A huge fence runs thousands of miles along the border with Mexico to keep migrants and narcotics out. Trouble is, it also cuts off half of Brownsville, Texas. By Guy Adams Like many a proud Texan, Pamela Taylor likes to mark her turf. So on any given day, she makes sure passers-by can see the Stars and Stripes and the Lone Star Flag of her native state fluttering atop the poles that stand in her front garden. Ms Taylor has lived in the southern-most city of Brownsville, Texas, since just after the Second World War, when she left the UK to join her late husband John, a US soldier who had been based near Birmingham. With that in mind, she also flies a Union Jack. "I hang it lower than the American flags," she says, "because it's a smaller part of my heritage." [continues 1342 words]
A Colorado-based initiative to open dialogue about what impact, if any, marijuana's legalization would have on sexual assault rates could soon plant roots in Lubbock. Shannon Drew, 20 and a Texas Tech sophomore from Amarillo, is using April's Sexual Assault Awareness Month to drum up local support for the Women's Marijuana Movement, or WMM. The year-old effort aims to spark what national organizer Mason Tvert in Denver called "public dialogue" on how marijuana legalization could prevent alcohol-related crimes against women. [continues 510 words]
Monday I attended a fascinating three-hour seminar on how Houstonians feel about the justice system in general and the war on drugs in particular. No, it wasn't at a university. It was in the windowless, 18th-floor courtroom of District Judge Jeannine Barr. I was one of 60 Harris County citizens auditioning for 12 slots on the jury that would pass judgment on a man charged with the first-degree felony of possession between 4 and 400 grams of cocaine for purposes of distribution. [continues 662 words]
Would that the editorial writer, who applauds the efforts of Texas Congressman Michael McCaul in seeking to double down in fighting the Mexican drug war, had heard the speech of Mexico's former president, Vicente Fox, recently at Texas A&M University. Fox posed a simple question: "Why do you expect us to stop the drug flow across the border when you can't stop the same drugs from crossing multiple state borders and being distributed all over the U.S.?" He also said there was more marijuana grown in California than in Mexico. [continues 100 words]
So Congressman Michael McCaul wants to step up the war on drugs and win it. He should start by obeying the first rule: Follow the money. The whole thing is about money. And the money is all coming from United States buyers of drugs. We are the problem, not the Mexicans. A War on Drugs is not the answer. Let the free market work, and put the United States money that goes into fighting this war into rehabilitation. With lots of illegal drugs available, the price will eventually go down, the earnings from drug dealing will decline, and the problem will decrease. The problem will then be for those people unwise enough to buy and consume illegal drugs. I say this as a life-long conservative Republican who has watched federal politicians address only crises too late and quite typically with the wrong solutions. Bert McLachlan, Katy [end]
Re: "Choose labels carefully," by Arturo Sarukhan, Tuesday Letters. I was stunned to see the Ambassador of Mexico argue drug cartels are not terrorists, but merely "criminal organizations" that simply want "to maximize their profits." To argue over labeling is one thing. To insinuate the drug cartels are like any other business and to metaphorically compare them to entrepreneurs is shocking and tragically irresponsible. As The Dallas Morning News accurately put it, the drug cartels are terrorist organizations defined not by an ideology, but by tactics of brutality and fear. It's inconceivable this appointed leader would dismiss a threat that is tearing apart his nation. A person of Sarukhan's status should be more careful than to make such ludicrous parallels between business and terrorism. [continues 94 words]
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, has introduced legislation in Congress to designate six Mexican drug trafficking organizations "foreign terrorist organizations." There is no doubt that drug trafficking organizations employ the same tactics as the organizations on the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. But there is a critical distinction. All of the terrorist organizations are rooted in religious, ideological, ethnic or historical conflicts. Drug trafficking organizations just want to make money. The people working in these groups don't do it because of vision or self-identity. They sell drugs because common, plentiful plants bring an exorbitant price on the illegal market. There is no easy solution to the centuries-old conflicts that have given rise to modern terrorist organizations. Drug trafficking organizations could be destroyed with the stroke of a pen. Take away the illegality, take away the artificial price. Suzanne Wills suzwills@swbell.net Dallas [end]
The editorial "'Plan Mexico'?" (Page B8, Friday) applauds the efforts of Texas Congressman Michael McCaul to paint yet another shade of lipstick on the pig we named the War On Drugs. Isn't 50 years of failed global drug war schemes enough? McCaul will ask, what is the United States' role in Mexico's war against the drug cartels? Don't bother. When we opted for prohibition of currently illegal drugs, we created the cartels and the subsequent violence. When we cast our role as response by force, as in Plan Colombia, we spread cocaine production back to Peru and Ecuador. Mexico now grows its own opium poppies. The Mexican forces the U.S. helped pay to train were hired away by the Zetas to be the killers we deplore. We have spread narco-violence throughout dozens of other countries in our hemisphere and to West Africa in previous attempts to save Mexico. [continues 165 words]
Re: "Let's call Mexico's Cartels what they are: terrorists," Friday Editorials. The editorial should be better headed "Let's Call Mexico's cartels what they are: very violent, well-financed transnational criminal organizations." These transnational criminal organizations, which operate in both our countries, are not terrorist organizations. They are very violent criminal groups that are well-structured and well-financed. They pursue a single goal. They want to maximize their profits and do what most business do: hostile takeovers and pursue mergers and acquisitions. They use violence to protect their business from other competitors as well as from our two governments' efforts to roll them back. There is no political motivation or agenda whatsoever beyond their attempt to defend their illegal business. [continues 95 words]
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, and The Dallas Morning News don't have a clue on how to solve the horror and misery that is Mexico today. They naively believe that tougher penalties will have an impact? Please. As a retired detective, I know that drug dealers accept, as a condition of employment, death and long prison terms. Drug prohibition is the cause of all the beheadings. To end Mexico's death and misery, we need to repeal our drug prohibition just like we did in 1933. As women and children are shot dead every day in Mexico, it is immoral for our country to continue this failed, trillion-dollar modern prohibition. Howard Wooldridge, Dallas [end]
Mexican Cartels Belong on State Department's List U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, gets it. When drug cartel thugs order mass kidnappings, explode bombs, murder scores of public officials, behead victims or hang them from overpasses, and post signs in border-area cities warning of more violence if they don't get their way, that's not mere drug trafficking. That's terrorism. Finally, someone in Washington is taking action in response to the unprecedented threat on America's southern border. [continues 394 words]
The $1.7 billion medical marijuana industry recently made its lobbying debut in Washington, D.C., with the National Cannabis Industry Association launching an effort to amend the federal tax law so that those who sell marijuana for medical purposes will be equal to other business owners. The University of North Texas Department of Radio, Television and Film will present a free screening of "Waiting to Inhale: Marijuana, Medicine and the Law," a 2005 documentary that examines the heated debate over medical use of marijuana in the U.S., April 21. [continues 441 words]
Re: March 27 commentary "America needs a plan to combat Mexico's cartels." Regarding U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul's column, drugs did not spawn Mexico's organized crime networks. Just like alcohol prohibition gave rise to Al Capone, drug prohibition created the violent drug-trafficking organizations behind all the killings in Mexico. With alcohol prohibition repealed in the United States, liquor bootleggers no longer gunned each other down in drive-by shootings. Drug prohibition funds organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used by shameless politicians to justify increased drug war spending. It's time to end this madness. Whether we like it or not, drugs are here to stay. Changing human nature is not an option. Reforming harmful drug laws is an option, one that Congress should pursue. Robert Sharpe Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy www.csdp.org Arlington, Va. [end]
Regarding Johnny Hickman's Viewpoints column Thursday, the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession. At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. Decriminalization is a long overdue step in the right direction. [continues 58 words]
JUDGE OFFERS TO LET WILLIE NELSON OFF DRUGS JAIL SENTENCE . . . SO LONG AS HE SINGS HER FAVOURITE SONG IN COURT Singer-songwriter and marijuana enthusiast Willie Nelson could have faced a lengthy jail term after he was arrested for possession in November. But perhaps the Texas prosecutor has been smoking some of Willie's special cigarettes, because he has agreed to let the 77-year-old legend avoid prison but only if he gives the court a song. Hudspeth County Attorney Kit Bramblett said: 'I'm gonna let him plead, pay a small fine and he's gotta sing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" with his guitar right there in the courtroom.' [continues 356 words]
On Feb. 15, Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila pleaded for their lives in Spanish, identifying themselves as American federal agents moments after members of a Mexican drug cartel forced their vehicle bearing U.S. diplomat plates off the highway in Central Mexico. The cartel responded by firing more than 80 rounds from automatic weapons. That event instantly changed the landscape of our nation's involvement in Mexico's bloody war. For the first time in 25 years, cartels are targeting American law enforcement. Avila recently described the ambush by the Zeta cartel, comprised of former Mexican military special forces as "pure evil." Even at the Mexican hospital, he feared that they would come back and finish the job. [continues 543 words]
Everyone knows that the American drug war is a total failure. Having spent $1 trillion in the last 40 years, we now find that marijuana is cheaper, more potent and readily available to anyone who wants it. During the past 10 years, polls show that public school students consistently say that marijuana is easier to get than cigarettes or alcohol. It is high time to end the insanity. Prohibition didn't work with alcohol and it won't work with drugs either. [continues 879 words]
The drug-cartel violence in Juarez is hurting El Paso's image and making it more difficult to attract conventions, tourists and talent even though El Paso remains one of the safest cities in the nation, city officials said. That has a new, city-convened group of 24 officials from the city, county, business groups, UTEP, Texas Tech, Fort Bliss, and media outlets, including the El Paso Times, trying to figure out how to enhance the city's image and get the word out about El Paso's assets. [continues 1188 words]
The FBI's blow against the Barrio Azteca last week showed that the region's dominant gang has continued to operate in spite of past racketeering cases that sent gang bosses to prison for life. Experts said breaking a criminal organization as large as the Barrio Azteca is not done in one swing, but could take years in the same fashion the Italian mob was eventually crippled. U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy on Wednesday announced a federal indictment of 35 alleged leaders, members and associates of the Barrio Azteca. [continues 1312 words]
Focus Efforts on Middle Layer of Drug Cartels President Felipe Calderon visited Washington earlier this month amid a significant escalation in drug-related violence in Mexico and strained relations with the United States. However, it is critical that dissatisfaction on both sides does not give rise to purely symbolic actions aimed at placating concerns rather than achieving real results in ending the Mexican drug wars. Neither the U.S. nor Mexico will benefit from more frequent but less strategic hits against Mexico's drug gangs. Ramping up of the campaign against Mexico's drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) without being truly strategic may satisfy some critics, but it will not enhance the necessary development of law enforcement, justice and corrections institutions in Mexico that are needed to make real headway in ending the Mexican drug wars. Counterproductively, non-strategic action will likely further increase the violence and decrease Mexican public support for the effort in the long term. [continues 703 words]
I seldom agree with the opinions of Jose de la Isla, but his column Tuesday concerning the war on drugs expressed my thoughts exactly. This is a "war" that will never be won -- prime example, Prohibition. Even with a constitutional amendment, no one who wanted to drink alcohol was prevented from doing so. From the dawn of man, humans have been attracted to substances that alter their feelings and perceptions. Even other species tend to seek out fermenting fruit and other plant materials that make them drunk. [continues 106 words]
Program Let Arms Go South, With Deadly Results Disturbing recent news reports suggest that federal agents knowingly let arms buyers for Mexican drug cartels smuggle high-powered weaponry across the border, with deadly consequences for U.S. law enforcers. Mexican leaders have warned for years that lax U.S. enforcement of gun smuggling was fueling border-area violence, but they should be particularly disturbed to learn that, in some cases, weapons were being deliberately allowed to flow southward. CBS News reported last week about Project Gunrunner, an operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track how weapons purchased in U.S. gun stores reached Mexican drug gangs. Had Gunrunner been a limited, tightly focused study, it might have provided useful intelligence to shut down major gun-smuggling operations. Instead, it went badly awry. [continues 335 words]
It's clearly time for credible drug law reform (Proposed Texas Marijuana Bill Could Lessen Possession Penalties, Mar. 1, 2011) and at the very minimum that means decriminalizing the relatively safe, extremely popular God-given plant cannabis (marijuana). Another reason to decriminalize cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is Biblically correct since God, The Ecologician, indicates He created all the seed bearing plants saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (see Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only Biblical restriction placed on cannabis is to accept it with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5). Stan White [end]
I stopped by a head shop in East Dallas one evening last week. I wasn't in the market for drug paraphernalia but rather a philosophical discussion. Customers were few at the Puff n Stuff Smoke Shop on Columbia Avenue, so I offered my question to a couple of clerks. "Considering the violence in Mexico," I said, "wouldn't it make sense for people here to boycott drugs?" "Boycott drugs? That's stupid," one of the clerks blurted. "I don't mean to offend you, but that's really dumb. Drugs are awesome!" For the record, I wasn't offended. [continues 585 words]
U.S. authorities in Texas arrested three members of an alleged weapons trafficking ring and accused one of them of buying a pistol used in a February attack that killed a U.S. government agent in Mexico. The three men are brothers [name1 redacted] and [name2 redacted], 27 and 22 years old, and [name3 redacted], 25. All were charged in criminal complaints filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas. The men were the subject of an undercover investigation by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Drug Enforcement Administration in November. Investigators were attempting to track weapons bought in the U.S. that were allegedly then smuggled into Mexico, according to an ATF affidavit filed in court. The affidavit alleges that the purchases were made on behalf of the drug gang known as Los Zetas, one of several groups fighting a bloody war for control of territory in Mexico. [continues 299 words]
In the late 1700s, just after the British shot up the French and Indians, they turned their sights on the Colonies by demanding high taxes be sent back to Parliament. They had to pay the costs of having kicked French and Indian butt, you know. Our ancestors the colonists, turned both cheeks, bent over and said, "Kick me!" Our ancestors did not fight back and the United States of America never ... happened? Wait a sec. Wrong part of North America. Wrong era. [continues 534 words]
House Bill 548, which calls for reduced fines for possession of marijuana, goes to the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee in the Texas Legislature today. The bill would lower the penalties for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana to a Class C Misdemeanor, reducing the fine from $2000 to $500 and eliminating the possibility of a criminal record. However, possession that is measured to be two ounces or less or more than one ounce is still considered to be a Class B Misdemeanor, which calls for a fine up to $2000 and up to 180 days in jail. [continues 227 words]
THE POINT -- Study shows how drug policy often impedes medical care. Fallout from our panic-driven war on drugs includes the demonization of medications that has reached irrational levels. Abuse by some has made many drugs unavailable to people who really need them, or driven some to live with their medical condition rather than endure the trouble of getting treatment. Virtually all drugs, including those that now are illegal, originally were developed to help people. Heroin is a powerful painkiller; medications for pneumonia and other illnesses once contained cocaine. Even the active ingredient in marijuana is known to provide relief for glaucoma, the side effects of cancer treatments and other maladies. [continues 487 words]
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- There was "victory" in Iraq and a pending one in Afghanistan. Now, we're told, it's time to turn our weapons to the war on drugs. The need for an escalation led Army Undersecretary Joseph Westphal to plant the thought in public discourse that invading Mexico is not out of the question. We don't like losing wars. We fight only for the right side because our intent is for a happy ending. Just consult a history book if you're in doubt. [continues 599 words]
More than 100 people were arrested in the El Paso region in a crackdown on Mexican drug cartels in response to the killing of an ICE agent last week in Mexico, officials said Friday evening. In Chihuahua City, authorities announced that a high-ranking member of the Juarez drug cartel was killed in a shootout with federal police earlier this week. U.S. officials said 104 people were arrested as of Friday in the El Paso division of the DEA, which covers West Texas and New Mexico. The division has offices in El Paso, Las Cruces, Albuquerque, Midland and Alpine. [continues 474 words]
On Monday, I published an article in The Daily Campus called, "We American drug market fuel international war on drugs." It linked the rampant drug culture in America (particularly the use of marijuana) to the cartel violence raging in Mexico. In the past day I have received numerous emails from various readers of The Daily Campus, most of which are not affiliated with SMU. All of the emails were concerned with the legalization of marijuana, which my article, in fact, never denounced nor promoted. [continues 665 words]
Let's Treat Alcohol As the Danger It Is and Make It Pay Its Way With Higher Taxes "Crack is wack." I heard many people repeat that phrase last week as they appraised the waste of Whitney Houston's later years and flashed back to her 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer, when she uttered those immortal words. Sawyer wanted to know what Houston was on. Everyone wanted to know what Houston was on, and news reports after her death took unconfirmed inventory of the pills in her hotel suite, wondering if they represented the extent of her indulgences. [continues 576 words]
Good morning. My name is John Morton. I'm a colleague of Jaime Zapata's and Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The American poet William Wallace once wrote "Every man dies. Not every man really lives." We are here today, in this place, to honor a man who really lived - Jaime Jorge Zapata. A man who followed his father Amador into a career of law enforcement - a career not of riches but of service and sacrifice; a career of protecting people and their communities from criminals; a career of putting himself in harm's way for the benefit of others. [continues 796 words]
It is generally common knowledge that there is a drug war going on in Mexico. Cartels run rampant through the entire country, making unfathomable sums of money from the drug trade. None of these drug cartels would exist if there was not a market for the illicit substances they sell. We are their market. You see, America has a drug problem. No matter where you go, whether it is on the SMU campus or to the poorest neighborhoods in the United States, there will be drugs. It is as much a part of us as Ford, hamburgers or apple pie. [continues 430 words]
Four years ago SMU was rocked by the deaths of sophomore Jacob Stiles, freshman Jordan Crist and senior Meaghan Bosch due to drugs and alcohol. Amidst the sadness, many loudly criticized SMU's drug culture. It was this culture, they say, which contributed to the three deaths. "Drugs are woven into the Greek system and the social fabric of the university," Bosch's father, Joseph Bosch, said. Four years later, what has changed? It's true that SMU has become more involved in efforts to curb and prevent drug and alcohol abuse. The Task Force on Substance Abuse Prevention delivered 30 recommendations to President R. Gerald Turner; 21 of those were accepted. Now the Task Force is called the Commission on Substance Abuse Prevention and Education. [continues 370 words]
How will the Obama administration respond to the shootings of two Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Mexico? The Tuesday murder of one agent and the wounding of another puts the administration's feet to the fire as has no other incident so far in Mexico or along the border. The administration has skated on a number of incidents so far, including the murder of an Arizona rancher, the killing of a Border Patrol agent in Arizona, the shooting death of an American missionary, the shooting death of an American jet skier on Falcon Lake, the killings of two El Paso students in Juarez ... and who knows what we haven't even heard about. [continues 464 words]
If Phil Jordan were to travel to Mexico, he would do it under one condition: "If I could take a couple of U.S. Marines and Navy SEALs with me." He also likely would be armed. "Whether we want to admit it or not, there is a war going on in Mexico. It's a no man's land," Jordan said. A former director of the El Paso Intelligence Center, and formerly in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in Dallas with more than 30 years in law enforcement, Jordan made his comments in the wake of Tuesday's slaying of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Jorge Zapata. [continues 635 words]
The shootings of two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Mexico on Tuesday were tragic and heartbreaking. Agent Jaime Zapata, from Laredo, was killed. And El Paso-based Agent Victor Avila was wounded. The shootings hit close to home. Tragic? Heartbreaking? Yes. But not unexpected. This country is at war in Mexico, just as surely as the U.S. is at war in Afghanistan. And the tragedy of war is that there will be casualties. Most Americans know that there is a drug war going on in Mexico, but probably not many realize the depth of American involvement in that war. A number of U.S. law-enforcement agencies have a presence in Mexico, including ICE, the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and no doubt others. Of necessity, much or most of their work is covert or at least low-profile. [continues 230 words]
An ICE agent from El Paso is being hailed as a hero after surviving an attack that killed another agent on a Mexican road earlier this week. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Victor Avila Jr. was released from a U.S. hospital Wednesday after being shot twice in the leg in the attack Tuesday that killed Special Agent Jaime Zapata in San Luis Potosi state. "As we mourn Special Agent Zapata's death, we also recognize Special Agent Avila's great heroism," said ICE Director John Morton. [continues 298 words]
Budget concerns mean crazy things for Texas. One of these crazy plans deals with releasing people from prison in order to save the state some money. "Texas lawmakers have been discussing the possibility of releasing more nonviolent prisoners early to help the state deal with a projected $15 billion budget shortfall," according to the Houston Chronicle. The implication of releasing non-violent prisoners is something that should be given a lot of thought. Depending upon how long of a sentence they have already served, some of these people may get parole and then immediately return to their criminal ways. Others whom have served sentences of various lengths may be unfit for society after their prison experience. [continues 349 words]
The U.S. will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mexico in its fight against drug cartels in spite of the fatal attack Tuesday in Mexico in which one U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was killed and another from El Paso was wounded, officials and experts said Wednesday. Some, like University of Texas at El Paso professor Howard Campbell, also said it was no surprise the agents were attacked, and admitted he had been surprised it had not happened before. [continues 1026 words]
Execution-style killings, caskets carried by teenagers and bloodstained houses are every day scenes in Juarez. The shocking clips of drug-cartel violence ravaging the border city will hit the big screen Friday when "8 Murders a Day" premieres in El Paso, Las Cruces and Deming. "It just got too unbearable for me to see all these people getting killed," said Charlie Minn, the film's director and producer. "To me, this is not a war on drugs, it is a war on people." [continues 437 words]
Dear Editor, I am writing to you about the article by Jordan Smith in the Feb. 4 issue "The War on Talking About the Drug War" [News]. Why am I not surprised by the government's reaction to Border Patrol Agent Bryan Gonzalez's statement? When did having an opinion become grounds for dismissal? Let me say that I do not do drugs nor do I think they should be legal; however, I think anyone, no matter what the circumstance, should be allowed to have an opinion. [continues 210 words]
Janet, Janet, Janet ... Please don't come to El Paso and issue what is essentially a dare to Mexican drug cartels. "Don't even think about bringing your violence and tactics across this border," Janet Napolitano said Monday. "You will be met by an overwhelming response. And we're going to continue to work with our partners in Mexico to dismantle and defeat you." As I read her challenge, a Jim Croce tune started drifting through my mind, along with the words: [continues 474 words]
With all due respect, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is totally out of touch when it comes to Mexican drug cartels. On Monday, she visited El Paso and issued this overdue threat: "Don't even think about bringing your violence and tactics across this border." Madame Secretary, I regret to inform you, the violent Mexican drug cartels are already here! They're occupying our land, stealing our property and harming our citizens -- and U.S. border states have been warning you about this since you've been in office. [continues 413 words]
SAN MARCOS - The Kyle City Council earlier this week took the first step in banning the sale of synthetic marijuana products known as "K2" and "Spice." The council voted 6-1 on first reading to make the purchase, sale or use of salvia divinorum a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $2,000 . The council is planning a final vote at their next meeting. Kyle Council Member David Wilson said that while he expects K2 will become illegal everywhere soon, he didn't want to wait to keep it out of Kyle. [continues 377 words]
Now Juarez has a rift between two groups charged with keeping the peace -- the "good guys" in the long battle to rid Mexico of drug-cartels. A bodyguard for Juarez Mayor Hector Murguia was shot outside a residence where Murguia was having dinner last week. And four federal agents have been arrested -- to determine who pulled the trigger. The two sides, which are supposed to be on the same side, have conflicting stories. Thus we can understand why Murguia was scheduled to be in Mexico City on Friday to get some answers. [continues 260 words]
A Call for Ending the Violence CANUTILLO -- Frustrated and tired of the drug violence in Juarez, seniors at Canutillo High School took a stand Thursday. More than 300 students participated, decorating handprints attached to stakes. Every handprint had a message urging peace. The event was part of the school's "The Violence Stops Here" campaign, intended to bring more attention to the killings across the border. An estimated 7,500 people have died since in the drug war began in 2008. About 200 people have died this year, and more than 3,100 were killed in 2010. [continues 382 words]
Drugs have been in use for centuries by many people both in the arts and other phases of life. Persons who want to use drugs will find a source, sometimes not a reliable source that is common knowledge. Let's give them a controlled source and reap the benefits. During prohibition, the "rum runners" were no different from the "drug runners" of today. They all made millions at the expense of others. If we legalize drugs, we could tax it the way we tax cigarettes, wine and liquor. The tax money could be used to pay off our debt. Just think. [continues 67 words]
Inside Texas
