Border Patrol tells group to remove political tags
Associated Press | Posted: Saturday, October 30, 2010 2:42 pm | <http://azstarnet.com/content/tncms/live/> e . . The U.S. Border Patrol is requiring a private volunteer border watch group to remove political messages attached to thousands of small flags placed on the U.S.-Mexican border fence in Cochise County. About 16,000 flags and five banners were attached to the fence by members of the American Border Patrol group in early July to celebrate Independence Day and to urge the government to finish building 700 miles of double fencing. On July 5, the banners vanished. "Despite an initial denial, an investigation by the Cochise County Sheriff's Office found that the U.S. Border Patrol had removed them," said Glenn Spencer, president of Hereford-based American Border Patrol. Border Patrol spokeswoman Colleen Agle told the Sierra Vista Herald that messages or banners can't be placed on federal property without prior approval or authorization. She said the group didn't have that permission. "The group was asked previously to remove any political messages from the fence and they placed them back up," Agle said. "The flags carry political messages, which cannot be displayed on federal property." Spencer later retrieved the banners from Border Patrol's Naco station. Spencer claims he was told that the banners could not be posted on the fence due to a new policy, but that the flags could remain on display. Each flag contains a message from an individual American, and they've stayed on the fence ever since. But last week, the Border Patrol told Spencer that his group must remove all the tags with the messages that are attached to the flags. Spencer said he will comply, but he does not understand the reason for the decision. Agle said the banners the group had hung pose a security risk because they could block agents' views into Mexico. She also said that the flags could end up scattered about the landscape, leaving questions about who would clean them up. Spencer maintains that the U.S. Border Patrol has granted permission to put up the flags in previous years, and that his group regularly cleans up any flags or tags that fall to the ground. Spencer is seeking help from volunteers to help take the tags off the flags. And next Fourth of July event, he said, the flags and tags will be mounted on the volunteer group's ranch property just north of the fence. ___ Information from: Sierra Vista Herald, <http://www.svherald.com/> http://www.svherald.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "We have to remember that we are at war. This is the longest war we've had in our history. It started on 9/11, still continuing today." Prof. Jeff Addicott, Director, Center for Terrorism Law, St. Mary's University School [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [email protected]. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [email protected] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [email protected] Unsubscribe: [email protected] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
