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Harley:
I forgot to reply to a couple of issues you raised in your post. First of all, it depends on who you talk to what they say about Jack Foote. For the purposes of the article I simply reported what the facts were. I also interviewed several people about Jack (and Jack himself) since he is a polarizing individual. Some didn't like him at all, but all agreed that Jack and the ranch owner got screwed over this Morris Dees law suit deal.
As far as the incident in 1985. What most folks don't realize is this border fight is not something new. This has been going on for years and the press and feds have paid no attention to it. We all say that we got what we deserve by not speaking up but the ONLY reason this has become big news is people started speaking up. The Minutemen, if you will remember, is what orginally got all of this stirred up as far as recognition of the problem. There are people on the border, good people, who have been battling this for years and no one seems to care because it's more important that "the poor Mexcian be able to come over here and better his life" and to hell with those who are having to put up with this stuff.
Here's something a trustworthy contact emailed to me last night. He also sent pictures to back up this story. This was a recent event. These invaders regularly haul duffels of dope across this location. The guy that sent this email is former BP and has detained a lot of illegals with dope for the BP. The illegals also drive through the fence with their vehicles. Running gun battles with BP are not isolated incidents. There have also been rapes of women by illegals in this location, so all the do-gooders can say what they want but they need to go there and talk to the people that are facing this stuff on a daily basis, not to mention work the border and see this stuff with their own eyes.
On Sunday 3-19-06 I was out at a friends ranch on the border helping them pick up some trash on the south end of their property when we saw something startling. During a curious absence of Border Patrol on the border road; we saw several vehicles drive right up to the fence from the south side. One of the vehicles carried several men who got out and began cutting through the border fence with a cutting torch. One of them appeared to have a rifle. They were almost done with the cutting by the time the Border Patrol showed up to stop them. When that happened all hell broke loose on the Mexican side of the fence. There was a lot of shouting in Spanish as the men quickly loaded up and all the vehicles raced off at a high rate of speed. Since I'm learning photography; I had my digital camera with me and managed to get some pictures (from a safe distance) of all this happening. I also got some pictures of the fence after it was cut and spoke with some of the Border Patrol agents who bravely responded to this incident.
Pic 1: A close up of the first truck to approach the fence from the south side. An orange glow is visible at the fence where the cutting torch is being used. A man with a long gun is standing at the passenger door.
Pic 2: As the cutting was nearly completed; four additional vehicles drove to the fence while a sixth vehicle appeared to serve as a lookout. A lone Border Patrol unit can be seen moving into the area with flashing lights at the top of the picture. Armed only with a .40 caliber handgun and facing heavily armed and violent smugglers; this took grit.
Pic 3: This side of the fence was cut to the ground in less than five minutes.
Pic 4: This side was a few minutes away from completion. The opening would have been large enough to drive a Humvee through. If the fence wasn't there these vehicles and their unknown cargo would be in the United States of America. Thankfully, the US Border Patrol, Army Corps of Engineers, and National Guard have provided these these force multiplying deterrents to prevent that.
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