Newsletter
Nov. 21, 2010
The Texas Border Volunteers, Inc.
Volume4 Issue 10
Feel free to pass our news to other interested parties.
http://www.texasbordervolunteers.org/home.php
President/VP of Public Events
2nd
Nov
the people gave an indication of a
Sweeping Red Tide. Exit polls indicated that
illegal immigration, and securing our southern
border, while not the # 1 issue was way up
there. Pretty safe to say that “immigration
reform” which is code in D.C. for amnesty is off
the table for the next few years at least.
Let us not lose our enthusiasm because CT
sightings are down in the sector we have been
posting up on. Fact is illegal activity on our entire
border from Brownsville to San Diego is down
mainly due to the flagging US economy and the
dimmed opportunity for jobs the illegals used to
come here for.
That our sightings are down is also an indication
of our effectiveness, and we should take pride in
that. Our mission is to stop or reduce the flow of
illegals and through our efforts we have given
Federal, State and local law enforcement in our
area the opportunity to modify tactics and the
use of assets to better enforce against illegal
activity.
I truly believe our economy will improve
eventually over a period of time and that will
cause an increase in traffic. The spiral of
violence and chaos in Mexico sure as heck is
not going to have a positive economic influence
for our neighbor to the South. Look for traffic to
pick up as we find a way to get out of the
economic mess we ourselves created. It may be
tough here, but it is far worse down there.
Others will detail sightings and activity on our
October 10 day elsewhere in this newsletter.
Let us continue to do what we do. We are all
getting better at it. We at TBV have made a
positive influence. Each of us should take a
great deal of pride in that.
Dennis Morrow
units in for repair, we found that they had a lot of
sand in them and the adjustments had been
“overdriven”. If you should drop an NV in the
sand, do not wipe the lens, but blow the sand off
them or use a lens brush to prevent scratches.
Canned air and lens brushes are available at
HQ for this. All members are asked to keep our
NV gear covered if at all possible, especially
when traveling around our watch areas. This is
not intended to prevent them from being used as
the member feels is necessary. Additionally,
care should be exercised when adjusting the
units to prevent overdriving the focus
mechanism. The below illustration and
instructions are provided to help you adjust our
PVS-14’s correctly. Remember; adjust the one
closest to your face, first.
Objective Lens Focus Ring
Eyepiece Diopter Focus Ring:
(Distance)
Adjusts for each person’s vision
Always first adjust the eyepiece diopter so that
any spots on
The tubes are clear and in focus. Then adjust
the objective lens
Focus ring for distance so that objects are clear
and crisp to look at.
Tom Kile
Ex. VP/VP Membership
Chief of Staff
Updated and reprinted for newer members. We
are very fortunate in having several pieces of
good night vision (NV) equipment. As we have
used and become familiar with it, we found that
it requires more care than we have been
providing. When we sent some PVS-14 Gen 3
Fox News has been down on the Rio Grande
River with DPS heli and ground units. It has
made national news as Americas’ Third War:
Texas Strikes Back.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/18/america
s-war-texas-mounts-counterinsurgency-effort/
You may recognize some of the pilots and crew
that have touched down at the Vickers ranch.
The Fox crew is scheduled to come to the ranch
in the next week or two for an interview.
Border Patrol Stats – Falfurrias Sector
September 2010
830 IA's
327 OTMs(Other Than Mexicans)
October 2010
621 IA’s
161 OTMs
This is traditionally a slow time of the year for
Illegal Alien traffic. But I have never seen traffic
this slow. Many other factors could be and are
contributing to this. But the main reason, in my
opinion, is the never ending violence and
feuding in the country of Mexico.
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/border_sec
urity/border_patrol/apps.ctt/apps.pdf
The above is a link to the Illegal Alien
apprehensions for the entire southern and
northern U.S. borders. Falfurrias is part of the
Rio Grande Valley (RGV) sector.
TBV donated $20.00 along with several local
ranchers towards the annual BP community
Partnership Awards. Two Border Patrol Field
Agents and two Border Patrol Supervisors have
been chosen. A Field Agent that TBV has had
many encounters with on the ground will be one
of the recipients. One of the BP Supervisors
chosen was featured on Border Wars with TBV.
These choices are not made by accident. My
input for the choices always concerns how the
agents interact and accept TBVers in the field.
The awards will be given during the January
2011 Falfurrias Border Patrol Community
Partnership meeting.
A few adjustments have been made on the TBV
board. The official position of Security and
Training has been removed. These duties will be
tended to by several TBV members and
overseen by the VP of Mission Control and the
Ex. VP.
We have also added the position of VP of Public
Events and assigned the position to Dennis
Morrow. The new position has been developed
to encircle and encompass the ever growing
needs of public venues. At this time, Dennis will
hold both the President and VP of Public Events
positions.
Linda Vickers
VP Mission Control
An election season hard 'push' on the border by
Governor Perry pretty-much whacked our
October Watch. High water and flooding in the
river hurt our September numbers. Now comes
December and a historically slow period.
Should we even 'do' our December Watch?
Dang right we should for several reasons. Not
the least of which is to demonstrate that Texas
Border Volunteers aren't a bunch of quitters.
From Border Patrol to the coyotes we need to
demonstrate that we're a serious outfit and we're
here to stay. What's more, we sure won't get
any sightings if we're not doing our
'thing'. We've got to be there and standing
watch if we want to get a sighting. Few Criminal
Trespassers wander into headquarters and none
have ever walked into my living room. Who
knows... we could hit it big in December. Just
one good group and we'll all forget about "slow".
The numbers are probably affected because we
have been so good at what we do. They may be
avoiding our areas in particular because of us.
"OK". So, we'll expand our areas of operation.
We're getting requests to go to new places.
Polecat and I will be taking a look at those new
areas in the next few weeks. Keep in mind that
the administration is still talking the "Dream Bill",
amnesty for those who've managed to break the
law and enter your country. I intend to do my
part in keeping as many CT's out as possible.
How about you?
Dave Boles
VP Administration
The current financial data for this reporting
period:
Oct 31, 2010
Oct 31, 2009
Total Assets
$33,771
$20,486
Total Income
$20,618
$11,697
Net Income
$12,644
$6,185
Equipment
$32,490
$12,683
Bank account balance as of Oct 31, 2010 is
$1,281
Thanks to Ed Henderson for keeping the
numbers up to date.
I would like to pass along my thanks to the
members that came out to work the Adopt-AHighway cleanup and Saxet Gun Show. Kudos
to Destiny, Big Dog, Nurse Guy, Jazz, Traveler,
LT, and Quarterback for their efforts. You folks
make a difference. The next outings will be a
cleanup in January and Gun Show in February.
Lastly, as we approach the new session of the
Texas Legislature it is critical that we ramp up
the pressure on our elected officials to pass
legislation that will begin to address the border
and immigration crisis. A repeat of last
session’s obstruction and failures in this area is
unacceptable. When making your New Year’s
resolution list, put contacting your local State
Reps and Senators on a weekly basis at the top.
The just completed election sent a strong
message that “We the People” will make
changes when politicians fail to act. Keep that
message loud and clear and don’t take no for an
answer.
From the “Why we do, what we do”
Department:
Driver charged in deadly Webster wreck
in U.S. illegally
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/72
97460.html
Hoot Gibson
TBV Comment Corner:
Fellow TBV members, I believe that this has
some importance due to what we do. I had a
doctor’s appointment and as we discussed my
health the subject of my membership in TBV
came up since he supports our mission. We
talked for a few minutes and then he asked me
when I had my last tetanus shot. I could not
remember but I know it has been quite a while,
probably over 10 years. He explained that as
we have or might have contact with individuals
from other countries who come here illegally, we
could be subject to any number of diseases. As
these people are not screened before entry into
the United States, some of these diseases can
be communicated by touch or may be airborne.
Use your judgment as to whether you feel that
you need to get the shot. I got mine. A shot of
prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Big Dog
The backlash is beginning from the left....so
please respond to Congress that "the Dream Act
or free pass amnesty in any form" will not be
acceptable....between November and
January....or anytime!!! Any form of "free pass
amnesty" would be devastating to the U.S.
economy....and we have no idea what the next
two years will bring with the current
administration!! The last seven amnesties since
1986 did not work...and any and all amnesties
(in any form!) need to be stopped
permanently!!! Amnesties only encourage more
illegal foreigners to enter the country the wrong
way...and the U.S. can no longer afford to
accommodate millions of illegal foreigners and
their "anchor" children!!! Please tell all members
of Congress..."NO DREAM ACT OR FREE
PASS AMNESTY UNDER ANY
CIRCUMSTANCES!!"
Pat Kennedy