Stark reminders of Nazi Germany spring up in Tubac

Published Tuesday, August 14, 2007 9:43 AM MDT

Guest OPINION

By George Smith

My request for help has to do with mounting pressures on daily living that are being felt by those of us who have chosen to move to the previously tranquil community of Tubac, Ariz.

At first we were just being stopped by the Border Patrol every time we decided to drive to Green Valley. Then, we were asked if we were U.S. citizens - here in our own country.

As I recall, this is how it started with the Nazi takeover of Germany in the late 1930s. As time progressed, we accepted it as a way of life, but our visiting friends and relatives felt inclined to visit us less. They were intimidated by the infringement of being asked if they were U.S. citizens.

This expanded to the weekenders who frequented our art studios and craft shops, and now many of the businesses are being forced to consider closing their doors. They just can't make enough to pay the bills anymore.

More recently, the drug runners have begun to frequent our local roads and the trails that were outdoor attractions for hikers. We don't dare use these anymore without some armament, and of course, we wouldn't take along our grandkids who used to enjoy the outdoors in and around Tubac when they'd come to visit. We don't dare allow them to go outside anymore without being carefully guarded and having outlined in advance a quick escape route back behind locked doors.

Perhaps you've read about the shootings that have occurred in our neighborhood as the drug-runners skulk through our yards and walking paths to avoid that checkpoint along Interstate 19. It's common now to have helicopters hovering over our home as the Border Patrol extends its searches into our once private domains.

I've often wondered how logical it would be to concentrate all of this Border Patrol manpower at the border rather than have them living among us and invading our private lives. We residents are one step away from living in a military state not much different from the internment camps we constructed and herded private citizens into during the early days of World War II.

What's different, I guess, is that we moved into our interment camp voluntarily when it was a part of the United States, and the interment camp came to encompass us as the Border Patrol encircled, and Arizona effectively ceded part of the Gadsden Purchase back to Mexico. To be more correct, I can only assume that we will soon be recognized as Tubac, Mexico.

Should you be trying to reach me in Tubac, you'll find I'm in Phoenix for the next few days for some R&R.

On Sunday, we will make our way back through our 2007 version of the Berlin Corridor to the once desirable community of Tubac.

We all hope that you will not forget us and use whatever influence you may have to reclaim Tubac for the great state of Arizona.

(Editor's Note: Smith of Tubac, is retired.)

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Comments

ajhcb wrote on Jun 13, 2008 4:12 PM:

" I agree with Tina. Stop being so ignorant just like the people that want to come here illigaly. Let Border patrol do thier job no matter where it is at. There is a Border Patrol Station in IDAHO should we close that down because its too far from the Border. NO!!!! We need protection in all of our country not just on the border. Move to Florida and relax with them there if you don't like Tubac. Tubac is over rated anyway. "

C B Black wrote on Aug 25, 2007 11:19 AM:

" The efforts of the Safe and Secure Border Opinion assist the Border Patrol. Placing a checkpoint 30 miles in the US gives the Border Patrol nearly 8000 square miles to patrol and not the linear 271 miles of border along the Tucson sector. We are glad to see them occasionally patroling the streets of Tubac, but they should be patroling the actual border line in the basins and ridges south of Rio Rico, Arivaca and Sasabe. Fences, traffic bollards, sensors, radar, down-viewing drones, and jeep patrols along these border lines that can communicate with other law enforcement and first responders is imperative. A wireless communications corridor should be established throughout the whole area. Let's help the border protectors. Give them the equipment at the border. "

Tina Totty wrote on Aug 14, 2007 9:58 PM:

" Mr. Smith is in obvious need of a history class on the Nazi regime of Germany as his recollection is very skewed. The Nazis used checkpoints against their own citizens of a particular religious or ethnic group aimed at racial purity. The United States uses checkpoints to defend our country against foreign threats. Also if being asked if he is a United States Citizen is some how offensive to him and he does not wish to announce that he is a citizen of our fine country he can petition the United Stated Border Patrol to change the question to, �Are you a foreign national?�. While I realize that Mr. Smith and some of the other residents of Tubac think they should be exempt the trials of living near the border that the other citizens of Santa Cruz County have to endure as part of border living. I also realize that he thinks that having smugglers, illegal aliens and terrorists on our roadways in automobiles and semi trucks is somehow safer than having them walk through their precious neighbor hoods. I would like to tell Mr. Smith that the lack of a check point would not stop the violence as a case in point I would like to remind him of the thirty mile chase and gun battle between smugglers that occurred along Interstate Eight just a few short years ago. It strikes me that Mr. Smith and others in the Tubac area are content so long as they are not inconvenienced in any way and that their basic belief is just let them pass through where we live so that it becomes someone else�s problem. Mr. Smith is also an elitist snob because he does not want Border Patrol Agents �Living among us�. As for assigning all the Border Patrol manpower to the border so as not to, �having them living among us and invading our private lives� , and somehow stop everything at the border is a pipe dream. History has showed time and time again that a single static line of defense with all of your resources committed to that line does not work. Some examples are the Great Wall of China and more recently the Maginot Line. It is simple a single static line of defense once penetrated is defeated. "

Randy wrote on Aug 14, 2007 9:03 PM:

" Very good letter from Smith of Tubac. I totaly agree of the gestapo tactics. I would very much like to see the Border Patrol concentrate on the border where they should be. Take back the border. That is supposedly when the United States begins after all.. "

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