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This website got rid of a few headaches back in April when we adopted Ravenscript’s version of php-nuke. Site traffic increased threefold overnight, no doubt due to better functionality. Raven promises something new and different for his next big release. We bet it’s way cool. Thanks again, Raven. And good luck.

In a priceless dispatch from the Associated Press posted below, guard troops hitting the border in Arizona carry automatic weapons and compare their duty near Mexico with previous work near Iran as one big global war on terror. It will be good training for Mid-East duty says a guard officer. Is this exactly why the guard should not be in Arizona? Two other reports about deployments from Maryland and North Carolina mix references with Afghanistan and Iraq–gm SAN LUIS, Ariz. (AP) _ A National Guard unit that helped secure the border between Iraq and Iran about 18 months ago now has its eye on another border — this one a little closer to home.

Soldiers from the Fayetteville, N.C.-based Combined Arms Battalion this week became the first guardsmen to get field assignments in the Yuma sector of the U.S.-Mexico border, where they’ll act as the eyes and ears for the U.S. Border Patrol, sector Chief Patrol Agent Ron Colburn said.

The guardsmen will be posted about every quarter of a mile along a levee running adjacent to the border and will report any illegal crossings to border patrol agents, who will carry out any interceptions and arrests, Colburn said.

The National Guard troops deployed Wednesday night in full-combat gear, wearing camouflage and helmets and carrying automatic rifles. Lt. Col. Randy Powell said the roughly 100-degree temperatures will provide excellent training during the guard’s two-week mission because it mimics conditions in the Middle East.

Of the battalion’s roughly 550 soldiers, 240 have been deployed in Arizona, Powell said.

”We’ll get great training out of it and the great satisfaction of knowing that we’re helping secure the border,” Powell said. ”It helps us see the front line of what the global war on terror is for us here. They’ve seen it overseas and now they can really see it here.”

The addition of guard troops at the border has led to more than 15 Border Patrol agents being moved from support roles back into the field, Colburn said.

”It’s sending the right message to organized crime that would take advantage of the border situation,” he said. ”America is safer, Yuma is safer and residents here can sleep safer tonight because the National Guard from North Carolina are assisting us here in mission support.”

Paul Chavez, an asap reporter based in Los Angeles, traveled to southern Arizona and northern Mexico to report on the people who patrol the border, and those who hope to cross it.

Guarding borders: From Iraq to Arizona; By PAUL CHAVEZ , Associated Press (ASAP); © July 29, 2006

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Annapolis-based Guard will help Border Patrol
By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer

Citzen-soldiers based in Annapolis will head to Arizona next week to help secure the border with Mexico, officials announced yesterday.

Maj. Charles Kohler, a public affairs officer for the Maryland National Guard, couldn’t say exactly how many Annapolis-based soldiers would go to the border. But he did said the majority of the 120 Maryland soldiers being deployed are based at the Medford National Guard Armory in Parole.

They’ll fly from Martin State Airport in Baltimore County in two segments on Monday and Aug. 5. Once in Arizona, they’ll support Border Patrol and Customs agents stationed at the Arizona-Mexico border, Maj. Kohler said.

The call-up is part of Operation Jump Start, President Bush’s plan to ramp up manpower along the border.

The soldiers won’t be directly responsible for confronting or arresting suspected illegal border-crossers.

Instead, they’ll conduct observation along a 372-mile sector between Arizona and Mexico, identifying suspicious subjects and alerting Border Patrol agents, Maj. Kohler said. They also could man checkpoints.

“They’ll be working closely with Border Patrol,” he said.

The Annapolis soldiers will come from the 1st Squadron, 158th Calvary Regiment of the 58th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

“They’re trained primarily in surveillance and reconnaissance, so it naturally fits with what they do,” Maj. Kohler said.

The tours will last 60 days.

Though the full Annapolis unit hasn’t been deployed recently, many of the individual members have been called up.

Some have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan to help with the war on terror. Others have participated in Operation Noble Eagle, providing protection at key domestic sites, such as airports and military installations.

“Some of them were tasked to go down to Hurricane Katrina,” Maj. Kohler added.

More than 800 guard soldiers from across the state are currently deployed on various assignments, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and Kosovo.

“Once again, the Maryland National Guard answers the call of our nation,” Maryland’s top military official, Maj. Gen. Bruce F. Tuxill, said in a statement. “Our soldiers have valuable skills that can help with the security of the southern border.”

Soldiers are expected to arrive at the armory this weekend for training before their deployment.

Published July 28, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.

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Posted on Fri, Jul. 28, 2006
N.C. troops on guard at Mexico border
Soldiers stake out miles of desert to report illegal crossings

BARBARA BARRETT
(Raleigh) News & Observer

SFC Patrick Mohan, of Sanford, points out a spot along the Mexico-Arizona border to Sgt. John Burt of Fuquay-Varina in San Luis, Arizona, on Thursday toward the end of the N.C. National Guard’s first shift assisting the Border Patrol.
TED RICHARDSON | News & Observer

SAN LUIS, Ariz. – The Border Patrol official gave the signal to move ’em out, and the N.C. National Guard’s first caravan of desert-tan Humvees and cargo trucks rolled south toward the nation’s border late Wednesday, drawing onlookers’ stares and casting long shadows.

This is the show of force President Bush wanted when he announced Operation Jump Start in May. The buildup to 6,000 National Guard troops on the U.S.-Mexico border is intended to send a signal to potential illegal immigrants: Don’t do it.

Some 200 troops from North Carolina’s 252nd Combine Arms Battalion are among the nation’s first to set up observation points to stem the flow of migration into the United States.

“We’re spotting illegal immigrants and reporting them. The customers, for us, are Border Patrol,” said Lt. Col. Randy Powell, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police sergeant who commands the Fayetteville-based battalion. “I think our legacy in Arizona is we develop something that’s not been done before by the Guard.”

Though the battalion is armed and has experience enforcing borders in Iraq, the soldiers will be used solely as scouts in Arizona. It is their job to spend endless hours near the line with Mexico, radioing reports of suspicious movement to the Border Patrol. It’s up to the federal agency to catch illegal immigrants.

“If we’re doing our job right, hopefully we won’t see anything,” said Capt. Chris Rogers, 39, of Cary. “We’re here to deter.”

This is why the troops are running out in caravans, hanging lights from their nighttime observation points and setting up along some of the sites most visible from Mexico.

The troops frighten migrants, Assistant Chief Arthur Angulo of the Border Patrol’s Yuma sector said during a tour of the border with visiting Brig. Gen. Steve Hargis of the N.C. Guard.

“They are afraid of the uniform, of the military uniform,” said Angulo, who oversees Operation Jump Start for the sector.

As the truck passed the border fence, a man peered around it, less than a foot from the United States.

The Border Patrol expects to have about 2,000 National Guard troops in place in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by Tuesday .

Already, the National
Guard deplo
yments have helped free up 250 Border Patrol agents for field duty, Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said this week in Washington. The Guard will stay two years as the federal agency hires new agents.

For North Carolina’s troops, the work replaces two weeks of training at Fort Bragg.

The N.C. troops arrived in Arizona on Sunday and spent the next couple of days training and getting briefed while leaders tried to figure out where to place them. They stayed two nights in Tucson hotels for training before driving west to Yuma.

To the troops, the land southwest of Yuma looks eerily familiar, like Balad, Iraq, with its flat lands, groves of date trees and harsh wind.

Wednesday evening, troops in San Luis unfurled camouflage netting on a levee overlooking the border a few hundred yards away. The netting would be used as daytime shade during the blistering southern Arizona heat, which is topping 110 degrees daily.

A Border Patrol agent briefed Rogers. Watch the fence there, he said, pointing left to the tall, corrugated metal. The migrants duck in and dash to the right along the fields or scurry past into a nearby cluster of homes and lose themselves there.

“Anything here, that’s what you’re looking for,” the agent said, sweeping his arm over the fields.

It was dark, and Pfc. Jonathan Tart of Erwin and Pfc. Isaac Lake of Fayetteville sat cross-legged on the hood of a Humvee. They wore Kevlar helmets, scanning the inky horizon through night binoculars.

“Do you see that?” Tart asked. He pointed out a pair of lights speeding through the field.

Lake nodded. “I see it. What is that?”

“It’s a truck. It’s moving fast as h—.”

It was the Border Patrol. No migrants, no emergency.

Since Bush announced Operation Jump Start in May, apprehensions on the Mexican border have dropped nearly 45 percent from the previous two months, Aguilar said Tuesday in Washington.

In the Yuma sector, apprehensions are down 1 percent from this time last year, said spokesman Richard Hays. Until Bush’s announcement, Hays said, apprehensions had been up.

Inside the detention center this week, captured immigrants sat on wooden benches in barren holding rooms. Two teenage girls sat quietly while a man slept nearby on the floor. A boy alone in a juvenile holding cell watched through the glass as a Border Patrol agent showed paperwork to N.C. Guard leaders.

Powell said the troops will work until Thursday and will return to North Carolina by Aug. 5.

By sunup, the troops on the San Luis levee had seen little. A few jackrabbits. A person who stood on the edge but wandered back into Mexico. And an endless stream of cars on a distant border road, making it tough to distinguish through the night vision goggles.

— News & Observer Photographer Ted Richardson contributed.

— Barbara Barrett: 202-383-0012; bbarrett@mcclatchydc.com

Sometimes the partisan stupidity gets too ugly to ignore. This time we have a Democrat candidate for comptroller who thinks voters should reject his Republican opponent because she once upon a time wrote a romance novel involving pre-marital sex.

“Would you vote for a candidate who wrote a trashy, pornographic romance novel that glorifies premarital sex and seeks to arouse sexual interest as your State Comptroller of Public Accounts?” Head asks in a campaign flier.

Uh, yeah, Mr. Head. If you put it that way, we will. Absolutely.

Sister of Death Row Inmate asks Texas to Stop Execution of the Man who Could Still Clear Her Brother

June 16, 2006

Hello,

My name is Delia Perez Meyer. I have an innocent brother on Texas’ Death Row, Louis Castro Perez. Our family has been fighting for Louis for the
past 8 years to attempt to find the truth is this case.

The Travis County District Attorney, Mr. Ronnie Earle, recently announced that they would re-open this case and do some further testing on DNA evidence and
fingerprints acquired at the crime scene. This includes foreign DNA and foreign fingerprints. This is currently being tested at the Texas
Department of Public Safety DNA Laboratory, and we are awaiting the results.
We have had multiple reports from the infamous railroad serial killer, Angel Maturino Resendiz, that it was he who killed Louis’ friends in September 1998 – Michelle, Cynda, and Cynda’s daughter, Stacy. The “MO” or modus operandi, in this case, matches exactly the other crime scenes for which Angel has been connected to. He is a brutal murderer and this
was a heinous crime just like the many others he is responsible for. In addition, Michelle, Cynda and Stacy lived within 1/2 of a mile from the railroad system in Austin.

Angel Maturino is scheduled for execution on June 27, 2006 for the murder of Dr. Claudia Benton. Mr. Resendiz has also discussed murdering “two
women” in Austin with private investigator, Lisa Milstein, and newspaper reporter, Lise Olsen (both of Houston). He has also spoken to other inmates on death row, and said he was the killer in this case. He
recently spoke to the media and confessed that he has killed other people; cases that have not been fully investigated.

Because Angel Maturino Resendiz is related to this case we are adamant that he should not be executed on the 27th and are asking for your assistance to ensure that he not be executed until this case is resolved.

If we execute Angel, it prevents the court from ever being able to ask him any questions regarding this case. Justice for the victims’ families is not being served if the wrong person is being executed for these murders.

We want to see justice served for all the persons involved and we want the actual killer to answer for his crimes. Technically, the families of the victims have the right to witness the true murderer’s execution and they will not be allowed that right if Angel Maturino is executed on the 27th.

We would like for you to take a few moments to call, write, or e-mail a letter to Louis’ attorneys, the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Judges, District Attorney, and the Governor.

We sincerely appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and actions surrounding Louis’ case. Louis is so appreciative of everyone’s support and always asks me to convey that message. We need to bring him home to his four children and two grandchildren who have grown up for the past 8 years without him. It is
time to exonerate Louis and ensure that the true killer is brought to justice.

Sincerely,
The Ernest R. Perez Family
Ernest, Gloria (deceased), David, Delia, Irene, Louis, and Ernest, Jr.

CONTACTS:

Alexander Calhoun, Attorney at Law
11319 Long Branch
Austin, TX 78736
alcalhoun@earthlink.net

David Dow, Attorney at Law
University of Houston Innocence Project
University of Houston Law School
4800 Calhoun
Houston, TX 77204
ddow@central.uh.edu

A. Richard Ellis, Attorney at Law
75 Magee Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941

Mary Kay Sicola, Attorney at Law
707 W. Lynn
Austin, TX 78703

Joe James Sawyer, Attorney at Law
507 W. 10th Street
Austin, TX 78701

Rob Owen, Attorney at Law
510 S. Congress Ave., Suite 308
Austin, TX 78704

The Honorable Jon Wisser
299th Judicial Criminal District Court
Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice
Center
509 West 11th, 8th Floor
Austin, Texas 78767

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Presiding Judge Sharon Keller
Judges Meyers, Price, Womack, Johnson, Keasler, Hervey, Holcomb, and Cochran
PO Box 12308
Capitol Station
Austin, Texas 78711

Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
P. O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428

Rissie Owens, Presiding Officer
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
P. O. Box 13401
Austin, TX 78711-3401

District Attorney Ronald Earle
509 W. 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701

Buddy Meyer, Travis County Assistant District Attorney
509 W. 11th Street
Austin, TX 78701

Claire Dawson-Brown, Travis County Assistant District Attorney
509 W. 11th Street
Austin, TX 78704
Send A Quick Message to Gov.

Who isn’t talking about the heat? Here’s a reminder that Texas Prisons are also summer infernos.–gm

PAPA’s CITIZEN IN ACTION aka CIA SPECIAL FORCES ALERT #71706

PRISON HEAT

ATTENTION

PAPA’s CIA SPECIAL FORCE MEMBERS You are being called to ACTION

Honorable Governor Rick Perry of Texas
The Capitol
Austin, Texas 78711

Re: EMERGENCY TDCJ INMATES HEAT

Dear Honorable Governor Rick Perry:

WE THE PEOPLE, who are the Voting, Taxpaying, Citizens of TEXAS, ARE BEGGING “YOU” The Governor of TEXAS , for Human Compassion on the Inmates housed in the TEXAS Department of Criminal Justice and all other Dentention Centers in the State of Texas. The Austin Statesman Newspaper today ran an article referencing the sweltering heat.
THE PEOPLE of TEXAS consider this an EMERGENCY

WE, THE PEOPLE of TEXAS, are requesting that you, as the GOVERNOR of TEXAS, issue an immediate EMERGENCY EXECUTIVE ORDER today from your OFFICE for the following to be done:

1.Fresh, Clean, Cool Water at “ALL” times for “ALL” Detainees. Cooled bottled water would be the most efficient to be handled. These bottles could be frozen, then passed out to the detainees, which would allow it to stay cooler longer

2.Containers of ICE to be furnished at “ALL” times for “ALL” Detainees

3.That ALL the UNITS’ exhaust fans “MUST” be working at all times in all areas of the facilities

4.Blowing AIR and Fans for “ALL” Inmates

At the same time that this EMERGENCY EXECUTIVE ORDER BE ISSUED TODAY from your OFFICE should definitely state for this to be done immediately in “ALL” Texas Facilities; then request that a team be set up to follow up this EXECUTIVE ORDER seeing that this Executive Order is followed thorugh. Forming Teams to be sent to different facilities all over the State of Texas testing the heat index in the areas where Inmates are trying to survive.

The lack of the above is “IN-HUMANE” treatment

A.Excessive Cruel and Unusual Punishment

B.The Elderly be given special privileges to stay cool

C.The Mentally Ill and Physically Challenged be given special privileges to stay cool

D.Those that are sick, have heart problems, breathing problems, on medications that require staying away from excessive heat and any other Inmates that needs special care or treatment be given special privileges to stay cool

E.The Inmates being held in solitary confinment, Isolation cells, and Administrative Segregation be given special attention and privileges for enduring the heat

F.The Inmates that are working outside and in the fields be given special priveleges to stay cool with plenty of cool fresh water

Yours truly,

(name)
(address)
(city,state,zip)
(email)
(phone number)
Note: if your name, address, are not included your contact will be of no avail.

cc:
1. Send to your Representative where you Live

2. Send to the Representative over the area where your Love One is being housed in a dentition center

3. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, Chair, Texas Legislative Council, The Captiol, Austin, Texas 78711-2098, 1-512-463-0001, Fax: 1-512-936-6700, 1-800-441-0373

4. Representative Jerry Madden,Chair, Correction Committee,Capitol Office: EXT E1.506, P.O. Box 2910, austin, TX 78711, 1-512-463-0544

5. Senator John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice,Capitol office: CAP 1E.13, Austin, Texas 78711, 512-463-0115

6.Sunset Commission Advisory, 1400 North Congress, Capitol Extension, Suite E2.002, Austin, TX 78701
view the web page at peopleagainstprisonabuse.com