Posted on 04/03/2010 10:41:38 AM PDT by SandRat
NEAR PORTAL - The hour-glass-shaped San Bernardino and San Simon valleys where rancher Robert Krentz was killed a week ago are nestled between the snow-capped Chiricahua Mountains to the west and the Peloncillo Mountains to the east.
It's a sparsely populated area on the eastern edge of Arizona along a 70-mile stretch from the U.S.-Mexico border to Interstate 10. There are a mix of longtime ranching families like the Krentzes, newer "40-acre ranchers," retirees and others who came for open space and solitude.
The smuggling of people and drugs across their backyards is something residents here have dealt with for decades. But, they say the killing of Krentz cements a disturbing evolution that began a few years ago - illegal border activity has gone from irritating to deadly dangerous.
"I've never felt more unsafe in my whole life," said Bill McDonald, a fifth-generation rancher who's property shares a fence with the 35,000-acre Krentz ranch. "I wonder if I want my kids and grandkids to live here. I've never had that feeling."
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever has called the killing a senseless act by a sick person. Investigators believe the killer fled into Mexico. However, investigators don't have a motive and don't know anything about the suspect, including whether the killer is Mexican or a U.S. citizen.
Sheriff's investigators attribute the spike in burglaries there over the past two years to illegal immigrants and smugglers.
The Krentz family said in a statement this week that Robert Krentz, 58, was killed by a suspected illegal immigrant. Most residents here say they believe the killer was a Mexican drug smuggler.
"We are being invaded now by some nasty people who are perfectly willing to kill," said Chuck Osgood, 66. "These are not people coming for a better life."
Not all residents feel they are being invaded. But most agree they will be more cautious when they encounter smugglers and illegal border crossers. Craig McEwan, who moved to the area from Missouri six years ago, said he'll keep taking his frequent jogs and hikes through the Chiricahuas but says he feels more vulnerable.
Many blame the U.S. government for ignoring their warnings about the increased criminal activity and for failing to protect them. The Krentz family says it holds no malice toward Mexican people. They say political forces in U.S and Mexico are accountable for the death.
"Their disregard of our repeated pleas and warnings of impending violence towards our community fell on deaf ears shrouded in political correctness," the family statement says. "As a result, we have paid the ultimate price for their negligence."
Burglaries and break-ins
Like many families in the valleys, the Osgoods' home has been broken into. Sherri Osgood takes her gun with her even when she's putting laundry on a clothesline outside.
"We are afraid for our lives," Sherri Osgood said. "You don't know who's coming over the mountain."
In 2009, Cochise County deputies went to the area 53 times on calls about burglaries, property damage and suspicious activity. So far this year, they've gone 21 times, figures provided by department spokeswoman Carol Capas show. Some arrests have been made, but many crimes are unsolved. The sheriff's department didn't track such incidents by specific area before 2009, but Capas said there has clearly been an increase.
Some of the crimes in the area have been violent. On Jan. 20, suspects forced their way into the home and bound the older couple who lives there with duct tape. The intruders stole a bank card and the couple's 2004 Chevy Avalanche. Two men were arrested shortly after in Lordsburg, N.M. Capas said both were illegal immigrants.
Most residents believe the robberies are being committed by drug smugglers heading back to Mexico. Unlike northbound groups of illegal border crossers who sometimes take food, water and clothes, smugglers covet valuables they can use or sell including guns, vehicles, binoculars and telescopes, residents say.
The extension of border fencing and vehicle barriers east of Douglas toward the New Mexico line by the Department of Homeland Security in the last three years has pushed smugglers farther east and through the valley, McDonald said. His family's 103-year-old ranch is located there, about 30 miles east of Douglas and five miles north of the border on Geronimo Trail. Trekking through the Pelocillo or Chiricahua Mountains doesn't deter drug runners, he said.
"These are extremely determined people with a strong profit incentive," said McDonald, who is executive director of the Malpai Borderlands Group, an organization of conservation-minded ranchers.
The spotty cell-phone service adds to the feeling of insecurity. Residents say it can take a long time for sheriff's deputies or Border Patrol agents to arrive.
The Cochise County Sheriff's Office has recently assigned all of its deputies working overtime hours under the Department of Homeland Security's Operation Stonegarden grant program to the area. And the Border Patrol opened a base in the area staffed around the clock.
Investigation
Friends and neighbors of Krentz can't fathom why anybody would want to kill a kind and compassionate man. "He's not a person who would instigate a violent confrontation," McDonald said.
Some wonder if a call made to the Border Patrol the day before by Phil Krentz, the victim's brother, about marijuana found on the property led to a retaliation killing. The Border Patrol says it recovered 290 pounds of marijuana on the ranch and arrested eight people nearby. But, they weren't able to prosecute them for lack of evidence.
Other residents, including a longtime friend, Nick Forsythe of Douglas, think Krentz was in the wrong place at the wrong time and came upon a person who simply wasn't going to let himself be apprehended. He doesn't buy the retaliation theory.
"Three-hundred pounds to these guys is nothing," Forsythe said of the seized pot load. "It's like you losing a pitching wedge at the golf course. It's not worth killing a rancher, because they know the huge repercussions."
Billy Darnell, a fourth-generation rancher and former Hidalgo County sheriff in New Mexico, said its important for investigators to keep an open mind about what have happened to Krentz. While it appears the shooter was likely a Mexican drug runner, that's not set in stone, said Darnell, who grew up near Apache.
"You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket," said Darnell, 66. "It'll get you in trouble."
The Chiricahua of 150 years ago feared no man. Lots of men feared them...
And this was yet another stunning area full of petroglyphs and secret canyons. In the early 90s I explored the area inside and out. We are robbed once again of the public lands our taxes pay for, in addition to the collateral damage.
To DH:
Don’t post to FR after you have been in the back yard flipping steaks and drinking beer..LOL!
You are gonna get your spelling wrong.
Yup, it's simply not fair to allow us to keep what we worked so hard for -- literally tilling the ground and figuratively by paying taxes. It's time to share it with the entire 3rd world that wants to come here and leave their sewage and waste on our lands. Murdering us along the way.
I note his account has been unbanned.
That’s okay, most of us read typo real well...
Don’t be surprised if things get worse.
Yes, that is what happens every time they concentrate on the areas in AZ and TX. Between the Ft Hancock, TX cartel seige or what ever it is being called and Rob Krentz being murdered in AZ I am sure both sides of me will get a lot of extra attention so we will have a lot more activity. We are expecting illegal traffic to pick up here. I am not sure why it is so hard for the government to figure out that they need to secure the entire border, not just push the illegal traffic around. Of course I came to the conclusion years ago that our government does not want to secure the border.
I feel for you...I wonder, think we can put enough pressure on Congress and DHS to take some proactive steps this time around...?
But this number isn’t high enough for Dem Cong Gutierrez and his 92 co-sponsors. Their Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill includes a provision called “recapture” that will add up all the supposedly “unused” work visas since 1992 and issue them immediately.
This is a complete fraud, as all unused work visas are rolled over to the family reunification category the next year as it is.
Gutierrez' Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill will create 100,000 visas from countries that send the most illegal immigrants every year. According to the State Department, this will mean 550,000 new foreign workers.
AND GET THIS Mexico is the staging area for Third World and other illegals preparing to violate our borders. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill rewards Mexico b/c they calculatedly promote illegal immigration.
Gutierrez' bill will make it much easier for more illegal aliens to break in. Under the Bill, to prove they have jobs and were in the country BEFORE Congress passed amnesty, illegals are allowed to use stolen ID's, fake green cards, and fraudulent SS numbers....... without fear of prosecution.
Mexico facilitates the profitable staging area for global illegals to cross the border. Contrary to Obama’s claim that CIR bill will increase border security, it does just the opposite.........
<> it guts successful enforcement measures,
<>limits raids on illegal immigrants,
<> prohibits use of troops on the border,
<> replaces E-Verify used to ensure employers hire legal American workers,
<> overturns all state and local US laws that crackdown on illegal immigration,
<> abolishes 287(g) that allows local L/E and federal authorities to apprehend criminal illegals.
Gutierrez makes Van Jones look like a patriot.
A US government report says Mexican criminal organizations have more than doubled heroin production in a year and have cemented their grip as the predominant wholesale suppliers of illicit drugs in the United States.
The National Drug Threat Assessment concluded that Mexican groups were the only drug trafficking enterprises operating in every region of the United States.(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
LET’S SEE IF WE GOT THIS RIGHT.
IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR.
IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY.
IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.
IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED.
IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.
IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.
IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT.
IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET:
* A JOB,
* A DRIVER’S LICENSE,
* SOCIAL SECURITY CARD,
* WELFARE,
* FOOD STAMPS,
* CREDIT CARDS,
* SUBSIDIZED RENT
* SUBSIDIZED LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE,
* FREE EDUCATION,
* FREE HEALTH CARE,
* A RIDE ON THE U.S. GRAVY WITH SEVERAL IDENTITIES,
* A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON,
* BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE,
* THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY’S FLAG WHILE YOU PROTEST THAT YOU DON’T GET ENOUGH RESPECT,
* AND THE U.S. POLITICAL/LEGAL SYSTEM AT YOUR DISPOSAL.
I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION!
I hope enough people will wake up to the threat of border issues- but the fact is most people either don’t care or rely on cheap labor. Honestly there seems to be little support to secure the border- even here on FR. Look at the small number of posts on the border threads. I think most of the posters that used to post here on the border threads were banned (as I was once for over a year) or left. It amazes me that so many cannot see how important it is to this country to secure the borders. Other countries seem to know this basic thing but not us.
Nope.
is No Listed on the othe Freeper Memorial Wall http://www.freerepublic.com/memorial/memorial.htm
Everything Be O.K.
Nothing to See,
Go back your American Idol!
Cochise StrongHold is My Favorite Camp and Hike Spot,
Very Cool Spot!
Ever get up in the Whetstones? I was reading an online article recently about the controversy over Cottonwood Springs vs. Iron Springs as the site of the Earp/Curly Bill shootout.
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