Pat Dollard

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Two new volunteers have joined us, who many of you know as regular commenters here, Grizz and Reloader. To give you some perspective on what some of the guys on the ground are seeing, here’s a report from them on their first day in the field.

- Pat Dollard

On The Border – S.A.F.E. Citizen’s Report

Arrived Nogales, AZ approximately 10:00 AM. Day One …

Vehicle Recon West of Nogales on Highway 289, scoping out the dirt roads that head South. Highway 289 is about 4 miles from the border in Nogales, but approaches to less than two miles at one point running West. We’ve been advised there are armed spotters on the south side, probably on various high points of the terrain. Our job is preliminary recon of the terrain and the town, to get an idea of the lay of the land.

Almost immediately we noticed Border Patrol vehicles off in the distance, up on high ground. Before long we came upon a Border Patrol vehicle, and the two officers were out of the vehicle and searching in the trees near the road. We stopped introduced ourselves as civilian patrol and bloggers interested in the truth of what is going on out here. The officers were busy, the one we spoke to said as much, and we said we didn’t need anything and would perhaps see them around in the coming days and weeks.

Heading further West toward Sasabe, we don’t notice obvious trails coming up from the south. Trails from the border would have to cross the east-west running road. Perhaps due to the terrain and/or rather intensive operations by the Border Patrol. This is in the area nearer Nogales, within 15 miles of I-19.

Checking the map, we’re not quite halfway along the road. We figure by now, after meeting two or three more Border Patrol vehicles that the first ones have radioed ahead. “Yeah, two Crackers in a Pickup. They’re harmless.” We pass and say how ya doin’ to a total of 7 or 8 Border Patrol units, each with two officers, and one DHS agent in a vehicle. Vehicles appear to be evenly spaced at a regular interval we won’t actually specify here. None of officers seem interested in talking with us.

We decide that we need to find out more about what they’re dealing with, apparently using other means. On our very first day.

We set GPS location coords for a few interesting spots along the road. We take photographs. The ranch at Ruby has a sign reading “Closed for the summer.” At three PM in August, it is rather warm and uncomfortable out.

Further along the road, we see two vehicles and 3 or 4 armed men standing around them. They don’t appear to be law enforcement.

The men are other patriots like us. We stop and talk with them for almost an hour. One said, “yeah, f-ing drug cars come flying down this road at night. There is only activity at night out here. That Border Patrol base you saw back there? That place is lit up like a Christmas tree at night, and they stay inside. And out here in the valleys and draws, they come north by the hundreds.”

We ask what the town of Arivaca is like at night. This is a very small town further west of us still, and it’s where we’re heading hoping to buy gas for the truck.

“Drug cars go flying through Arivaca, too. Folks have said they tear through yards and laundry hanging out, and one lady found several hiding in her shed last year.” These patriots operate mostly at night. That is our plan, as well.

We took a few more photos and set another GPS waypoint on the way to Arivaca. In town, getting gas for the truck, we spoke to the gentleman at the other pump. He asked if we have “been out playing in the hills?” He says he’s lived here more than thirty years, a trapper and miner with several claims.

“We have to lock everything up here or it gets taken, folks find bodies- it’s a war zone. Sittin’ on a hill lookin’ with binoculars ain’t gonna do sh*t,” he says. “You know how we could solve this? With all of these hunters and trappers out here, just put a bounty on smugglers and drug runners. The problem would be gone in three months.”

Such is life down here for Americans. Gotta go, I hear an ice cream truck.