Lots of Equipment

One of the things I have noticed on my drive is there is a lot of equipment on the road and in the area placed by border patrol. Driving along on the highway and I am passed by SUVs or trucks with a special cab on the back for imprisoning persons for transportation. In one place I passed a border patrol truck on the side of the road with two little all-terrain vehicles in the back. I have to admit it looked like it might be fun to race over the desert on a little ATV!

On the morning of Friday, May 8, when I got on the road in Douglas, Arizona, I drove downtown to see what there was to see of downtown and that did not take long. The main drag runs North/South, so I took a left turn at the end of the main street and I was then paralleling the border. There was an orange-pink set of traffic barriers on my right, then a ditch or arroyo, then a path, then the border fence which is, as you can see, a nicely constructed one with posts and ten foot tall parallel steel slats. Straight ahead one can see the monitoring tower, and to the left is a camera like the traffic cameras at home.

When I first turned left there was a one ton flat bed truck with special equipment mounted on the back, and it was pulled up at one of these light pole units that are placed along the left curb of the street as the orange-pink barriers are placed along the curb at the right. I think that the white box on a trailer at the based of the light pole is a generator. And this one ton truck was devoted to the maintenance and refueling of these generators on a regular basis. I was sorry that I had not thought to drive this route the night before, because I am sure that the presence of these several portable light units with their accompanying generators made for a dramatic lighting effect accompanied by the sounds of portable generators. I know a little of what that noise is like from the occasional power outages in the Rock Island. As a regular thing I suspect that it gets pretty tiresome. As I looked through the steel slats of the fence I noticed fairly new residences on the Agua Prieta side in Mexico.

Here I am pulling out of a parking lot and the vehicle right ahead of me was BORDER PATROL. Probably over time that I would become desensitized to all the presence all around of these law enforcement officials. Maybe I would get to know some of the officers at church or at the local eatery. But as a visitor, a foreigner to these parts, it was fairly overwhelming.

This last photo is of the parking lot at the new Border Patrol facility at Sonoita. According to my little AAA guide Sonoita has a population of 826, one motel, the Sonoita Inn which they have not evaluated, and one eatery, the Cafe Sonoita. The facility looks like one of the steel out-buildings which are placed on farms in my area, only bigger. That is a lot of vehicles in the parking lot. When we were given a tour at a Border Patrol station several years ago we were told that each officer is able to buy the sort of vehicle he likes and then it is "his." This means he can leave his stuff in the car next time he comes on shift. So I think these cars in the parking lot represent all the officers who are not on shift at this time. That would also mean that there are several other officers and vehicles that are in the field.

On the one hand I imagine that all this infrastructure, vehicles and personnel means investment in this area that seems pretty beat down and poor. The family income in Hidalgo County in Southwest New Mexico is a little over $20,000 per year. The national average is a little over $40,000 per year. At the same time I imagine all these guys relocated here from other parts of the nation have some impact on the community that is not so desirable, also.

Nogales and Nogales

How did it come to this? The construction of a wall along US / Mexico border is really a very unusual human development. It ranks along with the Berlin Wall and the walls/barriers being constructed to keep separated the Israelis and the Palestinians. I guess there was Hadrian's wall in Britain and the Great Wall of China. These last two in particular, along with the Berlin Wall, remind us that such human structures loose their meaning over time. Stuff changes.

While those of us in the Midwestern United States read about the wall in the newspaper it has a physical reality here in hot and dusty Arizona.

Using the watchtower as a marker, and it is unusual with all its electronic gadgets and cameras, we can see the same wall from two sides. This tower is very near the crossing point between US Nogales and Mexico Nogales. Buildings come right up to the barrier on both sides.

On the US side there is a deserted street in a residential neighborhood. Up at the very top of the photo the watchtower is visible, along with an SUV with the Border Patrol markings on it. In the few hours I was in the area this vehicle did not move and there was another maybe two blocks further up the street that did not move either. They were sitting there watching in the 100 degree temperature with their air conditioning on and the windows closed.

The next photo is on the Mexico side. Once again find the tower with the square rigging on the top. One can see why this location may have been chosen because the raw earth shows that this is on the edge of a hill. Hanging on the lamp post is a political banner. The whole Mexico side has a lot more activity.

On the Mexico side one is not in a residential neighborhood but rather on the edge of a commercial area. If you look closely that parking meters have been installed at the base of the hill/wall and cars are parked. The parking of cars nosed in against the steel wall continues along the wall even when it is flat.

This was also a place where an obelisk made of sandstone was placed many years ago to mark the defined border of the US and Mexico, along with proclamations of enduring friendship among nations. In fact, there are many markers from earlier times when the tone of the relationship between these two nations was much more cooperative and supportive.

At the base of the obelisk a Mexican muralist has given a devastating view of what the United States means from his perspective. It is the worship of death beneath the worship of the dollar.

At the same time some other Mexican artists have offered other decorations of the wall; playfulness in the face of unfriendliness and oppression, hiding a military green eyesore with bright color and dancing figures.

On the Road in Arizona

Since the delegation is cancelled I decided to be a tourist on my own. This first photo is of Mission San Xavier del Bac on an reservation for indigenous people just South of Tucson. It was one of the missions established by Father Kino in the middle 18th century. Quite old, and well restored. The most recent restoration was in the 1990's and the who place is quite beautiful.

I continued south and came to a the town Tubac just as I was ready for something to drink. What a pleasant surprise. It was an old Precidio town, in fact, the place from which De Anza set off for his epic overland journey to California and San Francisco. It has a state park museum and in that museum is a statue of San Xavier del Bac! So that helps complete my mental picture of the mission.

It turns out that Tubac is also an art colony and I want to come back again when I have more time. The place is really quite marvelous. Check out the website http://www.tubacaz.com/

When I was in the small local market I got to watch a little human drama in the parking lot. According to the clerk the Border Patrol had pulled over a young man because he was suspected of transporting undocumented immigrants. The young man became irate and so the Border Patrol called the police. So what you see in the photo is the police officer speaking with the young man and Border Patrol speaking with the clerk who asked about what was going on. Well, the young man walked away from the encounter without being detained by either law enforcement agency. He was agitated and talking on his cell phone. No lack of employment for law enforcement in this area.

Continuing on my journey I drove through the town of Patagonia. My seminary friend Dwight Sullivan served the Methodist Church in this town at one point. It was not a good fit for him because the town is small and in a remote area and he was single at the time. But actually it is a quaint little town and I had a burger at the Stage Coach Inn and Saloon. Turns out my waiter lived in Rock Island at one time! Small world.


I did walk across the border at Nogales earlier in the day. It was depressing - the hawkers in the street seemed desperate, and both the US side and the Mexico side seemed pretty economically depressed. More later.

Tucson

Arrived in Tucson yesterday. Picked up a car and drove from the airport to the BorderLinks office in downtown. Had a nice chat with Delle McCormick, who is the executive director of BL. It has been a rough time for the organization. First, there is the downturn in the economy, then the threat of drug related border violence, and now the whole H1N1 flu scare. The delegation that I was supposed to be part of, the one that would have begun this Friday, fell victim to the flu-in-Mexico event.

The delegation which would have included pastors from Mexico, along with Global Ministries staff and pastor from Illinois Maya Ministry, had to be cancelled because the pastors from Mexico were prevented from travel. The government of Mexico cancelled public events, including church services, through last weekend. The whole month of May will probably be characterized with only absolutely necessary gathering in Mexico. And our Mexican partners - from the Congregational Church of Mexico along with two groups related to the Disciples of Christ could not travel to the border in these circumstances.

Rev. Felix Ortiz-Cotto, executive for Latin America and the Caribbean, says that we will try to reschedule. Delle hopes this will come soon, because not only does BorderLinks want to accomplish their mission - deeper knowledge of the dynamics of the border - but frankly, they could use the money.

Meantime I have a week in the Southwest to relax, travel and think. I will keep you posted.

God and Me

One of the boys in our congregation completed his God and Me award through Cub Scouts and received the certificate and badge last Thursday evening. Here I am with him and his scout leader at the Pack meeting.

He did a great job and I appreciated his loyalty coming on several Wednesday afternoons to work on this project. It is a good experience for me as a pastor to have some time to get to know youngsters in the congregation better by working together.

Health Care Coverage

Here is a letter to the editor that was published in the Quad Cities Times today, April 30:


The congregation of the Church of Peace United Church of Christ in RockIsland along with other Quad City churches sent postcards to our USSenators regarding health care coverage.This program was coordinated by Quad Cities Interfaith.

These cards made the points that Health Care Coverage should:- Be available to all.- Be continuous.- Be affordable and sustainable for society. Congregants were asked to sign and make comments on the card and put them in the offering plate. Some of the comments were very interesting.

"No more delays!" "Get your acts together and get this done!" Some were more specific: "I am a federal retiree and would like to seeeverybody have the plan I enjoy.""My sister got sick, lost her job because of her illness, then lost herhealth coverage and is probably going bankrupt."

The many good comments reminded me that the concern is not just for sometheoretical "other people." Rather the concern is for ourselves andthose we love, along with a concern for society in general.

Jesus spent a lot of time in healing and health care efforts. Storyafter story of people with fever, skin disease, blindness, menstrualproblems, back problems are given in the Bible. And Jesus provided careto those who approached him. So maybe we are not far from the mark when we make efforts to see thathealth care coverage is readily available in America.

Rev. Michael Swartz
Rock Island
http://www.qctimes.com/news/opinion/mailbag/article_4ffc8ff8-350c-1...

Parish Nurse

Last Thursday evening I attended an annual banquet for the Parish Nursing program in the Quad Cities as a guest of our Parish Nurse, here at Church of Peace, Mary Oelschlaeger. It was an enjoyable dinner and presentation.

This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the program here in our area. There was a lot of remembering and celebrating past and visionary leaders.

The keynote speaker for the evening was Deborah Peterson, Executive Director, Internationa Parish Nurse Resource Center/Deaconess Parish Nurse Ministries of St Louis. Her organization of Deaconnesses grows out of the same German Evangelical roots as does our local church. It was good to meet her and hear her message.

We are greatly benefitted here at the Church of Peace by our Parish Nurse, Mary O, and her ministry among us.