Friday, May 5, 2006
Road trips up Minuteman fleet
The vehicle with Jim Gilchrist arrives at the rendezvous spot more than two hours after the pace car.
By PEGGY LOWE
The Orange County Register
LOUD AND CLEAR: Philip Ernst of Glendale, Ariz., leads a cheer at the Minuteman Project’s demonstration Wednesday in Phoenix. “I’m scared to death. I have six children, and I don’t want them to live through what I see coming every day,” Ernst said to the gathering of 125.
CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
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Minutemen take to the road
The trip: Day 2
The caravan stopped in Winslow, Ariz., and Gallup, N.M., before arriving in Albuquerque, N.M., for a rally.
About 150 people attended the evening rally at Los Altos Park.
Travel time from Phoenix to Albuquerque: 12-1/2 hours.
Today's stops
Gas stop: T/A Travel Center; Santa Rosa, N.M.; I-40, Exit 277
Gas stop: Chisum Travel Center; Lubbock, Texas; I-84, Exit "Slaton"
Gas stop: Flying J Truck Stop; Tye, Texas; 1-20, Exit 277
The caravan is set to arrive Saturday in Crawford, Texas.
WINSLOW, ARIZ. – The pace-car driver was the first to make it to the planned pit stop, the Flying J Truck Plaza here at the corner of State Highway 87 and Interstate 40.
Lyman Stucky had just refueled his 1970 Mercury Cougar, a custom red, white and blue chrome flag on four wheels. He's had it for nine years, and it had been the "official pace car of the Motorcade to Save The Pledge of Allegiance," as it says in red paint on the side of the car.
But this week, Stucky traded the pledge for the new wedge: illegal immigration. He's now driving the official pace car for the Minuteman Project's 10-day, 13-city caravan to Washington. And today, Stucky is grinning like a man with a mission.
"It's a great day. It's a blessed day," Stucky said. "People across the country are praying for this caravan, for the Minutemen, for our soldiers, for our president and for our country."
The self-employed management consultant, who says he is a 48-year-old virgin, is happy because Thursday is the National Day of Prayer, and Stucky is one religious race-car driver.
He's at the truck stop waiting for the new messiah of this slice of the NASCAR nation, a group of people revved up with a fervor brought on by what they say is a long-simmering frustration with the federal government's failure to secure the U.S. border with Mexico.
Enter Jim Gilchrist, Aliso Viejo resident who last year decided to create his own band of brothers, self-anointed border-patrol agents called the Minuteman Project in honor of their forefathers.
The men - and more recently, some women - who have gravitated toward Gilchrist's cause have blended their frustration and fear into an amateur army of soldiers for the cause.
On Wednesday night the angry army was in Phoenix, the first overnight stop of the caravan. Phillip Ernst, a 42-year-old father of six sons and self-described homemaker, stood before a crowd of 125 people in khaki cargo shorts, Vans shoes and gold earrings in both ears. He read from the Bible like some kind of self-righteous surfer dude.
"I'm scared to death when I see these hordes of people marching through the streets," Ernst yelled into the warm night air. "I'm scared to death. I have six children, and I don't want them to live through what I see coming every day. I'm Phillip Ernst, and I'm a Minuteman."
Ernst on Thursday made the trek to Winslow, arriving with Gilchrist more than two hours after Stucky's pace car arrived. There were rumors that the leader's RV had made a wrong turn somewhere along I-40 between Phoenix and Winslow, but organizers denied that and said it was simply a miscommunication.
Miscommunication or missed turn, there was a come-to-Jesus kind of meeting in the Flying J's parking lot, a sermon on the blacktop by Mariam Arthur, the caravan's event planner who is doing her darnedest to keep the group of RVs and cars on time.
"This morning we had a really rough morning," Arthur said. "We want to make sure once we're on the road, we will stay together."
So the 15 people promised, and then they prayed. At the request of Stucky, they dialed up a preacher on his cell phone for the impromptu service in the parking lot.
Desert dust whipping their increasingly sunburned faces, members joined in a circle, held hands and closed their eyes.
"Lord God, the enemy of those who would say America is one nation not under God are the same who would attack our borders," Stucky said.
He finished the prayer and got a resounding amen from them all before they went back into the truck stop for one last refuel of turkey sandwiches, pork rinds and soda pop. Gilchrist admonished them all to get lots of double-A batteries for their two-way and CB radios.
Should we have handles, asked a driver named "Tom," who figured that wasn't such a good code name.
Well, someone already had taken "Minuteman One," and Gilchrist had "Minuteman Six."
Why "six," when he was the first guy?
"Because six is always the top dog," like in the military, Gilchrist said. Commanders' or colonels' codes are always "commander six," or "colonel six."
Tom didn't get a new handle, but everyone promised to get fresh batteries and, at Arthur's urging, stay at 60 mph and stay together.
Within a few minutes, the soldiers finally got back behind their respective wheels. Then, one by one, the vehicles pulled out of the Flying J – Stucky's pace car now the last in line, more like a caboose for the creaky caravan getting back on I-40 and heading for Albuquerque.
The other side
A national coalition of immigration-rights, Hispanic and labor organizations are pushing Congress to pass a bill that would create a path toward legalization for the 12 million illegal immigrants who are in the United States. The groups mention the country's heritage as a haven for immigrants and say illegal immigrants today contribute more to the economy than they take from it.
Some organizations, such as the Mexican American Political Association, want anyone who is here illegally today to be eligible for residency. Other groups, such as the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, support a tiered approach whereby people who have lived here a certain number of years qualify for legal papers.
The groups ardently oppose a bill passed by the House of Representatives last year that would make being here illegally a felony and build fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. The House bill sparked the nationwide rallies and boycott in an outpouring of support for immigrants.
