Meanwhile..

Yeah, those Mexicans sure got it great with proposed amnesty and all that. Cake, I tell ya!

Let's take a look in our backyard for a day and see what that's like:

Associated Press
Article Launched: 06/08/2007 04:27:52 AM MDT

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Federal prosecutors want to return to Mexico a federal inmate they say confessed to killing at least 10 women in a border city there as "offerings to Satan."

The U.S. attorney's office in Harrisburg, acting on a request from the Mexican government, asked a federal judge Wednesday to extradite Jose Francisco Granados de la Paz for trial in the June 2001 slaying of a 17-year-old girl.

De la Paz, 29, is a Mexican imprisoned in Lewisburg Federal Prison on immigration charges. Authorities say he confessed last year to the deaths, which ranged from 1993 until 2006, to Mexican investigators and officials in Texas.

All took place near Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the extradition complaint said.

Pennsylvania authorities specifically cited the slaying of Mayra Juliana Reyes Solis. Reyes Solis had been stabbed in the heart and dumped in a canal in Ciudad Juarez.


[400 girls tortured and killed since 1993]


Juárez police on "maximum alert" after slaying
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 06/08/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

Juárez police were on "maximum alert" after four men, two of whom were police officers, were gunned down in less than 24 hours Wednesday and Thursday.

Police armed with AR-15 assault rifles manned vehicle checkpoints, reinforcements were called in and 40 specialized police units with six officers were dispatched to deal with any problems, police officials said.

Chihuahua state police officials said that federal involvement was necessary to keep Juárez from becoming a battleground for competing drug lords.

The recent Mafia-style hits were the latest in a wave of organized crime violence plaguing the border city and targeting police in particular.

Some officials believe the slayings could be the work of outside groups vying for control of Juárez, such as the Zetas, operating out of Nuevo Laredo.


[I often visit Dos Laredos for fun, but they're are firing anti-tank missles from shrimp cocktail stands, for chissakes!]


Police kill escaped bull on rampage
Article Launched: 06/08/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

A bull escaped from its pen Thursday morning and led police officers on a run through the streets of Central Juárez before it was shot to death, police officials said.

The animal caused fear and chaos among drivers and pedestrians as it made its way from Camino Viejo a San José, to Paseo de los Nogales and Paseo de la Victoria streets. Two firefighters tried to lasso the animal but ended up being slightly injured in their effort, police said. Because nothing else worked, police cornered the bull and shot it twice, killing it instantly. Nobody had claimed the bull's remains as of Thursday afternoon.



BEYOND THE BORDER

Coahuila state, which borders Texas from near Laredo to Big Bend National Park, has been mostly free of the organized crime related violence like its two neighbors to the east, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.

That might be changing.

A 22-year-old woman reportedly died from gunshot wounds today in a sports bar in Saltilo, Coahuila's capital.

According to reports, assailants unleashed a barrage of bullets at the Caliente "casino" from two vehicles and sped off. No arrests were immediately reported.

It's unclear why the Caliente bar was targeted, but it became the latest gambling business targeted in recent days in the region.

On Saturday, two casinos were robbed in Monterrey.

Following the attacks, 10 casinos in the Mexican northeast closed. The Caliente in Saltillo might have been the only one operating in Saltillo Wednesday.

On Sunday, a Caliente casino in Xalapa, Veracruz, was robbed. More than 300 shell casings were reportedly found at the scene and the attackers made off with about $80,000.



[I like to take a summer bug-out to Saltillo but everyone implores us not to go. I'm told "they hate us now," and the concensus is that its not safe anymore]


CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) -- A Nueces County deputy fatally shot a man walking along the highway when the man refused to drop a machete he was carrying, authorities said.

Deputy Burl Smith fired 13 rounds Thursday when Miguel Angel Ramirez, 32, continued walking toward Smith on an inside emergency lane of Interstate 37, Sheriff Jim Kaelin said.

Ramirez, a resident of the Bastrop County town of Rosanky in Central Texas, was shot 10 times, according to a preliminary report by the Nueces County Medical Examiner's Office.

Smith was responding to reports from motorists about a man walking down the interstate when he confronted Ramirez from a distance, Kaelin said.

Kaelin said Ramirez ignored Smith's orders, prompting Smith to fire a warning shot. Ramirez kept walking toward him with the 18-inch machete in hand. Ramirez advanced 25 feet after the first shot was fired, and the encounter ended within one minute.

"He didn't stop," Kaelin said. "If the first shot doesn't stop someone from doing what they're doing, you have to fire a second and third shot."



Rosanky is down the way from Moulton. The little hamlet has a large car swap and classic meet on Saturdays. I'm sure everyone in town knows the deceased and rumors are no doubt flying.