Bus line offering tours of border

By Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 12:00 am

If you go

• Call Gray Line Tours of Tucson and ask for Chris DeSimone, 520-622-8811, ext. 3122

• Information also is available at www.graylinearizona.com

• Tours are expected to take place about twice a month, and can also be scheduled on specific dates for groups of sufficient size. The tours cost $75 per person for the standard bus or $89 per person for a luxury touring van. Lunch is included. A portion of the proceeds go to the Santa Cruz Community Foundation and Humane Borders.


NOGALES, Ariz. - An increased Border Patrol presence has improved security on his border ranch, Dan Bell tells the visitors. Then Bell adds he still lives with uncertainty because of the armed smugglers he encounters.

About 70 percent of the winter produce that enters the U.S. crosses through the Nogales ports of entry, Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, explains. But an insufficient number of port inspectors could push some of that business out of Arizona, he warns.

From the historic Rock Corral Ranch south of Tubac where he lives, Dr. William Neubauer said emphatically that he feels no danger living near the border.

The 12 people aboard the inaugural run Tuesday of the bus tour called "Border Crisis: Fact and Fiction" were given a chance to form their own opinions about the U.S. border region by hearing from people who live and work here.

The tour also included up close views of the port of entry and border fence in Nogales and a Humane Borders water tank near Arivaca.

"Take your own fact-finding mission on the U.S.-Mexico border," the promotional pamphlet from Gray Line Tours says. "Don't let the politicians and news broadcasters become your only source of information."

Gray Line Tours of Tucson organized the excursion in conjunction with Humane Borders and the Santa Cruz Community Foundation. The trips will be offered twice a month, or upon request for large groups. The all day tours, which include lunch, cost $75 per person.

"It's been very informative," said Ruth McClung, a Tucson engineer who opposed U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva in the 2010 Congressional District 7 election. "It's always interesting to hear from people that live down here and do business down here."

John and Judy McCaleb have lived in Tucson since the mid-1970s but said they wanted to learn more about what really happens on the border.

"You hear so many diverse tales. The only way to decide what's true is to come down and see it for yourself, said John McCaleb, who along with his wife owns McCaleb Construction, a remodeling company.

They enjoyed the day and said that anybody with interest in border issues should take the tour.

"The best compliment I can give is that I could spend two days doing this," John McCaleb said.

Tour guide Bob Feinman - a member of the Santa Cruz Community Foundation and Humane Borders - emphasized several times that the excursion was designed to be apolitical.

"We do not want you to feel we are twisting your arm," Feinman said. "The idea is that you find out for yourself. If your local elected official can have a fact-finding mission, why can't you?"

Feinman succeeded in maintaining his political neutrality as guide, but the tour was too heavy on residents trying to convince the participants the border region is safe and would be better with a presentation from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Jennifer Leslie, Arizona director of Smart Girl Politics, a conservative women's movement.

Leslie and friend Chayah Masters said they enjoyed the day but that it may be hard to convince people it's worth spending $75 without presentations from federal officials.

"I don't know who they are going to market this to," Masters said.

As is the case with many maiden voyages, the tour had a few hiccups.

After lunch in Rio Rico at the Fresh Produce Association offices, the group boarded a smaller bus to go see the border fence east of Nogales. But the bus was too heavy to make it all the way up a steep hill. The participants got out and walked a few hundred feet to the fence.

No one was complaining, but Felipe Garcia, of the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau, offered a suggestion:

"On the next tour, schedule lunch after this part of the tour," said Garcia, laughing.

Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

http://azstarnet.com/news/local/border/ ... 4eb6a.html