Posted on 8/11/2002, 4:42:51 AM by Tancredo Fan
BY BILL HESS
Herald/Review
8/10/02
SIERRA VISTA -- While protesters picketed in front of Roger Barnett's Fry Boulevard business Saturday morning, he was miles away on his Douglas ranch rounding up illegal immigrants.
Shortly before 10 a.m., nine people with picket signs gathered to challenge Barnett's practice of apprehending illegal immigrants and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.
While Barnett wasn't at the business, one of his ardent supporters was. A couple of times during the protest, which lasted less than hour, the exchange between the two sides became heated.
Jim Copper, who organized the event, found himself in a verbal battle with Douglas resident Larry Vance, a friend of Barnett. The two men exchanged heated words often resorting to swearing at each other.
Vance said the blood of the illegal immigrants trying to cross the border is on the hands of people like the protesters who are not pressuring the United States and Mexican governments to control the situation along the international boundary.
As vehicles went by, some individuals honked horns in support of the protesters, while other people yelled epithets at them.
One man pulled into the parking lot of Barnett's business and yelled at the protesters, accusing them of supporting "an anti-American illegal invasion."
The protesters came from Sierra Vista, Benson, Bisbee, Tombstone, Palominas, Double Adobe, Douglas and Tucson. They asked people to boycott Barnett's propane and towing company. They carried signs with slogans such as "Vote with your wallet," "Un-American, antigovernment, paramilitary," "Cooperation, not just deportation," "Scapegoats lead to fascism," "Stop deaths in the desert," "Hate is not a family value" and "Looking for work is not a crime."
A sign saying "no vigilantes," left Vance fuming.
Vance told Cooper his father was a legal Mexican immigrant. "I'm not against immigration, I'm against illegal immigration," Vance said.
The actions of protesters like Cooper are making a mockery out of the immigration laws of the United State, and that is why people like Barnett have to be involved in protecting their property, he said.
Reached by telephone Saturday morning, Barnett said the sensors on his Douglas ranch had picked up two groups of illegal immigrants crossing his property early Saturday morning.
He called the Border Patrol. Agents found one group of 13. Barnett then encountered another group -- nine women and 18 men -- and turned them over to the Border Patrol.
He said the group he encountered about two miles from his home was tired and wet following Friday night's big storm.
Late Saturday morning, the sensors were tripped again, and Barnett headed out to see if he could find more illegal immigrants.
As for the protesters in front of his Sierra Vista business, Barnett said "They are just as passionate about their cause as I am about mine."
Vance said that people like Barnett have saved illegal immigrants' lives, while those like Cooper give illegal border-crossers "false hope."
Cooper disagreed.
He said his group wants a more humane immigration policy. He said they are concerned about the number of illegal immigrants dying while trying to make the crossing.
He agreed with Vance that the federal governments of the United States and Mexico must do more, but he envisions a more open border policy not one that is more restrictive.
Cooper believes a new guest-worker program is the solution. Vance said such a proposal will only create a desire for more people to enter the country, and the illegal crossings will continue.
One of the protesters, Cecile Lumer of Bisbee, said she supports an economic boycott against Barnett because she considers him a vigilante.
The retired educator also is against him placing sensors on state land he leases and patrolling state land while armed.
Lumer said Barnett should not be allowed to lease state land. He has about 15,000 acres he leases from the state.
In a handout, the protesters call the state's lease to Barnett a "playground that these vigilantes use for their dark un-American hobbies."
Emilie Vardaman of Palominas said it is Barnett's actions that are prompting the private American Border Patrol to come into Cochise County.
If the U.S. government would change its immigration policy to a more enlightened one, there would be no problem and the private group, which she described as being vigilantes in action, would have no need to be in the county.
The American Border Patrol, headed by Californian Glenn Spencer, has stated it will move to the county and set up operations by Sept. 1. The stated purpose of the organization is to provide information about illegal activities along the border to the American people and law enforcement.
The protesters contend Barnett and other supporters of the American Border Patrol will end up in a deadly confrontation with people crossing the border.
All crime involes risk. Solution: fix your own nasty homeland. Don't invade ours.
The answer will lie IMHO with someone walking into these idiots backyard and frying up Fido or Kitty for lunch and leaving a big brown curly on their porch , the hose bib running water down the block and stealing the laundry off the clothes line before "they" get it....
They will not put up with such in their homes so why do they demand Mr Barnett and others subjected to such do so ?
Seditious bunch of idiots and the presstitute's who support em........Bet that specially dispatched FiBi wasn't watching them TM :o)
Stay Safe Ya'll !
Sorry, sorry "protest." These morons either lack public support at all or just can't organize. Remember when Freepers turned out 400 at every Klinton fundraiser early in Monicagate? That's a "protest!"
IMMIGRATION resource library - including local INS numbers near you!
If I'd known this crap was going on in my town today, I would have stood alongside Vance and got in the faces of those 9 idiots. The nerve of these people to protest a man for protecting his own property.
I'll be watching for this now and be ready to stand up against those turds next time they come to town. I'm going to call Roger tomorrow and get the whole story on this.
Posted wirelessly from my PocketPC.
No they won't, unless a democrat is in the white house. Then they'll feign outrage and sob . Imbeciles, all of them.
I've lived in southern California all my life, and from my experience, the only people who agree with illegal immigration are those who have either family ties or business ties to hispanics. The rest of us are sick of it. They will deny that they have ties, but I don't believe it. There's some connection, otherwise they would be sick and tired of paying for this mess and watching their towns turn into slums. I'll get flamed for this, but it's the truth.
Jim Cooper - former biologist for U.S. Forest Service for 28 years. Quit in January 2002 because the agency was not being as radically environmentalist as he desired.
Wife is Patricia Cooper, works as Chief Legal Officer for Arizona Electric Power Cooperative in Benson, Arizona.
Both are active in the Cochise County Democrat Party. Patricia Cooper is currently serving as the Party Secretary.
Jim Cooper is a leading member of the radical open-border group called Humane Borders. This group of idiots is partially responsible for the rising number of deaths of illegal aliens. Word of their water stations gets to those contemplating a border crossing attempt and it sadly gives them a false confidence to attempt a dangerous crossing through the desert in the hot summer. These groups are doing the aliens no favors at all.
Cooper thinks that those who vandalize or steal his tanks are actually not the aliens themselves (who are known for leaving the spigots open and letting the water drain from tanks, among other stupid things) and instead he thinks it is the work of "racists". I guess those who desire that the laws be enforced are racist to this jackass, or he just cheapens the word by calling everyone who disagrees with his warped view a "racist".
Emilie Vardaman - listed as living in Palominas in the article but other online sources say she lives in Bisbee, Arizona (a former mining town that was discovered by hippies in the 60's. Now is a community almost entirely made up of radical, aging hippies who promote socialism, open borders, gay rights, etc. Almost completely Democrat and Green Party.)
Emilie is an instructor at Cochise College in Douglas, Arizona and serves on the Curriculum Committee. She's is an organizer of a radical open-border group called Citizens for Border Solutions who has connections to more radical groups such as SWARM.
Vardaman Quote:
"We're horrified with the number of deaths, many of which are literally in our back yards,"
"We know what it feels like to live in a police state. You can't turn around without seeing a vehicle with lights and armed people.
"Every day I see people hiding in bushes."
Cecile Lumur claims to be a retired educator in the article. There are many references on the Internet to Lumur being some sort of biologist.
Lumur is a member of the Citizens for Border Solutions mentioned above. This group hold regular protests in Douglas, Arizona where they hold up crosses and wave at cars. Also, when members of the group see immigrants being held by the U.S. Border Patrol, they stop and give the people cards explaining their civil rights in Spanish.
Lumur Quote:
“It’s murder. There is a viciousness behind current immigration policy. The only thing that will stop death at the border is when people can walk through the door like a human being.”
If I were in Arizona I'd be there. I'm sure there are many Sierra Vistans and others from the border counties who would participate. You might want to check with American Patrol, Wes Bramhall in Tucson, or maybe even Roger Barnett or Larry Vance. The ones to hit are Bill Hess, the slimy Sierra Vista Herald 'reporter', John Fife, the aider and abetter of illegals who runs 'Humane Borders', and any organization involved with that lousy a$$, including the ones at the BP who are letting him get away with is criminal activities.
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