April 03, 2003
Rescue Ranch Rescue!
By
Juan Mann
Due process is taking a beating in South
Texas.
For the past two weeks, politically-correct forces
have been throwing the book at two members of
Ranch Rescue who were
arrested after having the
audacity to help a Hebbronville, Texas property
owner evict criminal trespassers.
Hank Conner,
62, of Lafayette, La, and Casey Nethercott, 35, of La
Mirada Calif.,
were arrested on March 19 by the Jim Hogg County Sheriff and a Texas
Ranger. The volunteers were charged with assaulting an
unnamed El Salvadoran national who they encountered
on the property and escorted out to a public road. The
Ranch Rescue group, and an independent eyewitness—French journalist Eric Boye who accompanied the two
men—insist that the charges are false.
After almost
two weeks in custody, Conner was released on $200,000
bail on March 28.
But as of
April 2, Nethercott remains in jail in Falfurrias,
Texas, with a $200,000 bail on his head. The
saga continues.
A habeas
corpus petition for Nethercott’s release was denied
April 1 in the state’s 229th District Court.
The ruling can be appealed to the state’s 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio.
Ranch Rescue
spokesman Jack Foote
swears that the assault charges aren’t true.
Foote
reports that his two volunteers were
denied medical treatment for the first two days after
their arrest.
Nethercott is being kept in solitary confinement at a
detention facility with “no TV, no
radio, no newspapers, no magazines, no books, not even a
Bible,” according to Foote.
“Casey Nethercott is being held as a hostage in
many respects,”
according to Ranch Rescue California coordinator
Stacy Polk. “His county-appointed attorney will not
see him, so he only has me to talk with at night when he
gets his one phone call.”
“To hire an attorney is going to cost lots more
than we have. They are using Casey as their poster child
for abuse of power in Southern Texas. They do not want
him out.”
So if an independent eyewitness – a Frenchman, no
less –
swears that the men did nothing wrong, why were
Conner and Nethercott arrested in the first place?
VDARE.COM readers
already know the answer.
Remember that
Ranch Rescue volunteers recently demonstrated their
prowess in stopping marijuana-hauling “mules” along the
Mexican border in Arizona.
A volunteer tactical team – with many years of
military and law enforcement experience – captured and
turned over
279 pounds of marijuana to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff
in just one evening in October, 2002.
Their efforts were recognized in the
media. They were lauded in a feature series in
Soldier of Fortune magazine.
Ranch Rescue already proved what they’re doing works.
Though their efforts may be largely symbolic, they
are part of the solution for border area landowners
trying to cope with the illegal alien
invasion.
Ranch Rescue’s motto: “private property first,
foremost, and always."
The South Texas ranch where Nethercott and Conner
were volunteering just happens to be a high-traffic area
for illegal aliens, alien smugglers and drug smugglers.
They trespass on the ranch to avoid a nearby Border
Patrol checkpoint.
Ranch owner Joe Sutton had enough. He called Ranch
Rescue. The group
volunteered in a project they called
Operation Falcon. And for their troubles, two of the
volunteers were thrown in jail.
So how can the average citizen compete against a
government’s
tyranny of good intentions?
Does the Nethercott and Conner affair prove the
death of due process in Jim Hogg County?
Paul Craig Roberts, call your office!
How VDARE.COM can help:
Nethercott and Conner could use some pro bono
legal help. Make a
donation
to their legal defense fund.
Ranch Rescue also asks you to give the South Texas
authorities a piece
of your mind.
Jim Hogg County District Attorney Herbie Silva and
Assistant District Attorney Rudy Gutierrez
102 East Tilley Street
Hebbronville, TX. 78361
361-527-4056 - (phone)
361-527-5832 - (fax)
Jim Hogg County Sheriff Erasmo Alarcon
211 East Galbraith Street
Hebbronville, TX 78361
(361) 527-3389
(361) 527-3710
(361) 527-4140
(361) 527-5843 (fax)
Doyle Holdridge (arresting officer)
Division "D" Texas Department of Public Safety
1901 Bob Bullock Loop
Laredo, TX.
78043
956-728-2215 - (phone)
956-724-9874 - (fax)
Casey Nethercott (ID# JW3954) is being held at
the
Starr County Maximum Security
Facility
Rio Grande City, TX
956-487-4552
Juan Mann [send him
email] is a lawyer and the proprietor of
DeportAliens.com.
