News Story: "Sheriff battling drug violence along border"

[clay]

This ran last night in Austin:

http://www.kvue.com/featured-content/Sheriff-battling-drug-violence-along-border-94220454.html

[RichardM]

This link worked better for me:
http://www.kvue.com/home/Sheriff-battling-drug-violence-along-border-94220454.html
("better" meaning the page can be found.... I still can't get the video to play past the opening ad....)

[MilesOfTexas]

I can't listed to the audio while at work, but here is the same story in text.

http://www.kvue.com/news/health/Border-crime-is-growing-in-the-states-biggest-county-93929804.html

[homerboy2u]

Two cartels, battling over drug routes, being so isolated from Everything. It could be the drug cartels in Chihuahua. Definitly not in Boquillas del Carmen.

[TexasAggieHiker]

There have been incidents of PIRATES!! on Falcon Lake.  http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/pirates_now_ply_falcon_lake_94200254.html

Something major has got to be done, and soon.

[MilesOfTexas]

There have been incidents of PIRATES!! on Falcon Lake. http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/state/pirates_now_ply_falcon_lake_94200254.html

Something major has got to be done, and soon.

I keep getting photography invitations for events in McAllen, and this is exactly why I say, "Not until it is safe."

[Robert]

I keep getting photography invitations for events in McAllen, and this is exactly why I say, "Not until it is safe."

I take it that you don't visit Houston either. 

Apparently you share the same perception as a lot of people. The police cheif of McAllen says that," Based upon crimes of violence, Houston suffers the highest and most violent crime rates. When compared to McAllen, this is a crime rate that is 400 percent greater than McAllen’s."
http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=26336

http://www.themonitor.com/articles/mcallen-37978-save-economy.html

[MilesOfTexas]

I keep getting photography invitations for events in McAllen, and this is exactly why I say, "Not until it is safe."

I take it that you don't visit Houston either. 

Actually, I don't unless work forces me to.

I just figured with a small town like McAllen, I would stand out as a visitor, a lot more so than I would in Houston.

And, I guess it really comes down to 'nothing is safe', and I realize that.  But if I am readily identified in a border town as not from there, I feel the risk is higher.

Perhaps some day I will drive through there and will feel better about it.

[MilesOfTexas]

I keep getting photography invitations for events in McAllen, and this is exactly why I say, "Not until it is safe."

I take it that you don't visit Houston either.

Apparently you share the same perception as a lot of people. The police cheif of McAllen says that," Based upon crimes of violence, Houston suffers the highest and most violent crime rates. When compared to McAllen, this is a crime rate that is 400 percent greater than McAllen’s."
http://www.texasinsider.org/?p=26336

http://www.themonitor.com/articles/mcallen-37978-save-economy.html

Thank you for the URLs.  I agree that my perspective isn't positive at the moment, but I also agree that it may be wrong.  I guess I just need to go down there and find out for myself.

[Robert]

I just figured with a small town like McAllen, I would stand out as a visitor, a lot more so than I would in Houston.

Miles, I'm not sure I would classify McAllen as a small town. The Rio Grande Valley MSA has 1.19 million people and the McAllen MSA has 700,009. Yes, McAllen only has 120K but all the cities run into each other in the valley. I'm a little confused on how you would be identified as not "being from there" and why that would cause you to be singled out for violence. Now if you wear some kind Carmen Miranda head gear all bets are off.

[homerboy2u]

I was the other day with some friends from Canada,Chile,U.S. and Guatemala over in Skype. I said: Man, the world is not as safe as it used to be. Take my country for example. They said, you should see our corners of the world, the only thing different in your country from ours is your country puts it's social problems in the open and ours go to extremes to keep it from public view. That left me pondering.

 

[MilesOfTexas]

Miles, I'm not sure I would classify McAllen as a small town. The Rio Grande Valley MSA has 1.19 million people and the McAllen MSA has 700,009. Yes, McAllen only has 120K but all the cities run into each other in the valley. I'm a little confused on how you would be identified as not "being from there" and why that would cause you to be singled out for violence. Now if you wear some kind Carmen Miranda head gear all bets are off.

Now that I have had some decent sleep, I can now think a bit more clearly now.

Initially when I received the invitations, the first thing I did was look at Google Maps to find out where it was.  As we all know now, it is a border town.  My initial view of McAllen looked to be a lot smaller than what it really is, so I felt between being a border town and being what I thought was small (small being say a population of 5000 or less), and all the scarey stuff I had heard on the news about abductions and such, I should pass on the invitations for now.

Beyond that, I had not done any additional research simply because I have been busy with work and family needs.

Admittantly, I shouldn't have made the comment that I had.  Without having really looked, I had no right to make such an uninformed comment, which isn't typical for me, and is a clear reminder to me to not get into a discussion about something I know absolutely nothing about.

Robert, I am grateful that you have clarified my misconceptions.

Now I need to look up 'Carmen Miranda head gear'. 

[presidio]

the only thing different in your country from ours is your country puts it's social problems in the open and ours go to extremes to keep it from public view. That left me pondering.

This is the striking and fundamental difference between societies that have freedom of the press and those that don't. While less open and more controlled nations may in fact have a somewhat smaller incidence of untoward incidents (when you control the press you certainly can control what is revealed) it also is a result of a far heavier hand in controlling everything else as well. For example, in many places protests that would be relatively minor (or even non-) events in democracies are routinely crushed almost before they can form.

In a very real sense, knowledge is power and some governments fear the populace becoming informed. Some countries attempt to project an image that everyone but its own citizens knows is a sham. North Korea is a good example among more than a few.

The flip side is that where you do get unedited (or relatively so) news, and reporting that is fed by the 24/7 demands of constant access, EVERYTHING (no matter how trivial) becomes breaking news, reporting is done without background information (or even professionalism) and things appear terrible and out of control. Gee, where might that occur?