After delaying the item for several weeks to allow input from the opposition, Mayor Ignacio J. Barraza and the Nogales City Council Friday approved a resolution supporting the construction of a permanent Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 19.

Unanimous vote

The resolution will be forwarded to the Congressional delegation from this area, as well as to U.S. Customs and Border Protection brass, Barraza said. The measure passed 6-0. Councilman Octavio Garcia Von Borstel was absent.

Several members of the public from areas throughout the Southwestern part of the county spoke, but supporters outnumbered those against the measure. Mostly, though, both sides expressed exasperation about the problems brought onto the community from drug and people smugglers.

In seeking the council's approval of the resolution, Barraza narrowed it down to two specific points. He said that the illegal immigration and drug smuggling are issues far too complex to be solved by this border community. Also that the Border Patrol agents who are on the front lines protecting the town and nation, require the community's support.

Excerpts from Resolution No. R2007-08-013 recognized that the "United States Border Patrol is seeking authorization from the Congress ... to construct a permanent checkpoint facility on Interstate 19 at Kilometer Post 50 ... to further enhance the agency's ability to secure this important and vital trade corridor from the dangerous, negative and harmful effects of illegal human and drug smuggling."

The resolution cites "recent extremely violent events in the neighboring state of Sonora" and that intelligence reports from Mexico indicate that I-19 "has become a corridor of preference for organized crime cartels operating in the Republic of Mexico."

The resolution specifically requests that the facility include SENTRI and FAST Lanes for local and commercial users; at least four canopied lanes for commercial traffic with the capacity to expand for additional lanes in the future; a dedicated canopied lane for bus traffic; at least three canopied passenger vehicle lanes; two dock lanes for use with gamma ray machines; two dock spaces and refrigerated offloading spaces to allow for offloading for inspections of commercial cargo.

Also, an area for secondary inspections of passenger vehicles; kennels for dogs trained to inspect vehicles; "adequate light mitigation concepts to address the needs of nearby residents, the Smithsonian Observatory and other facilities; and "adequate air-conditioned administrative space for use by agents, to include a detention area."

Federal officials, however, announced last month they anticipate it will take about five years to receive funding for the permanent facility and don't plan to wait that long. They will erect a makeshift facility in the meantime at Kilometer 50, they said.

Carol Cullen, president of the Tubac Chamber of Commerce and a member of the recently formed Coalition for a Safe and Secure Border, asked Barraza to wait on taking action. She said her group, comprised of residents from Tubac, Green Valley and Sierra Vista, was forming a proposal or "another way to look at solutions" that the council should consider before moving ahead on the measure.

The coalition is a proponent of "securing the border at the border."

Odette Price, who lives on a hill between the State Route 82 and Bankard Avenue, said illegal immigrants cross her property regularly "and I'm afraid to even go out."

She grew up in Hawaii following Pearl Harbor. "We were your front defense," Price said. She recalled experiencing the tension and stress of life under those conditions. "I never thought that I would have to live through that again."

Without a permanent checkpoint, "I think we are being shortchanged because we do not have the best defense possible" on the front lines of these border problems, Price said.

Following commentary from the public, Barraza told Cullen that he had been approached earlier this summer by Gary Brasher, another coalition member, and asked to delay action pending its recommendations.

Barraza said he had held off long enough and it was time to take action. He noted that in an earlier presentation to the Greater Nogales/Santa Cruz County Port Authority it was stated that if the permanent facility were built further south and closer to Nogales, it would not be a problem.

He admitted that Brasher had apologized and had told him that portion "should never have been part of the presentation."

Apparently, Barraza may have forgiven, but not forgotten.

The Sahuarita Town Council, meanwhile, is scheduled to consider a measure opposing the checkpoint.

A citizens group reviewing the checkpoint proposal and formed by U.S. Rep, Gabrielle Giffords, (D-Ariz.) is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, Aug. 21. Other checkpoints are being considered on State Route 90 in Cochise County and on State Route 86 near Ajo.