbors, and the picture he paints, while no surprise to those of us who live in Southern Arizona, is not pretty.

Most of the people who live in the area have been there for years. Many are from families who moved into the area shortly after it was no longer Apache land. The irony is not lost on them. What used to be Indian land became their land. Now it seems on the road to becoming the land of illegals seeking work and drug runners seeking the almighty dollar.

They moved into the area because of its pristine beauty. Now those same beautiful areas are littered with trash and burlap bags used by drug runners. But the saddest part is how this has come to affect lives.

Lynne May of Whitetail Canyon talked about her 94-year-old mother, Eileen Potter. Potter lived on her own for years in Portal. But the increase in break-ins worried May, so she moved Potter in with her. Imagine how difficult it is for someone of that age to leave the home she loves because she no longer feels safe there.

These people, who are in the front lines of the drug wars, seem to agree on a lot of things. They believe the Border Patrol's hands are tied by the bureaucracy, making them ineffective. They want the border militarized, with Border Patrol authorized to shoot. But they believe the Border Patrol needs tougher, more experienced recruits.

They believe the U.S. market for illegal drugs needs to be controlled before there can be any progress on the border. They believe a worker program needs to be established.

But the pity is that nobody in Washington knows what they think - or cares.



Copyright 2010 Arizona Range News, Willcox, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 Arizona Range News Willcox, Arizona. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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