Posted on 10/28/2004 7:54:02 PM PDT by stopillegalimmigration
CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) - Gunfire and gang violence are alarming people in this farm town where the usual background noise is the reassuring chug of field machinery.
Since July, police have received more than 100 reports of shots fired in Caldwell, a town of 30,000 halfway between Boise and the Oregon line. Two young men have been killed and several more wounded in drive-by shootings. Police believe most of the violence is gang-related.
Authorities are increasing patrols, and for the first time, neighborhood watches are springing up in Caldwell, a community that for decades has typified small-town conservatism and the farmland work ethic. Many are asking themselves how big-city gang problems reached their quiet corner of the West.
"I can't let my kids go outside," said Maria Salenes. "I don't know what to do anymore, I'm so scared."
Gunfire has plagued Salenes' neighborhood in the past, but the trouble came too close on Oct. 11 when the 37-year-old mother of four heard a midday thump on her door. When she opened it, a man she did not know fell into her living room, mortally wounded in a drive-by.
"He was breathing real hard," she recalled. "He tried to tell me something, but it was his throat. He couldn't talk at all. I feel like nothing is safe."
Two men have been charged in the slaying of Sigmund Goode, 21. The shooting was the fourth in a week in the mostly Hispanic neighborhood of working-class homes and tree-lined streets where many people go home for lunch. It also follows the slaying of 22-year-old Carlos Chavez in August. No arrest has been made in that slaying.
For more than a century, Caldwell has been a hub for one of the most agriculturally productive counties in the nation. Hops, onions, potatoes, beans, sugar beets and hybrid sweet-corn are grown here.
Thanks to a booming state economy, Caldwell's population has jumped 16 percent in the past four years after growing 41 percent in the 1990s. The area has a long history of Hispanic farmworkers migrating here every year to work the summer crops. But since the 1990s, more and more of the families have been settling here.
Police said gang activity, involving both young Hispanics and whites, has grown with the population.
"Poverty in some places is part of it, the lack of parental control, both parents working to keep their heads afloat," said Canyon County prosecutor Dave Young.
Police Capt. Chris Allgood said he has spent most of his 41 years in Caldwell and watched as the town slowly changed. "Fifteen or 20 years ago, we used to have a homicide every three or four years, and now we have three or four every year," he said.
More than 150 people turned out for a recent community meeting at the Hispanic Cultural Center.
"I want to make it an area where my children can go outside and play in the yard and not worry about getting shot," said Jennifer Bennett, 33. "We want to take back our neighborhood."
Police said their efforts have been hindered by witnesses and victims who are afraid to cooperate.
"People in the neighborhoods are the key to solving these cases," Young said. "By not stopping it, you're enabling it. The frustration's just not from them. It's both sides. We're frustrated, too."
Unfortunately, moderates run the country because conservatives are too chicken sh!t to take a stand. In 2008, Hillary will be leading in the polls and conservatives, fearing a Hillary win will support whoever the GOP elite foists upon them. That person won't do a damn thing about illegal immigration.
Nothing will change until conservatives are willing to withold their support and form an irrestistble voting block that some candidate will reach out to. This means it may have to get worse before it gets better. Until then, conservative voters will be taken for granted as blacks have been for 40+ years.
I hear on good source that if Bush wins, he will cede Texas to Mexico. Foxx will rename it Texaco. Wonder if any truth to that rumor????
Be thankful for illegal Mexicans! They commit the crimes Americans are too lazy to commit. Our economy would grind to halt without their hard work trafficking drugs and shooting innocent bystanders!
The issue may reach a critical mass before 2008.
They'll spread to Boise like a swarm of locusts, destroying everything in their path.
I don't know what "critical mass" is supposed to mean, but if law-abiding American citizens ever stand up against the Mexican invasion using force, you'll see another Waco.
Are you a demon worshiper?
To think, all those Californicators who moved to Idaho to get away from the illegals. You can run, but they will follow you.
They're all over Twin Falls too. Lots and lots of them.
Bump for clarity many do gooders here don't want to hear cause they've grown soft.
That use to be to. It no longer is.
Now, some of the most vicious, brutal crimes are being perpetrated by those that have just recently broken into our country. Trust me. In Los Angeles and Chicago among other cities, dozens of recently arrived members of Salvadoran and Mexican gangs have left the landscape littered with their victims.
This is just another type of terrorism. It gets worse my friend.
A whole lot of events will probably lead up to that, potentially including, and sadly, the types of things you mention I am afraid.
Jeff, since you are from that area, explain to someone from the Southeast USA, where the Rocky Mountains seem like a different country, what the difference is between Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wymoing. In movies it seems like those 5 states are all the same. What are they all like and how are they different from each other?
And getting back to the subject of the thread, which states are being hit hardest by illegal immigration?
I don't know, would restraints, knowledge, and basing opinions of societal realities instead of irrational fear/hatred be considered demons? If so, then yes, I worship demons. Idiot.
All are being hit by illegal aliens coming in to work...problem is, in recent years, there are more and more of them, and more and more crime (especially drugs) associated with them.
Ah yes, I suppose you are right there. But I still think that stopping the entire flow of illegals into the nation is not the answer. I think anyone who automatically jumps to that conclusion is missing the point. But you sir, seem rational, at least.
We recently got back from Oregon in the late summer. I can honestly say, the place was crawling with them. My wife and I were stunned. It was truly unbelievable!
They're all over upcountry South Carolina, where my sister lives. Actually, there are more illegal Mexicans there than there are here in Seattle.
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