Posted by
sgtmajorbrad on Friday, May 04, 2007 11:09:48 AM
No Illegal Aliens!
In the little metropolis of Grapevine, noted for the birth
place of Spanky Mc Farland and where Bonnie and Clyde
killed 2 police officers on a rural road, we have an upcoming election of 2
city council seats. The date for this election is on May 12. On April 30 I witnessed the main
stream media’s coverage of the anticipated illegal immigrant demonstrations and
CNN’s day of immigration issues. Because most of the people work for a living
that oppose the pro-immigration stance it is hard to organize a counter
demonstration so I went to my work shop and created my own response to the illegal
immigrant protests…a bill board of shame.
Cutting up the remnants of the, “Vote Anti-incumbent”
placards I had on my truck during the mid-term elections I cut out the letters
to spell, “No Illegal Aliens, vote against.” I painted them fluorescent orange
with the exception of the word, “against,” which was painted black. I placed
them on a white painted 4X8 sheet of 3/8 CDX and strapped this to my flag pole
the evening of the 30th.
The previous day I composed a letter asking 3 questions and
sent them to the candidates that had a web site for their campaign. The Text of
the letter is:
Dear candidate,
I have some questions:
What is your position on illegal immigrants renting in our community?
I recently had a conversation with one of Grapevine's finest where he told me
that illegal aliens are given a free pass when it comes to traffic violations
and proof of insurance. This was mandated by the Chief of Police! What are you
going to do to prohibit this stance by the Grapevine police Department?
Are you in favor of sending Police officers to the 287 G training sponsored by
the Department of Homeland Security?
Your response will be greatly appreciated so I may make an informed decision.
To no great surprise one of the candidates refused to answer
my queries and the other that did answer did so in vague and ambiguous terms by
referring he supported subtle means of dealing with the illegal immigration
issue. To this person’s credit he did set up a meeting with the police chief to
get his side of the issue and personally called me to discuss his findings. For
those that are curious the old sage adage of, “Deny, Deny, Deny,” was the
essence of the police chief’s response. I imagine there was a hell of a squad
meeting the next morning.
One of the candidates that had no web site or advertised way
of contacting them to get their views on constituent issues called my neighbor
to solicit her support. She then asked the same questions I wrote to the other
candidates and this person refused to answer her questions. She repeated them
and refused to answer her a second time. This was the first person added to the
billboard of shame. After 5 days and no response from the candidate I wrote I
added his name to the billboard and sent him a picture of it.
I received another response from one of the candidates that
my neighbor determined her business email address. Her response was:
To answer your questions, our system provides legal methods and laws so
that immigrants can participate in our system, legally, such as
providing information on an I-9 and a form of identification (i.e. green
card) based on the federal and state laws put in place. As a small
business owner, I don't condone illegal activity in my business and
expect the same out of every department in our city. I'm not familiar
with the 287 G training. However, I'm in favor of training that makes
our men and women in uniform better prepared to protect our citizens and
our national security. When I am elected to the City Council, I look
forward to serving the citizens of Grapevine.
The only thing she came close to addressing the questions I
asked was the Police policy issue and even that is vague and ambiguous.
What I’ve learned from this exercise is the surprising
support I received from those that have driven by and acknowledged the sign. I’ve
had one complaint compared to the generally positive response. I learned that
the candidates are blown and moved around by the politically correct winds
afraid to answer any question that may commit them to public record on an
issue. Their perception of gray leaves little room for the issues that demand a
black or a white decision. The illegal alien traffic had given this area a wide
berth and decreased tremendously.
Who gets my vote? The person that went to see the chief of
police. He was the only one that took the initiative to get an answer.
I’m considering resurrecting the old Burma Shave Sign
concept for my front yard that is less conspicuous and obtrusive but has the
same effect in getting people to think!