Man sentenced after leaving water bottles for immigrants

I am guilty of the same crime. I do not like illegals because I value immigrants that worked hard enough to gain legal entry and think that they will work hard and earn the American dream. That said I realize the truth is many illegals are fleeing failed states ran by incompetent self-serving politicians-sound familiar?

I do not believe in one-size fits all policies and this rant is not about the benefits or the lack of them that America gains from those that sneak in.

Let me tell you about my “crime”. I was fishing in Parker Canyon Arizona; a small family walked up and sheepishly bent down to drink from the lake. I stopped them and pointed at the cooler. I shared my two sandwiches, several bottles of water and a few cookies. I broke the law. I helped someone out.

Compared to this guy I was an amateur criminal. Far removed from hiding, driving, smuggling or encouraging criminal entry but I still willingly broke the law. Read on.

By Taylor Gandossy, 13 Aug 09
(CNN) — An Arizona man caught leaving water bottles in the desert for illegal immigrants has been sentenced to 300 hours of community service and a year of probation, an aid group said.
-Compare this act with the governments plan to decide quality of life issues for us all.

Walt Staton, a member of the group No More Deaths, left full water bottles in December in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge for the illegal immigrants who routinely pass through the 18,000-acre refuge, according to court documents.

A judge sentenced him Tuesday to 300 hours of picking up trash on public property and a year of probation, No More Deaths said in a written statement. He is also banned from the refuge during that time, the group said.
-Fitting punishment, I have seen the piles of trash, illegals leave in their wake.

Although the case involved only a misdemeanor charge, both sides used the divisive issue of illegal immigration in their arguments; Staton’s lawyer argued that Staton’s actions were humanitarian, but the government said otherwise.

In a sentencing memo, the federal prosecutors wrote that Staton’s “actions are not about humanitarian efforts, but about protesting the immigration policies of the United States, and aiding those that enter illegally into the United States.”
- Protesting United States policies? F-ing Right wing extremist. Book um Danno!

Noting the phrase scrawled on many of the plastic water jugs — “buena suerte,” or “good luck” in Spanish — the prosecutors said, “The obvious conclusion is that the defendant and No More Deaths wish to aid illegal aliens in their entry attempt.”
-There is a small rancher that placed water spigots outside his fence with a sign in Spanish that reads “Please, take what you need and then turn off the water, thank you” strangely, he has never had a break in and rarely finds trash on his place. At some point we have an obligation to help our fellowman.

They also said, as did the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that leaving the full plastic jugs on the refuge is detrimental to the health of the animals that live there.

Citing a biologist, the prosecutors said that animals could eat the plastic and that others could get feet or antlers caught on the bottles.
-Lol, stupid animals run wild in Arizona. In other states, they do not stomp on runaway water bottles.

Prosecutors had requested a $5,000 fine, along with five years of probation, according to court documents.

Staton, whom No More Deaths says is to begin seminary school at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California, had initially refused to pay a $175 fine for littering, said Staton’s lawyer, Bill Walker.
-I do have a problem with a wantannabe cleric refusing to pay his due.

After his refusal, the government enhanced the charges against him, arguing that he “knowingly littered,” said Walker, who is also a member of No More Deaths.

The charge can carry a $100,000 fine and a year in jail, Walker said. Charges against three other people who were cited with Staton in December were dropped, he said.
-Ok, we all get the idea; the humanitarian was being used to prove a point. Why target armed criminal illegals in gangs when you can harass a good Samaritan? Nice work ICE!

A jury convicted Staton in June of littering. Walker said he is appealing.

“We think that Walt did nothing wrong,” he said. “We do not think that this conviction will be upheld on appeal.”
-He is a Christian do gooder and that makes him a big threat to the current administration.

He described Staton as “the kind of guy you’d want to have as your next door neighbor.”
-Bullshit, that clown would cut my grass if I were sick or gone for an extended length of time.

Phone calls to federal prosecutors were not immediately returned.
-Code for they got a lot of them and the people were pissed. Imagine how the folks that answer the white house phones must feel.

Mike Hawkes of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge said Thursday that although he had no issue with groups leaving water out for illegal immigrants, “there’s ways to do it without leaving plastic jugs out there.”
-Freakishly long hoses?

He said the plastic jugs were strewn throughout the refuge, which is home to hundreds of bird, reptile and mammal species, according to its Web site.

“We have sympathy for what they have to do,” he said. But “they have do to do it without putting plastic bottles out there. … You can’t go anywhere in the refuge without seeing plastic bottles through the countryside.”
-Dead families would be a better choice?

Hawkes said refuge officials and members of No More Deaths had met and were trying to come up with methods that don’t involve plastic bottles.

Staton is the second member of No More Deaths to be convicted of littering, according to court documents; however, the other received a suspended sentence.
-Damn, there are more of those dangerous right-wing extremists.

Walker said that after Staton’s conviction, 13 No More Deaths members were charged with littering on the refuge.

With tens of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing through the refuge — Hawkes said last year’s number was about 54,000, down from hundreds of thousands years earlier — the last water-related death there was in June 2008, he said.
-Damn, I am thirsty. Time for a cold one. Love um or hate um, the life of most illegals is bad on a good day. I would much rather have political leaders fix failed states, build viable economies and end the need for people to risk it all in the hopes they can find a better life. Until that happens we just need to watch and compare the idiots that destroyed those failed states with their bigger and more dangerous cousins screwing up Washington and the U.N. Remember folks-Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians. Oh, yeah CONGRESS YOU SUCK!

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