I hope this is the right place to put this.

I belong to an immigrant/latino group. I just keep track of what they are saying and how they feel about the enforcement in some states/cities. It's www.hispanictips.com . If you join you get a daily email M-F. This was there today. I like the comments too.

************************************************** *

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valley ... _on_bi.php

Latino Bar Business Down on Big Fight Night, Thanks to Sheriff Joe What's-His-NameMon Jul 28, 2008 at 10:08:16 AM
By Paul Rubin

Mexican welterweight boxer Antonio Margarito's surprising 11th-round TKO stoppage of previously unbeaten Puerto Rican champ Miguel Cotto was one of the more stirring sporting events we've witnessed in a while (at least since gimpy-legged Tiger Woods limped to victory in the U.S. Open over a wonderful journeyman named Rocco Mediate last month).


That's Margarito on the left, pounding Cotto late in the Vegas bout, which certainly will be a huge contender for Fight of the Year.

We watched the pay-per-view event on a large screen from a front-row seat at a popular west Phoenix bar in which English was not the first language of, say, 90 percent of the patrons.

We have attended fights there before, and always enjoyed the "festive atmosphere" β€” translation: watch yourself at all times β€” at the joint. Actually, it's a pretty friendly place, especially if the Mexican kicks butt against the Puerto Rican, which happened on Saturday night.
Attendance at the large bar (it's actually two bars in one, one karaoke-themed and the other that often features a live band) for the fight was decent, a few hundred people who had paid $20 to get in.

But several regulars told us that business overall at the bar and at many other Latino-oriented businesses on the west side and all over the Valley palpably has hit the skids in recent months.

The explanation for this anecdotal decline, according to everyone with whom we spoke is one word, spit out like an expletive: ARPAIO.

According to our barroom jibber-jabberers, a whole bunch of folks who would have been spending a whole bunch of money at this joint and elsewhere have returned to Mexico or relocated to other states.

One guy who hasn't fled the local immigration gendarmes told us that his family near Hermosillo, Mexico, desperately needs him to stay at his decent-paying carpentry gig here as long as possible, so he's taking his chances. That fellow said (very rough translation here) that he's counting on the sheriff to take a 10-count against opponent Dan Saban in the election about three months down the road.

We told him (this was before the fight) that underdog Margarito had a much better chance to beat Cotto than Saban has to beat the still-politically formidable Arpaio. Then again, Buster Douglas was a 42-1 underdog against Mike Tyson in their February 1990 heavyweight title fight in Tokyo.

Result: Douglas by TKO in the 10th round.

*************************************************
5 Comments:
Sam says:
We're hoping it doesn't take 10 rounds. We'll need a little help from the crowd, though.

"Anybody But Joe" won't be on the ballot, so get used to the name, Dan Saban. He'll be your next Maricopa County Sheriff...
Cheers,
Sam
President, ASU For Dan Saban

Posted at: July 28, 2008 1:01 PM

Jr. says:
BTW that had to be the fight of the year hands down!

Posted at: July 28, 2008 4:27 PM

CooperG says:
Saban will be on KFYI tomorrow morning with Bruce Jacobs. I'll bet Arpaio doesn't have the guts to appear on KPHX with Jeff Farias.
Posted at: July 28, 2008 5:03 PM

Saban52 says:
How cute! Dan Saban has his 14 supporters writting in. I guess that's what you need to do when you can't raise money in a campagin. He knows the New Times will post anything for him and certainly won't ask any tough questions. Saban will open the door and welcome every illegal alien he can get into this state. He is already said he will not enforce illegal immigration.

Posted at: July 28, 2008 9:52 PM

come on! says:
14 supporters?!! Come on now - he must have a lot more than that, that's just the number of ex-wives Saban has. What a great good and sincere christian man??!! I guy who exposes himself to children at his retirement party, moons a group of kids at the zoo, which his brother video tapes and of course rapes his mom. He doesn't need a badge he needs a shrink!!

Posted at: July 28, 2008 9:59 PM