Published: 01.12.2008

BLM agent holds, cites Samaritan volunteer
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A Tucson woman who was volunteering with the Samaritans near Arivaca was cited by a Bureau of Land Management special agent Friday morning for creating a hazard.
The special agent cited Kathryn Ferguson, of Tucson, for a misdemeanor of creating a hazard or nuisance and then released her, said Carrie Templin, a BLM spokeswoman.
The special agent was out in the area along with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife officer, she said. No more details were available about what happened.
According to Margo Cowan, a local attorney and No More Deaths volunteer, Ferguson was on patrol near Arivaca with another woman and her son when a Department of Interior vehicle parked behind their vehicle on the side of Arivaca Road.
Ferguson is a member of the Samaritan Patrol group, a local faith-based group that gives water and medical aid to illegal immigrants during their desert treks.
The officers asked Ferguson who she was and what she was doing, and Ferguson responded by asking them the same thing, Cowan said.
She was behind their vehicle taking down its license plate number when some physical contact occurred between one of the officers and Ferguson, Cowan said.
She was detained before being cited and released, she said. Ferguson is a lifelong Tucson resident in her mid 50s.
No federal charges are pending, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

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