http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... 19gps.html

Border observers to carry GPS units for their safety


Decision made after gun-waving incident
By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 19, 2005

The observers who have been watching the self-appointed border watchers in East County have decided to start carrying global positioning units for safety following two gun-related incidents, they announced Monday.

The decision comes after the observers contacted sheriff's deputies last week to report a run-in with a member of a group called the California Minutemen, which has conducted armed patrols in the Campo area off and on since July.

Juan Gallegos, coordinator of the San Diego Legal Observer Coalition, said he and a few other observers were trying to make contact with a man camped out in a van on public property by the border fence the night of Oct. 10.

As they approached, the man rushed out waving a shotgun.

"He (came) out blazing mad, yelling obscenities and waving around his shotgun in a very aggressive manner," said Gallegos, who added that the observers had announced their presence and that he had spoken with the man before.

Linda Chase, whose husband Jim is the organizer of the California Minutemen, said observers were driving too fast toward the man's camp and that the driver looked "like a felon."

She said the patrol group is worried about security after reading in Soldier of Fortune magazine about bounties on border watchers.

The man with the shotgun told deputies he was acting in self-defense, and no charges were filed.

"There was no crime committed," Sgt. Mike Radovich said last week.

Two days later, two women who were trying to deliver a letter to Jim Chase said they heard a shot as they drove away after speaking with a member of the group, though they didn't know where it came from.

Chase, in an e-mailed response to Claudia Smith of the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, one of the women in the car, said he had learned she had been "shot at." He said the shot could have come from Mexico or from hunters.

"I am not responsible for animals, hunters, or people in Mexico," he wrote. "I am also not responsible for what I do not order or suggest."

The patrol group, unlike some others that watch for illegal border crossers, advocates carrying firearms and promotes an "official" rifle on its Web site.

The observer program was created by four area legal organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, to monitor border watch groups for any civil or human rights violations.

Three portable global positioning devices were donated to the observers by a technology program of the California Western School of Law in San Diego.

In use since last weekend, the devices allow the user's location to be pinpointed by others using a computer, allowing a user who is lost or injured to be found.

There were plans for observers to start using GPS later this year, said James Cooper, a California Western law professor who tested the equipment as part of an educational program.

The decision to start using the devices now was made after the incident involving the man with the shotgun.