Thread: South Padre Island / Precinct One Corruption & Border Wa

Posts Tagged ‘south padre island’
South Padre Island, Texas
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008


We camped on the beach for a few weeks. We decided then to use some of the free camping spots on the beach.

Worst mistake ever.



The police had been watching my family and had set a road block somewhere down the road and waited for them to drive down it.

They then pulled them out of the car at gunpoint, and made them get on their knees (in their shorts) on scalding hot cement.

The dug their hands through all of their belongings and treated them like drug dealers!

-Rick, Arkansas

http://dontgothere.org/tag/south-padre-island


Submit a place not to visit

Fear Keeping Spring Breakers at Home?
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN3/10/08, 11:46 AM EDT

College students are avoiding once-popular border towns like South Padre Island.
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - Michigan State senior Paul Bonenberger avoided temptation during this island's season for wild spring break partying by leaving his passport at home.

"I've heard tons of (stuff) about the border," said Bonenberger, 21, two beers in hand and surrounded by hundreds of Midwestern spring breakers on the beach. "I've heard it's unsafe. I'm not about the border anymore, it's not worth the risk."

Once, most South Padre spring breakers visited nearby Matamoros, Mexico, for the touted "Two Nation Vacation."

But news of gun battles between soldiers and drug cartels in Mexican border cities this winter appears to have reached even the frigid campuses of the upper Midwest. Tourists have not been targeted, but students and tourism officials on both sides of the border say spring breakers are keeping their toes in U.S. sand this year.

The young, tan masses have not been surveyed lately, but Dan Quandt, executive director of the island's convention and visitors' bureau, said "we have noticed over the past few years a decline in the number of students going to Matamoros."

Debra Fassold, who manages a cross-border shuttle service, said she used to ferry several hundred spring breakers daily and now gets only a few dozen. She has canceled night trips.

"I've had no reason to schedule them this year," Fassold said, adding that no one has even asked for the once-popular excursion.

Those partying on South Padre Island said they opted to stay domestic this year not just because of safety concerns, but also because of tighter identification requirements for returning to the U.S.

Rachel Padgett, of Austin, has been coming to South Padre Island for more than half her life. It was traditional to go over to Matamoros for a haircut and to shop for jewelry, but not this year, said the 21-year-old Michigan State student.

"Not right now, there's a drug war," Padgett said.

Students from the University of Texas and Texas A&M descend on South Padre this week, the apex of spring break on the dune-covered island off the coast of South Texas.

Matamoros and other border cities in Mexico are now patrolled by Mexican soldiers sent to the border to quell drug cartel violence. Their armored personnel carriers and machine guns are far from inviting.

Arturo Morales, tourism promotion director for Matamoros, said the military is there to protect residents and tourists.

Morales said fewer spring breakers were visiting the city across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, but said spring breakers need to learn more about the military's security role. Morales noted Winter Texans — northerners who spend the winter in Texas and then return home in the spring — have become accustomed to the military presence and continue visiting border cities.

Some students have crossed the border without worry. Joseph Cook and Ariela Ruiz, students at Evangel University in Missouri, enjoyed a day of shopping and sight-seeing on the recommendation of the concierge at their hotel.

They drove to Brownsville, walked across the bridge and took a taxi to Matamoros' main market area. They saw federal soldiers stopping and checking cars, but had no problems.

Asked if anyone had warned them about going to Mexico, Cook said: "Just my parents. They said 'be careful.'"

Flores pushes for gambling at South Padre Island, multi-use school.
The Monitor (McAllen, TX) | February 1, 2005 | Copyright


Feb. 1--AUSTIN -- Kino wants Keno to help pay for Texas schools.

State Rep. Ismael "Kino" Flores, D-Mission, plans to file a series of bills in the coming days that would allow casinos to operate at South Padre Island and allow slot machines at select racetracks around the state, including one of two proposed racetracks in Hidalgo County.

Another of his proposals would allow gamblers to bet on the game "Keno" along with bingo at bingo halls.

Gambling proceeds paid to the state would be earmarked for education, he…

http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=749116

.
Coast Guard Seizes 1,012 Pounds of Marijuana
U. S. Coast Guard
January 28, 2005

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - A joint team from Coast Guard Station South Padre Island and the Coast Guard Investigative Service located and seized 1,012 pounds of marijuana on the beaches of South Padre Island, Thursday.

At 3 p.m. a watchstander at Coast Guard Station South Padre Island received a call from the Cameron County Park Police of possible illegal activity on South Padre Island Beach. The station dispatched their K9 team and notified Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), who responded with one special agent.

Once on scene they began to search the beach for possible contraband hidden in the sand dunes five miles north of beach Access Six. The CGIS special agent noticed an area of sand that had been recently brushed to hide footprints. Using the K9 team's narcotics dog, they were alerted to a small depression between two dunes and uncovered 20 bales of marijuana.

The bales were turned over to agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

How is that relevant to this forum? I will tell you, that sets public policy; he also employs a lot of people, thus directly and indirectly contributing to trends and STATISTICS the rest of us live with--like rent and mortgages;

And INS will NEVER raid his businesses because in this country people like him have immunity from. . .

. . .and thus the giant stumbles, her feet unable to carry her further, unmatched labor for an obese frame. . .

Re: Spring Break in Matamoros
From the Port Isabel Press:

BORDER WARNING FOR STUDENT TRAVELERS

By LOGAN HAWKES
Port Isabel-South Padre PRESS


With the start of the spring season this week on South Padre Island, U.S. State Department and U.S. Consulate officials are warning students to avoid excursions into drug war plagued border cities in country-regionMexico including CityReynosa and placeCityMatamoros.


The U.S. Consulate office in placeCityReynosa was closed last week and personnel recalled from the border city after a rash of violent outbreaks between rival cartel gangs and with the Mexican military left at least 24 dead in just under a week. A special travel advisory was issued Wednesday warning of sporadic outbreaks of violence and advising country-regionU.S. citizens to exercise extreme caution when crossing into placecountry-regionMexico from Valley land ports.


Tour companies and other businesses that rely on spring break crowds in South Texas are concerned that the travel advisory may deter some students from traveling to placeStateTexas this year. Yet others are saying the widespread violence all across country-regionMexico may cause students to shy away from favorite and popular Mexican destinations and opt to spend time on the lower placeStateTexas coast instead. Most agree, however, that heightened violence in cities like CityReynosa and placeCityMatamoros is cause for alarm and advice spring breakers planning a border excursion to exercise extreme caution.


In the month of January alone, over 1,000 live have been lost to the growing violence, many of them innocent bystanders including women and children. Last week, 24 violent deaths were confirmed in four border cities across the river from the placePlaceNameRio Grande PlaceTypeValley and tension continues to mount as the drug war escalates to historic proportions. On Thursday a grenade attack on a placeCityReynosa police station was reported and more automatic gunfire erupted in "hot spots" throughout the city.


In January, during a special community wide tourist reception for winter visitors in the small and quaint town of Progreso, drug violence between the Mexican military and drug gangs erupted about a block away from where thousands of U.S. seniors were gathered to enjoy a “welcome Back Partyâ€

http://www.spiforum.org/spiforum/showthread.php?t=2456

Guess why the Mexicans are killikng each other?

Because there are many greedy people in American wanting to buy and resell their drugs;

Just think what will happen to border communities like South Padre Island and Cameron County when people in America can no longer afford to buy drugs--will we out source our illegal drug use?

In states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and California, where marijuana has been legalized, have the cartels lost power?

What would happen if marijuana was legalized in Texas, and Willie Nelson was selling it instead of the cartels?

Could we once again regain control of our border?