PrintMay 4, 2010
Update from Cochise County, Arizona
I had hardly received word from the editor that my first report from southeast Arizona would be published before more excitement occurred here -- this time even closer to home.
Saturday morning, the headlines in all the area papers covered the shooting of a Pinal County Deputy by drug smugglers. The reports indicated that the officer was ambushed by drug smugglers using AK-47 rifles. How do we know these things? This time, the ambush failed and the officer survived.
But there is a lot of news in this report that destroys the liberal reports of those grandmothers crossing the border so they can make beds in cheap hotels. First, the Sheriff called it an ambush. This destroys the idea that drug violence has not crossed the border. Next, the drug runners used AK-47s. Last time I checked (and my military training confirmed this), the AK-47 was made in Russia by Kalashnikov. But what happened to all those reports of American guns going south to the drug cartels? Perhaps that is another bit of mass media misinformation.
These events took place in Pinal County, about 130 miles from my home. What is more disturbing is what happened Saturday night.
I am a volunteer umpire for the local little league. I have eleven seasons behind the mask and am working on number twelve. In between innings of a hotly contested ballgame, my wife ran up to the fence behind home plate and informed me that two men, speaking Spanish, were in the backyard. She had immediately departed from the house and called the Border Patrol. She's a smart one -- I don't need my wife confronting drug traffickers. Leave that for me.
Knowing my family was safe and away from the house, I went back to work calling balls and strikes. Within a few minutes, I could see the Border Patrol helicopter flying over the neighborhood with its searchlight, looking for the culprits. It was irritating to watch. This is not supposed to be happening in America.
When the game ended about 45 minutes later, I went straight home. Looking like an actor from a very low-budget science fiction movie, I put on my hockey-style face mask, grabbed my .45, and while still wearing my chin guards and chest protector, cleared my own house. I wanted as much protection as I could get in case of a physical fight. I envisioned an illegal alien asking me if I was going to eject him from the game.
Fortunately, nobody was in the house. I had cleared buildings before, but that was in Iraq. It was very, very disturbing to have to clear my own house, checking bedrooms and closets, armed and ready to kill, right here in Arizona. For those who say we're overreacting -- come on down and spend a few weeks. I can take you some places that will scare the heck out of you.
Sunday I finally got to the sports page of Saturday's local paper. Unfortunately, even there I could not avoid the issue of illegal immigration there with a headline about the Major League Baseball union opposing the Arizona law.
Of course, one of the people complaining about the law is the manager of the Chicago White Sox, Ozzie Guillen. Guillen says he won't come to Arizona next year if he's invited to the all-star game here in Phoenix. He further states "As a Latin American, it's natural that I have to support our own."
Mr. Guillen, as an American, it's natural that I protect my home. I have a solution for your dilemma: Go home. Go back to Venezuela. And take the Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cesar Izturis with you. Izturis showed his ignorance of the law and the issue by stating, "What if you're walking on the street with your family and kids? They're going to go after you."
It seems that Mr. Izturis fell right into the liberal talking points of those who don't support Arizona's law. Perhaps he is excited and thriving on the hype associated with the issue because of the absolute dismal performance of the Orioles (yet again this year), and nobody is excited to see a game in Baltimore. They already have the worst record in baseball.
Both Mr. Guillen and Mr. Izturis are welcome to return to their home in Venezuela. Perhaps they can find a team there that will pay them what they get paid in America -- and I'm sure Hugo Chávez won't ask them for anything. Please, both of you, go back to your fascist dictator.
There is a lot of very good baseball here in southern Arizona. If the MLB takes the all-star game from Chase Field, or otherwise causes trouble for Arizona, they will lose a lot of fans. It looks like the time has come to become an avid University of Arizona Wildcat fan. They're better than the Orioles.
TJ Woodard is a retired Army officer who lives less than ten miles from the Mexican border. He carries a pistol even in his own house in order to be prepared to defend his family whenever necessary.
