The Battle to Maintain Watering Stations at the U.S.-Mexico Border

Indigenous activists battle for their own lives, and others, on US borders

Posted by Brenda Norrell – September 21, 2008 at 4:12 pm

Mike Wilson, Tohono O’odham, replaces missing water tanks for migrants on the southern border, while Mohawk publisher Kahentinetha Horn recovers on the northern border

By Brenda Norrell

BABOQUIVARI DISTRICT, Arizona – Mike Wilson, Tohono O’odham, has replaced two of his missing humanitarian water stations on the Tohono O’odham Nation. Wilson was ordered by Baboquivari District Chair Veronica Harvey to remove his water stations in August.

“No one should die for want of a cup of water,” Wilson said, after replacing two of the water stations that vanished last week. Wilson said he will continue to pursue dialogue with Tohono O’odham officials, but he will not back down on the right of the dying to water.Wilson did not remove his water tanks as ordered, but respectfully declined when the district order was delivered by tribal police. However, upon return to the water stations in Baboquivari District in September, he found three of the stations had been removed. Wilson replaced two of the stations.

Wilson pointed out the large number of migrants dying here in the desert. By US Border Patrol statistics, 83 migrants died during the first half of 2008 on the Tohono O’odham Nation. However, Wilson says the number is actually greater. Wilson maintains the water stations with Tohono O’odham David Garcia. Wilson also searches the O’odham desert for bodies, like two Mayan women from Guatemala who died walking to a better life with their children. The children survived.

During the Indigenous Peoples Border Summit of the Americas in 2006 and 2007, Wilson and other Tohono O’odham were joined by Mohawks from the north to demand a halt to the militarization of the US borders. Mohawks, including Kahentinetha Horn, publisher of Mohawk Nation News, observed the arrests of Indigenous Peoples on Tohono O’odham land and were outraged at the treatment of Indian people.

Then, in June, Kahentinetha was beaten by Canadian border guards and suffered a heart attack in a police stress hold. Now, recovering, Kahentinetha, who filed suit, said the stress hold was intensified as she was having a heart attack in police custody in a deliberate attempt to kill her.

Like Wilson, Kahentinetha and Katenies, Mohawk Nation News editor also beaten during the attack by border guards in June, said they will not back down on their demands for a halt to the militarization of their lands, carried out by corporate profiteers under the guise of national security.

On the southern border, Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., has not made a public statement concerning the demand by Harvey for Wilson to remove his water stations. However, Chairman Norris did testify in Texas concerning the violations of federal law by Homeland Security and the border wall contractor Boeing.

Chairman Norris, testifying to a joint Congressional subcommittee in April, said human bone fragments were found in the tracks of machinery undertaking border wall construction in Arizona. Further, Norris pointed out that Homeland Security violated federal laws which protect endangered species and cultural artifacts.

However, Chairman Norris did not point out that O’odham ancestors were dug up from their graves, and later reburied, on the western portion of Tohono O’odham land in 2007 during border wall construction by Boeing.

Meanwhile, Wilson said he will continue maintaining his water stations, including those in Baboquivari District and one across the international border in Sonora. Mexico.

“It is a crime against humanity,” Wilson said of the Tohono O’odham Nation’s failure to respond with water for the dying.

More at: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

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Are Arizona firefighters trained for UFO, alien contact?

Reported by: Christopher Sign
Email: csign@abc15.com
Last Update: 2/21 11:27 pm

KNXV-TV, Phoenix

PHOENIX – For centuries people have looked to the skies for answers. Is there life outside our solar system? Have UFO’s visited our planet?

Because our sun is a star, does that mean the thousands of stars visible in the night sky could be someone else’s sun? The questions, and the universe, are endless.

Events like the March 1997 mass-sighting of strange night lights above the Valley, popularly dubbed “Phoenix Lights”, have generated questions and turned skeptics into believers.

A 600-page guide may lend credibility to UFO believers.

The Fire Officer’s Guide To Disaster Control can apparently be found in firehouses across the United States.

It covers everything from fire and flood response to aviation disasters.

Chapter 13 of the book has an unusual twist. Titled “Enemy Attack And UFO Potential”, it outlines what could happen in the event of a UFO crash.

The authors of the book, retired firefighters William M. Kramer and Charles W. Bahme write in part:

It would be remiss to not give some part to the role fire departments might play in the even of the unexpected arrival of UFO’s in their communities…In a less optimistic scenario, you may have engine trouble upon approaching the scene, and radio contact could be lost with your dispatcher. If at night, your headlights could go out, the city could be blacked out, and your portable generators may malfunction when you attempt to use them for fans and portable lights.

ABC15 contacted several Valley fire agencies regarding the book and some even called us asking several questions prior to the story airing.

Not one fire department we found admitted to using the guide for training, although some did recognize the guide’s existence.

“It just shows you that serious professional people are starting to take his whole subject of UFO’s seriously,” said Jim Mann, director of the Maricopa County chapter of The Mutual UFO Network.

For nearly ten years, Mann has investigated UFO sightings and encounters for MUFON in what he calls a fact finding mission.

“I don’t think we’re crack-pots, we’re just people who want to be aware of what’s going on, even if the reports turn out to be false,” Mann said.

The authors of the guide could not be reached by ABC15 for comment regarding this story, but in a previous reports by other outlets, they said many people are missing the point regarding the chapter and a UFO does not just mean an alien spaceship.

Regardless, believers like Jim Mann view the guide as an opportunity for non-believers to at least take a closer look.

“UFO-ology could possibly be taken seriously now, we don’t know where we came from and we don’t know where we’re going,” he said.

Mann claims he has investigated dozens of UFO sightings in the Phoenix area, including those reported by members of the military and doctors.

“These are well respected people,” Mann said. “We (MUFON) aren’t trying to push our beliefs on anyone. Anything could happen and this is a matter that should be taken seriously.”

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DHS Checkpoint in Arizona: Video’s from A U.S. Citizen

 This is what we can expect more and more!

From the video posters site:

Always ask… “WHY AM I BEING STOPPED OFFICER?” “AM I BEING DETAINED?” “AM I FREE TO GO?” Those are the only things you should say to these LAWBREAKERS. NOTHING MORE!

On January 20, 2008, I was seized for a third time at a Southern Arizona internal suspicionless homeland security checkpoint.

This checkpoint has been in operation for at least two weeks at a location over 40 miles North of the Southern border along SR86 in Southern Arizona.

On the afternoon of February 1, 2008, I was stopped yet again at a suspicionless internal Homeland Security checkpoint on SR86 in Southern Arizona near mile post 146. The location is over 40 miles North of the border.

This was the fifth time in three weeks I’ve been stopped & seized at this checkpoint absent reasonable suspicion. Normally, there are only three or four agents present with two patrol vehicles parked nearby. This time the scenario were dramatically different.

The 4th amendment was specifically created to protect us against this type of arbitrary enforcement activity by over-reaching federal agencies. It would seem however that the ‘writ of assistance’ is alive and well in modern day America and everyone is now considered a suspect.

Far from increasing the security of the country, these checkpoints serve as little more than obedience training for the burgeoning American police state.

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Walls, Walls, Walls Everywhere!

It is bad enough that there is an illegal wall being constructed in the Gaza strip area alienating and killing the Palestinian people there while people stand around wringing their hands, asking what should be done instead of doing something about it. Yes, it is some miles away but they are people, for God’s sake, and they are starving and being starved out by the U.S. and Israel.

Closer to home base (does that make it more real and important for and to you?) there is a wall being built around U.S. soil (to keep U.S. citizens in OR to keep non-citizens out – ask yourself that!) EXCEPT the U.S. imperialists are actually building it on Mexican soil thus making the situation WORSE as they (DHS – an arm of the U.S. imperialist police force) are STEALING LAND AND TAKING AND OCCUPYING PROPERTIES ILLEGALLY!

But, wait a minute I speak hastily… The U.S. imperialist government IS ACCUSTOMED TO STEALING LAND, SLAUGHTERING INNOCENT PEOPLE AND SEIZING THEIR PROPERTIES – ISN’T THAT WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN AND NEXT PLAN FOR IRAN??

Nogales Residents Say US is Building Border Wall on Mexico’s Land

By Brenda Norrell,
Posted on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 01:38:14 AM EST

NOGALES, Mexico – Residents here say the U.S. border wall construction has intruded twenty meters onto Mexico’s land and are urging a halt to the construction of the U.S. Apartheid Border Wall, being fought by Indigenous Peoples all along the US/Mexico border.The Nogales site is located west of the Mariposas international border crossing at Nogales, which is south of Tucson.

“A serious problem has resulted from the all powerful program to construct the ‘Wall of Shame’ by the U.S. government in this border,” said concerned residents Teresa Leal and Alejandro Castro in a statement.

The news comes as Homeland Security Michael Chertoff plans to view the SBInet spy towers on the Arizona border on Thursday. Boeing’s spy towers still are not functioning.

Calling it an invasion of Mexico, Leal and Castro said, “In Nogales, Sonora, they have flagrantly moved the International Boundary obelisk, which marks the boundary of our national geography in the area of Las Mariposas, about 3 kilometers west of the Gate No. 3.”

Castro said, “We believe that the United States is invading the private and public land on the Mexico side of the International Boundary, to build this horrible steel wall. This is an unlawful act and an act of hostility toward a sovereign nation and the Mexican people as a whole.”

Speaking to a delegation of observers, he said, “The landowners of Sonora, Mexico need you to carry this message to the people of the U.S., so that they will hear the truth about the aggressive acts of their government and the breakage of international laws.”

Contacted for a response, the Tucson sector of Homeland Security/US Border Patrol said that a response would be forthcoming.

Meanwhile, ranchers in the area said the traditional barbed wire fence which has existed in the rural area of the international border for generations was eliminated and replaced by a new fence, approximately 20 meters south of the former Mexico-U.S. fenceline.

“The border marker obelisks, put in place after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, were also removed and painted white when the rest of the obelisks are a silver color. There are signs of fresh cement and next to that is the deep trench dug to position and erect the thick, steel wall,” Leal and Castro said. On January 27, 2008, Leal and Castro took a delegation to the International Boundary site. This delegation included Margo Tamez, Lipan Apache, Jumano Apache, Hawk Tamez Mendoza, Lipan Apache, Jumano Apache, Michael Paul Hill, San Carlos Apache and Dr. Joni Adamson from Mesa.

The delegation reported the testimony from indigenous workers employed by local ranchers. They said their lands are currently under occupation by the US Department of Homeland Security. “Indigenous workers gave testimonials which affirmed the analysis of local residents of Nogales, Sonora. This testimony is now shedding light on eminent domain procedures occurring in Mexico, providing illegitimate occupancy to the Department of Homeland Security, and displacing local land-owners without their consent or prior knowledge,” the delegation said.

“Why is the United States taking this land from the people of Mexico?” asked Hawk Tamez Mendoza, 13, a student at St. John’s Public School in the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, North Dakota community.

Leal and Castro said, “No Mexican official has met with the International authorities or commented on the situation at this writing. It is expected to change when the International Boundary and Water Commission provides information regarding this matter and grave concern regarding the U.S. entry into Mexican soil by 20 meters, an act which is, according to the plaques on the obelisks, ‘a severe penalty’ of international law.”

They said ranchers were obviously upset because the company began work without any notice or information and continued with “an invasion of Mexico.”

Earlier, a similar situation occurred east of here on the US/Mexico border, when the US constructed a portion of the border wall on Mexico’s soil. The US relocated the border wall in a multi-million dollar project.

“It is hoped that in this situation they will act in the same way, because otherwise one could say that that it is an expropriation of several square kilometers of Mexican space,” Leal and Castro said.

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