Every developed country that borders or can be accessed by a 3rd world country has a critical border security and immigration problem.  Many european countries are facing the same issues.

Interesting enough, a known fact in the film business, is that objective documentaries don’t go to far.  Without courting one side or the other while riling  up the opposite  view, a good objective presentation just doesn’t get the attention here as it does internationally. I guess the American public is so used to being entertained, that major media just has to sensationalize story segments slanted toward the particular viewpoint of their viewers. No thought process is required with this agenda so compassion fades and the gap widens.

I am honored to be a guest speaker and take part in this international exchange of ideas. It is very important to present an objective insight to the border and immigration debacle from here in Southern Arizona.  I look forward to bringing new ideas and possibilities back and opening new discussions here at my TC blog.

“Living on the Border” documentary series and blog is back after a long winters rest. Actually I had to stop for a while and make a real living in fine art. (www.karlwhoffman.com)

Originally I told my wife that I wanted to take 5 years off to document the happenings here on the border and produce the documentary “Living on the Border”. This project is my gift to future generations. However, I was informed last fall that it had been 6 years. I do owe a special thanks to my wife Audrey for all her support and understanding of the importance of this project so as of now she is my official assistant and will have to accompany me to Paris.

Starting with a solo exhibit of my border photography at the Tubac Center of the Arts the beginning of the documentary was born.  Six years later, thousands of hours in the field, post production editing,  and freelancing for major publications (internationally) the  film premiered at the loft cinema to a packed house.

Thanks to all the wonderful people, organizations, and government agencies, who have showed such great support and encouragement for the “Living on the Border” documentary series.

Official Border Patrol Statement:

Photo by Karl W Hoffman

Nogales International

What happened at the I19 Border check point yesterday?  This photo was taken about 7:00pm. Looks like a Customs truck and a shuttle bus. There was an ambulance leaving and a very strong smell of gasoline. Traffic  was backed up backed up past Tubac. I will update as info becomes available.

Photo By Karl W Hoffman

Karl W Hoffman

www.skullCreekMedia.com

Are  times changing? Maybe only a little or just readjusting.  It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Well this one is surely a sign of the times.  You sociology majors can have a ball with this photo.  After all, patrol cars now have onboard computers and high tech crime fighting apps, well we all know that these things are only fueled by lattes and iced chi tea, so why the surprise. Then again maybe I’m reading to much into it and it’s just the free internet. The best thing about this photo for me is that as a photographer I actually had my camera out and on the seat beside me at the time.

Photo by Karl W Hoffman

Arivaca is a small quiet border town in the middle of nowhere but at the center of everything. Struggling to maintain a normal rural lifestyle while recovering form the preverbal border war zone, Arivaca has its hidden gems.  Contrary to mainstream media sensationalism the people of Arivaca have a unique  comfort and acceptance of multicultural and quiet varied political views.   Magnified in the various community projects Arivaca locals  are always ready to support area functions with a warm and friendly welcome to visitors

Photo by Karl W Hoffman

The small farmers market that grew over the years from two women sitting under a tree selling their eggs and cheese is now grown to a budding farmers market called “Marian’s Market.”  Open from 9am to noon every Saturday the local produced products and organic produce are worth the drive. For more information visit the Arivaca on line news and directory

Photo by Karl W Hoffman

Nestled in the hills of the high Sonornan Desert Arivaca has a lot to offer.  Before the market as you are coming into Arivaca is the Cafe Aribac for a great cup of coffee or breakfast. After visiting the market, try the Arivaca Artist Co op and The Cactus Rose Gallery or a cold one at the Cantina.  Opening soon is Sweet Peas Cuisine, Cafe and Catering, offering 3 great meals a day.  The Arivaca Mercantile will surprise you and the drive to Arivaca Lake or through the 117,000 acres of the Buenos  Aries Wildlife Refuge is a rewarding experience. Area Links

Photo by Karl W Hoffman

Mark you calendars for  other Arivaca events and come back here for coverage.

Saturday November 5th 2011

The Day of the Dead and Annual Folklorico Festival and Parade, starting at 11:00 am

Saturday, November 19th

3rd Annual Grassland Fair at Buenos Aries National Wildlife Refuge

Exhibits, Demonstrations, Music, Crafts and Food, Talks and Walks.

Karl W Hoffman

Claiming Protection under the First Amendment, the right to free speech in a public place, a women claiming association to the Green Party of Pima County, crashed a neighborhood get together. In front of kids, cops, and horrified parents the unidentified women set up a promotional table to push medical marijuana literature at the National Night Out event in Amphi Neighborhood Park. The Green Party of Pima County was unavailable for comment.

National Night Out, is a nationwide organization with a  plan designed to: Heighten crime and drug prevention awareness, generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime efforts, strengthen neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships, and send a message to criminals letting them know neighborhoods are organized and fighting back.

National Night Out has been growing in popularity over the years and with the recent budget cuts hurting local police departments many believe the event couldn’t be more important.

The Tucson Police Department along with other agencies like the health department and local libraries met with residents from different communities for a night of fun but also to get everyone on the same page when it comes to improvements in the neighborhood.

Law enforcement officers as usual, were very professional and acted courteously, calming parents and children while respecting everyone’s rights.

The Bisbee woman that got thrown off YouTube for violating their privacy  policies when she irresponsibly and with no regard for their personal safety or the safety of their families, posted a video showing detailed closeups of  Border Patrol agents faces in the field, is now trying to silence this TC blogger.

After crying the first amendment and the rights to freedom of speech, Alison Bane McLeod, Southern Arizona Field Organizer for Progressive Democrats of America, (a public figure) is now trying to censor the media.  In an email to the editor of the Tucson Citizen, and many other individuals through out the nation, McLeod made slanderous, wild and false associations in regards to my character  and viciously attacked my  personal beliefs through false  accusations in a attempt to alter my blog and silence my right to free speech. The information in the blog, Bisbee woman harasses CBP Agents and gets slapped by YouTube, was legally posted from public internet sources.  I respectfully request a retraction of the horrendous associations she has falsely claimed and a personal apology.

From: ”Alison McLeod” <alisonmcleod@wildblue.net>
Date: October 3, 2011 6:55:46 AM PDT
To: <mevans@tucsoncitizen.com>
Cc: ”Pamela Powers”, “Dan O’Neal”, “Darrell. Hill”, “Isabel Garcia”, “Jennifer Allen”, “Jonathon Shacat” , “Mike Hersh”
Subject: The Tucson Citizen published my private information

Activist Alison Bane (Miller) McLeod DOB 1963, photo from the video " Border Patrol in The Bushes"

Bisbee anti government activist, Alison Bane McLeod lives at 939 E Border Rd AZ (520-432-1476), a few miles east of Bisbee where she confronted Customs and Border Patrol Agents from the Horse Patrol in the process of apprehending illegal border crossers.  Holding a video camera McLeod approached the agents and was asked courteously, not to video their faces (this is on the film.) McLeod ignored their request, got closer with her video camera and began verbally heckling them and then asking questions.  She was repeatedly asked to stand aside and not film their faces or the face of the man in custody but simply ignored their requests.  One of the CPB agents then explained to her that they were not authorized to answer her questions and gave her the number at CBP headquarters where she could contact a public relations officer.  This is standard procedure for just about every agency from police to fire departments and many corporate entities.

McLeod took detailed video of the CPB Agents after being asked repeatedly not to video their faces, then irresponsibly posted a very derogatory video showing the CBP Agents faces on YouTube. YouTube removed the video.  The border in that area has become a very dangerous sector and it is definitely a reasonable request for CBP Agents to want to protect their anonymity and respect the identity of the man in custody.

McLeod states she has the right to video government officials in public but these men where government workers doing an assigned job. Professional multimedia reporters have the courtesy and respect for agents safety, and blur direct face shots if the video is of course not accusatory but still news worthy.    This video was neither, but if anything should prevail in the video, it would be how the CBP Agents handled the situation with a great deal of patients and professionalism in dealing with McLeod and the respect showed for the individual in custody.

This shoddy video is merely another piece in the No More Deaths campaign (Culture of Cruelty) to systematically assault  US Customs and Border Protection. McLeod was immediately  defended by the ACLU. Of course  McLeod did not include any personal information of her own in the video. McLeod’s information in this article came form public web search.

An interesting note is that McLeod had no concern for any rights but her own when she even used copyrighted music of the popular James Bond Series as the soundtrack for her video which the ACLU posted on their website with total disregard for copy right protection laws, the safety of CPB Agents or the rights of the man in custody.

ACLU Says Bisbee Activist Has First Amendment Right to Post Border Patrol Video on YouTube     

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, September 30, 2011

CONTACT:

Alessandra Soler Meetze, ACLU of Arizona, (602) 773-6006 (office) or 602-301-3705

PHOENIX – In a letter sent Thursday to YouTube administrators, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona criticized the online company for censoring a video of United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents arresting a man with a bloody nose.

The 5-minute video, dubbed “Border Patrol in the Bushes,” was taken by Bisbee activist Alison McLeod, who pulled out her video camera and started filming Border Patrol agents arresting an individual after she heard helicopters and saw several agents, on horseback and on foot, on her property on August 31^st.  The video shows four CBP agents walking an individual in handcuffs through her property to a white CBP truck parked on a public road. McLeod posted it on YouTube on September 2^nd where it received “hundreds” of views within hours. Ten days after the video was posted, YouTube officials took it down, citing privacy complaints by CBP agents.

“This is yet another example of a private online community trampling on our First Amendment rights and trying to exercise greater control over what we share and watch online,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona. “People have the right to film government officials carrying out their duties in public places. By censoring this type of protected speech, YouTube officials not only violated their own guidelines, but they’ve managed to silence debate around U.S. immigration practices along the U.S.-Mexico border.”

According to YouTube, three complaints about the video were filed; two of them were posted by CBP agents. Within hours of the YouTube posting, a CBP supervisor showed up unannounced at McLeod’s doorstep, telling her 19-year-old daughter who was home at the time that he was inquiring about the YouTube video. The agent then offered to give McLeod and her daughter a tour of the Border Patrol facilities and the local search area.

“This is the reality of border enforcement for those of us living on the border,” said McLeod, who has been living on the border since 1997. “Rather than trying to intimidate residents like me who are simply trying to make CBP more accountable to the public, they should respect the rights of all people living on the border.”

The ACLU sent a separate letter to the CBP’s Tucson Field Office, arguing their involvement in trying to remove the video constitutes “severe government interference with McLeod’s constitutional rights.”

“Customs and Border Protection is now the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agency and it operates with total impunity, accountable to no one and with little government oversight,” added Meetze. “This video and CBP’s response to it underscores the need for greater transparency.”

Although YouTube has privacy guidelines that allow them to remove content where an individual is “uniquely identifiable,” the ACLU argues in its letter to both YouTube and CBP that public officials have no reasonable expectation of privacy while exercising their official duties in public places. The ACLU letter also points out that “nothing distinguishes McLeod’s videos from the hundreds of videos already on YouTube demonstrating various law enforcement activities.”

“YouTube boasts that it is the biggest news platform in the world,” wrote ACLU of Arizona Legal Director Dan Pochoda in his three-page letter to YouTube. “One of the goals of a free press is to hold government officials accountable for their actions. Granting law enforcement a de facto veto over materials they find objectionable or unflattering would violate and jeopardize that mission.”

The letter to YouTube asks the company to allow McLeod to repost her video and any future videos of government officials performing their duties. The ACLU also is asking CBP to stop interfering with McLeod’s efforts to videotape and photograph CBP activities on her own property or public land, and to rescind its complaints seeking the removal of the video from YouTube.

Click here to read the letter to YouTube.

Click here to read the letter to CBP’s Tucson Field Office.

 

A remake of the video titled Border Patrol in the Bushes Dos has been posted again on YouTube.

Update:  Alison McLeod now tries to silence this blog 

For most of Wednesday Downtown Tucson was shut down and evacuated after a law enforcement dog hit on a white box van parked legally down town near the court house. What really happened?

According to 9 news:

Web Producer: Ina Ronquillo

Reporter:  Jessica Chapin

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – Tucson Police have determined that there are no explosives in a white box-truck parked near downtown. Bomb Squad technicians did locate ammunition, guns, and military clothing inside.

Authorities questioned the driver of the suspicious vehicle that caused the evacuation of several buildings and prompted several road closures.

Maria Hawke, a spokesperson with Tucson Police tells KGUN9 police were contacted by U.S. Marshall’s after a K9 showed “interest” in a white box truck at Broadway Boulevard and Scott Avenue.

“It happened to be the location where he parked at, the proximity to the building, the amount of time that it was there, those types of things that sparked the Marshall’s concerns and that spawned the series of events,” said Hawke.

Bomb Squad personnel responded to area to determine if there was risk of explosion associated with the vehicle.  After finding there was no immediate danger, police continued their investigation and kept roads closed.  9 On Your Side’s Jessica Chapin asked officers why it took so long after determining there were no explosives.

“There was a large amount of material in the back of that truck,” said Hawke, “We need to inventory and go  through all of the stuff, document it to ensure that there’s nothing that could be harmful to any of our personnel or the community.”

The roadways in the area opened after 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.  Police say the vehicle’s owner was questioned, but faces no charges.  They haven’t released any more details on the reason that vehicle was parked downtown.

 

KGUN9-TV certainly sensationalized it and their ending comment was that we may never know what happened.  A guy parks downtown to take care of business in the wrong place at the wrong time, how was he supposed to know?  This is defiantly a testament to our area security. I commend all of our law enforcement agencies for their swift and organized actions. This was a great example of interagency cooperation should there be a real threat.

However, when the truth is discovered let the public know, there is no embarrassment in saying whoops when the publics safety is involved.

It appears that the driver parked a suspicious looking truck just a little to close to a government building and he was actually a completely legal vender that sells at gun shows with a Federal Firearms License and a dealer of military surplus, ammo and accessories. Of course this truck is going to have a very special scent.  Over all, good Job!

Hugh Holub at the American Mexican Border in Southern Arizona. Photo by Karl W Hoffman

Yesterday  September 25th 2011

In the late afternoon heat, old men with walking sticks, a young couple with a new born, people from all walks of life and all ages slowly fill the Copper Room at the Hotel Congress in downtown Tucson. One couldn’t help feel the camaraderie in the room; it was as if every one was your friend drawn together by the energy of one great man.

It was a celebration of the life of Hugh Holub, A wonderful human being, father, husband, writer, mentor, and a true friend of humanity. As individuals came up to speak, Hugh’s footprint on this earth grew larger and larger. It became evident that he was a true renaissance man in every step he took.

The guest of honor was there in spirit and energy.

Rest In Peace Hugh Holub, Thank you for your presence in all of our lives.

We surely  will miss you Amigo.

Karl W Hoffman