Comment on our articles

TheEpitaph.com is now open for comments.

You may read any of our stories without registering.

To comment on an article, you must register by contacting the site administrator and agree to our rules.

To Comment: Register/Login

Community Links

Search the site

Want the print edition?


Want the print edition of the Tombstone Epitaph delivered directly to you? Click here to find out how.

Tombstone Events

<<  February 2012  >>
 Mo  Tu  We  Th  Fr  Sa  Su 
    1  2  3  4  5
  6  7  8  9101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
272829    
National Guard preps to leave border work PDF Print E-mail
Written by Clayton R. Norman   
Wednesday, 06 April 2011 21:01
Plans are being finalized for the withdrawal of 560 armed National Guard troops deployed to Arizonain October to assist in securing the border, according to National Guard officials.

Major General Hugo Salazar, adjutant general of the Arizona National Guard, told members of a U.S. House subcommittee on border and maritime security last month that the plans for the troops to leave the posts along the border where they have assisted Border Patrol as part of Operation Phalanx are progressing. Salazar said all National Guard operations associated with Operation Phalanx are slated to end in June.

"Throughout the duration of Operation Phalanx, the Arizona National Guard has supported the Department of Homeland Security in a commendable manner and the working relationship between National Guard and Law Enforcement has been nothing short of exemplary," Salazar told the subcommittee. "To complete all administrative and logistical actions required, operations will effectively stop no later than the second week of June."

Read more...
 
Sheriff Dever explains why he resigned from Alliance PDF Print E-mail
Written by Clayton R. Norman   
Friday, 11 March 2011 20:12
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever has strong words about the position he stepped down from last month at the Alliance to Combat Transnational Threats (ACTT) saying that he refused to participate in "federal government hypocrisy and duplicity."

Dever had been asked to represent Arizona Sheriffs at the ACTT, an intelligence-sharing and operational alliance of more than 60 law enforcement agencies throughout Arizona that includes Mexican agencies as well. After attending just a few meetings with other members of the ACTT, though, Dever removed himself from the group.

Read more...
 
Central Mexico to New York, via Arizona PDF Print E-mail
Written by Devlin Houser   
Friday, 19 November 2010 19:39
NEW YORK — A small kettle of coffee spiced with sugar and cinnamon steeps atop a gas griddle nestled carefully in a shopping cart. Yazmín Ortega, wearing a houndstooth coat, an apron and a baseball cap, adeptly flips a corn tortilla. She fills the taco with guisado, adds a dollop of red salsa, and with a shy smile, hands it to her customer.

Though the scene would not be out of place in Ortega's home state of Guerrero, Mexico, it plays out in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood, whose Mexican immigrant population has exploded in recent years. Many of the Mexicans who live here, began the journey through Southern Arizona.

Ortega, who crossed the border with her husband in March, arranged the journey from her hometown of Tlapa de Comonfort. The two took a bus from Guerrero to Mexico City, and from there caught a flight to Hermosillo.

Read more...
 
Big bucks being spent for border technology PDF Print E-mail
Written by Devlin Houser   
Tuesday, 09 November 2010 19:15
In the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border, tall metal sentinels stand guard day and night, keeping their glass eyes trained on the rugged terrain.

Metal birds fly high over the cacti and brush, and trucks mounted with radar, track anything that moves. Along the border, technology is key.

Last year, the agency began construction on the first of 27 metal towers in the Arizona desert, said Eric Cantu, an agency spokesman. The "remote video surveillance systems" are electronic watch posts with two types color video for day and thermal imaging for night. The cameras can distinguish between a person and an animal from six miles away, while a laser range finder can gauge distance and pinpoint location, Cantu said.

Solar panels, rechargeable batteries and diesel generators provide the system with enough power to run off the power grid. Agents can pan and tilt the cameras from the Tucson Sector building, and when they see suspicious activity, they send out field agents.

While the towers are the largest of the high-tech tools available, souped-up battery-powered binoculars are some of the smallest. About the size of a shoebox, the Recon III boasts dual LCD screens with both heat-sensing and color cameras, a laser range finder, a digital magnetic compass and a GPS that can pinpoint a target's location.

Read more...
 
Another study funded on checkpoint efficacy PDF Print E-mail
Written by Devlin Houser   
Wednesday, 13 October 2010 19:17
How effective is that Border Patrol checkpoint three miles out of town? With any luck, we might finally find out.

For the third time in six years, the federal government has commissioned an evaluation of the agency's interior checkpoints.

The University of Arizona and the University of Texas at El Paso will each receive $500,000 to evaluate checkpoints' effectiveness and efficiency in a study set to begin next year. Organizers are still working out how they will conduct the study.

Read more...
 
Border Brief PDF Print E-mail
Written by Devlin Houser   
Friday, 01 October 2010 22:32
The Border Patrol's Tucson Sector opened its doors to the public  Saturday Oct. 16 for an event aimed at boosting the number of agents along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The open house – one of 23 around the country – drew some 520 people, said Eric Cantu, an agency spokesman. The agency is hiring 2,200 new agents – 1,200 to replace those lost through attrition, plus 1,000 additional agents to be stationed along the border.

"Most of (the additional agents) will be sent to the Tucson Sector," he said, declining to give specific numbers.

The Tucson Sector has about 3,000 of the total 20,200 agents, and if it gets even half of the additional agents, the number in the sector will increase by 17 percent.

Besides the boost in manpower, the sector will get additional equipment: roughly 10 mobile surveillance systems and 10 scope trucks, and some 50 heat-sensing binoculars, he said.

In August, Congress mandated $600 million for agents and equipment along the border. Although apprehensions of illegal immigrants have declined in recent years, flaring violence in northern Mexico and the unsolved shooting of a Cochise County rancher have thrust border security into the spotlight.

Cantu said the agency hopes to have all 2,200 hired by Oct. 1, though it would probably be more than a year before the agents are out in the field.

 
A question and answer session with Sheriff Dever PDF Print E-mail
Written by Devlin Houser   
Friday, 24 September 2010 20:55

Can you tell me what “comprehensive immigration reform” means to you?

I think immigration reform is code language for two things, “amnesty” and “we don’t know what to do with this, so we’ll call it comprehensive immigration reform.”

My suggestion is, let’s take the right to vote out and citizenship out of the equation. If you broke into this country, we may be able to sit down and have a discussion about how you can make amends for that and be a legally recognized worker, but you’ll never be a citizen and you’ll never have the right to vote.

Was there a particular moment that really got you more involved in border issues?

Really, it’s kind of the perfect storm, and I hate to capitalize on a terrible, terrible tragedy in one sense, but it was a significant event when Rob Krentz was murdered.

Right at the same time that SB 1070 was being debated, the they had an event or two down in Texas, it all sort of came together. The ACLU sued, along with MALDEF, and then, lo and behold, the Department of Justice sues. I’m still angry about it. They took it to a place that no policymaker, no one in a position of influence can run and hide.

Read more...
 
Cochise County's top cop takes leadership role on immigration PDF Print E-mail
Written by Devlin Houser   
Friday, 24 September 2010 20:47

When he began his college career 40 years ago, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever had little interest in law enforcement.

He had planned to teach high school English literature. But because of what he describes as a “perfect storm,” Dever is now arguably the most vociferous advocate lobbying for tighter border security.

 

Read more...
 
National Guard begins arriving to assist border control PDF Print E-mail
Written by Devlin Houser   
Wednesday, 15 September 2010 18:29

 Just south of the U.S.-Mexico border, drug cartels fight each other for territory and clientele. This side of the border, politicians fight each other for elected office. The result? National Guard troops from Texas to Arizona.

The first wave of Arizona National Guard troops hit the Arizona borderlands in late August, installing about 30 of 560 troops to help out the Border Patrol along the Arizona-Mexico border.

 

Read more...
 
Border security bill draws ire of immigrants rights groups PDF Print E-mail
Written by Adam Lehrer   
Friday, 30 April 2010 18:13
Law enforcement officials and prosecutors in Cochise County remain unclear on how to enforce the state's new immigration bill as some are worried about the potential for the hostility it could create.

Among other things, the bill — SB 1070 — will enable law enforcement officers to detain anybody who is unable to prove lawful residence in the United States and requires police to make a "reasonable attempt" to determine immigration status on the fly.

Read more...
 
Burglar dons firefighter disguise to snare victim PDF Print E-mail
Written by Kelsey Murray   
Thursday, 15 April 2010 23:26
A suspect has been identified in connection to a recent burglary in which a woman posed as a firefighter to scam an unsuspecting resident.

The burglary occurred March 26 around 7:30 p.m. at 76-year-old Patricia Forrest's residence. According to police reports, Forrest received a phone call from a woman under the guise of a firefighter, who informed her of a reported gas leak in the area.

Read more...