Thread: Slayings of Chilean Students Send a Bad Message - Updated

(I changed the original title to accomodate addition "Updated".)

Slayings of Chilean students send a bad message to world

March 13, 2009

The value we place on human life is determined by different things: wealth, accomplishments, companionship, celebrity and apparently even U.S. citizenship status.

On Feb. 26, five Chilean students were gunned down in Miramar Beach near Destin. Two were killed, one remains hospitalized.

Reports say the disturbed shooter was known to make anti-immigrant remarks.

The students were in Northwest Florida legally on an international work program.

Whether they were here legally or not, they're human, and now two are dead.

Latinos worried about potential violence after politicians campaigned to eradicate our community of illegal aliens, and people fell for it.

I questioned how one determines citizenship while grocery shopping.

Nonetheless, after the ballots were counted and jobs secured, we're left to deal with residual solicited expressions of hate and intolerance.

The FBI reported that hate crimes nationwide, especially against Latinos, have been on the rise for the past four years — about as long as politicians have been addressing the current "immigration problem."

This week Chilean media contacted me to ask how we were coping.

I didn't have the heart to tell them the majority of Pensacola doesn't even know about the killings.

Many local Latino residents learned about the shooting from family members who called from across the nation and around the world worried about our safety after reading the news. It's out there.

International reports explained the shooting took place in Miramar Beach "near Pensacola." Northwest Florida is currently representing the United States to the world with this story, and the message is "immigrants, especially Latinos, are not welcome here."

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Liza Jackson Park in Fort Walton Beach on U.S. 98.

Officials who have opened forums about immigration, promoted foreign diplomacy or diversity are invited and asked to agree to respect all human life equally, to represent all citizens regardless of race or ethnicity whenever we work to resolve policies, and to please leave immigration enforcement to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Perhaps we'll send a new message to South America and the world that Northwest Florida is a peace-loving, caring community; and don't worry, Mom and Dad, we're OK; and to the kids' families, our sincerest sympathies.

Grace Resendez McCaffery is the president of Latino Media Gulf Coast Inc. (www.latinomediainc.com). She is editor of La Costa Latina newspaper and an Escambia County resident since 1993.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090313/OPI ... 1020/RSS03

I questioned how one determines citizenship while grocery shopping.

Well, I determine citizenship at the grocery store all the time when most of the people I ask where to find a product, and they don't understand one word, but call the manager. While I cannot determine legality, I can determine citizenry, as I think that requires enough of an understanding of English to pass an exam.
I am getting real tired of the fuzzy lines being drawn between citizenship and legal immigration with no mention of illegal immigration, which is our largest concern. Legal immigrants may not be citizens. Illegal immigrants do not need to be washed with the same brush as those who followed the law. Those who follow the law would appreciate that.

Demanding that our laws be enforced and illegal invaders be deported has nothing to do with some lunatic who shoots four people without provocation. Once again, we have an illegal invader advocate who will attempt to use this shooting to further his pro-illegal agenda.

Reports say the disturbed shooter was known to make anti-immigrant remarks

I would like to know his source for this statement....

NoBueno,

I think you could contact her with this information from the article:

Grace Resendez McCaffery is the president of Latino Media Gulf Coast Inc. (www.latinomediainc.com). She is editor of La Costa Latina newspaper and an Escambia County resident since 1993.

This is an awful story. These kids did not deserve to be injured or killed by this madman.

That being said, the man was mad, otherwise this would not have happened. It did not happen because he was sane and just hated anyone with an accent. No, it happened because he was nuts and an idea took in his mind and he went crazy over it.

There are millions of Americans, law abiding, and compassionate, who do feel that our laws are not being enforced and that illegal immigration is rampant. We do not go out gunning down illegal aliens with a Hispanic accent because of it, that is a special case, from the mind of one lone madman, he DOES NOT represent the rest of the Americans who want our laws enforced.

Seems that these OBL kinds would like to run with these kinds of stories and use them to make it seem as though we ALL are madmen/women, out there, ready to gun down people with Hispanic accents (as indicated in the column).

Reports say the disturbed shooter was known to make anti-immigrant remarks.

Is that it (the only evidence to support calling this a hate crime)? IMO, that's pretty thin evidence to substantiate any claim of a hate crime. Oops, that's right, the police haven't called this a hate crime yet. However, it is definitely being twisted into a hate crime by an editor of the La Costa Latina newspaper. For all we know right now this could have been a robbery attempt. The article doesn't specify on exactly why the shooting happend but it darn sure speculates!

Memorial service held for two slain Chilean students
March 16, 2009 - 4:12 PM
Mona Moore

FORT WALTON BEACH - One day after Francisco Cofre was to learn of the death of his fiancé, Racine BalbontÃ*n-Argandoña, the Emerald Coast honored her life.

A memorial service was held in Liza Jackson Park in memory of BalbontÃ*n-Argandoña, 22, and Nicolás Pablo Corp-Torres, 23, victims of the Feb. 26 shooting that shocked Northwest Florida.

Dannie Baker, 60, is accused of firing into the Summer Lake townhome complex, killing the two Chilean students and wounding three others.

Baker is in the Walton County Jail awaiting an April 21 plea date where his lawyer expects to enter a written plea of not guilty. He's being held on two murder charges, assault with a deadly weapon and firing missiles into a dwelling.

Baker was known for being outspoken about his disdain for illegal immigration.

"These kids had nothing to do with immigration or politics," said Grace Resendez McCaffery, president and CEO of La Costa Latina magazine, which organized the memorial to help the community heal.

"They were beautiful, they were bright, they were young," McCaffery said. "They were here to experience America, and they went home in a coffin. I just don't think we could've gone without some acknowledgment of that."

Cofre, 25, could not attend Sunday's ceremony. He is listed in fair condition at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola after being shot in the head and neck during the incident.

Sebastian Arizaga, 27, was released from the hospital Tuesday after being treated for a gunshot wound to his hand and shoulder. He is in Maryland with family.

David Alonzo Bilbao, 21, attended Sunday's ceremony after doctors removed the bullet that had been lodged in his left arm. In a few years, the biomedical engineering student will be working to heal the arms of others.

As a choir sang a bilingual rendition of Amazing Grace, Bilbao sat in the front row staring at the pictures of his slain friends.

Through an interpreter, he later said that he had not felt the reality of their deaths until the service.

"This was good for the healing process. I know I have to get over this tragedy," he said.

In addition to the service, two accounts have been set up to benefit the students and their families. Fort Walton Beach resident Luis Ramos started an account at Eglin Federal Credit Union. Former State Sen. Charlie Clary started an account at Beach Community Bank.

Donations can be made at any branch. Mention the money should go to the Chilean students.

On the night of the attack, the students were planning excursions to other parts of the United States. Bilbao said he and Corp-Torres were looking forward to a trip to New Orleans before their March 8 return home.

Bilbao will remain in the United States until pins are removed from his arm. He has no plans to make that trip to New Orleans but says he will return to the United States and encourage others to visit.

"This perpetrator is not what I know of the rest of the United States," Bilbao said. "Now, they have two angels that are going to watch over them when they travel."

http://www.waltonsun.com/news/walton_28 ... fianc.html

I remember the time that tourists in rental cars were being killed in Florida. There was a German couple killed in Miami. That's why Fla. did away with decals marking a car as a rental. I don't remember the German press and/or German writers making a racial issue out of it.

It was greed, tourists are known to carry money and not being aware of where they are. It's a worldwide phenomenon.

May the ones killed rest in peace and the killer pay.

I just have to say I do not think this guy was right in his mind to do such a thing. I cannot believe he harbored such hatred, that in a sane mind, he would have the capacity for this. But this is not what you'll hear form the liberal OBL media about it.

I hope that justice will be served for this situation and the families can find a little solace in knowing the killer has been caught and will be tried (convicted and sentenced, we hope, to never go free).

Illinois Needs Our Help Patriots!!!

Please join in here:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-866684.html#866684