Thread: Threats have rallied Hudspeth residents

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Threats have rallied Hudspeth residents

Ramon Renteria
El Paso Times
Sunday, February 19, 2006

FORT HANCOCK -- Big-city worries invaded Jose Franco's once tranquil turf.

The Fort Hancock school superintendent now has a police radio in his office with access to law enforcement. Uniformed officers now guard the two public schools in this farming town of about 1,800 because officials say suspected drug smugglers recently threatened Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies and their families in Fort Hancock.

"I don't think we're in the panic stage," Franco said. "The staff is doing an excellent job reassuring children that they're safe."

Franco, a Fort Hancock native, is responsible for almost 600 students.

Hudspeth County sheriff's officials and the 1,700-square-mile school district elevated security after three men in an older-model Ford Bronco approached a deputy sheriff's wife and warned her to tell her husband to stop patrolling the Rio Grande. Almost a month ago, sheriff's deputies and other law enforcement officials said they chased three SUVs loaded with marijuana back to the river and were confronted by Mexicans dressed in military uniforms and armed with large-caliber weapons.

The standoff at a remote border spot between Fort Hancock and Sierra Blanca has sparked investigations.

Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West said he wants to meet this week with local, state and federal law enforcement officials throughout the region to discuss a team approach to fighting drug smugglers.

The Apostolic Church in Sierra Blanca, about 88 miles southeast of El Paso on Interstate 10, planned a prayer service today for all law enforcement officers in Hudspeth County as a show of support.

Superintendent Franco welcomed the added cushion of security, with deputy sheriffs and staff looking out for strangers. He and others in Fort Hancock acknowledge that illegal drug shipments through rural Hudspeth County have been common for years.

"We're like mother hens right now," Franco said. "We do have children whose parents are in law enforcement. Those are the ones that we're really keeping an eye on."

Fort Hancock resident Maira Muñoz, 24, doesn't have children in school, but she worries about her brother's children.

"You worry that they could be in danger or that innocent people could get hurt," Muñoz said.

At Angie's Restaurant, a popular hangout in Fort Hancock, someone transformed a newspaper image of U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, into a caricature of the devil. Reyes' popularity took a dive in the area after he testified in Congress that the border standoff in Hudspeth County might have been exaggerated.

However, at Reyes' behest, the Texas Rangers are looking into the alleged threats made against family members of Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies.

Locals like Terry Rose, who runs a farm and garage in Fort Hancock, complain that border security is becoming more of a local law enforcement responsibility.

"The problem is we don't have enough law enforcement. Our border is a federal issue," Rose said. "The federal government has let us down for 50 damn years, and it's time they stepped up to the plate."

Just a week ago, deputies stopped and questioned a middle-aged woman who had been spotted shooting photographs at Fort Hancock schools. The passing motorist turned out to be a former resident reliving memories.

"We felt bad about it, but you can't take any chances," Sheriff West said at his Sierra Blanca office. "It's a scary deal."

West and El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego testified recently in Washington, D.C., about escalating violence associated with drug trafficking. West is confident Congress will respond with more resources for the border.

"We've come a long way since the incident on the 23rd. It took rattling a bunch of cages and beating on a bunch of drums," West said. "Now, my goal is to bring all the agencies together to work together to catch the bad guys."

West acknowledged that except for the recent Fort Hancock encounter, some threats against law enforcement have been mostly rumors.

"We're taking the necessary precautions to make sure they don't follow up with these threats," he said. "Some of the local ranchers and farmers have armed themselves. They feel like we do: 'Enough is enough; we're not taking this crap anymore.' "

West insists that he's not pulling his deputies away from the border.

"We're not backing down. We're not running from anybody," he said. "If it takes all-out war with them, we'll do all-out war."

West held up a 1977 newspaper clipping depicting U.S. and Mexican wreckers in a tug of war, trying to pull a Ford Bronco half-submerged in the muddy river near La Hacienda Restaurant in El Paso with 550 pounds of marijuana. The standoff, which the United States won, attracted 500 spectators.

"The Mexican government is still not really willing to clean up its own mess," West said. "They condoned it then, and they condone it now."

Sara Ibarra, 27, a secretary for the Texas Department of Public Safety in Sierra Blanca, described how almost everybody in the county has been affected by the alleged recent threats against law enforcement.

"The law enforcement people are like family. When things get tough, we're united and supporting each other," Ibarra said. "Right now, we're very afraid for our law enforcement officers and their families, with the threats and all these things happening."

Adela Morales organized the Sierra Blanca prayer service for deputies, state troopers, U.S. Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officials.

"We don't want anything to happen to them," Morales said. "Right now, they need the Lord's protection more than anybody else."

Morales grew up in Sierra Blanca, moved to El Paso and then returned home so her children could enjoy the same small-town upbringing, once considered so safe that most people did not lock their homes or cars.

"Now," Morales said, "we don't feel like we can have that confidence."

Ramón Renteria may be reached at rrenteria@elpasotimes.com; 546-6146.

And what do you hear from the White House and our Dept of Homeland Un-security regarding this? That's right............NOTHING!!!! Is it going to take a border patrol or law enforcement officer or his family being murdered for them to do something??

Oh, yeah, I forgot........these are the people who are doing jobs that no American will do. And.........family values don't stop at the Rio Grande! Sir, I am sick and tired of you saying the same crapola over and over.