Monthly Archives: April 2011

Trial to set off fireworks, precedents

Posted by Sonny Lopez on April 29, 2011 3 comments

The Judge Arditti trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, May 2nd, yet the fireworks have already begun to go off. The defense has filed a motion with the judge hearing the case for him to maintain impartiality, which is like accusing the judge of being bias, or favoring one side. The judge has yet to respond to the motion.

Beginning Monday, I will be in that courtroom, reporting day-to-day from the trial. Just as background, my name is Sonny Lopez and I have covered cases involving mass murderers to druglords and human traffickers. I began my journalism career at the Albuquerque Journal as a cop reporter, covering that mass murderer who shot dead a family in a coffee shop as they enjoyed an early-morning cup of coffee. Later that same day, the man was wounded in a gunbattle with police at a Hollywood studio. He said the voices in his head told him to shoot Michael Landon of Bonanza and Little House on the Prarrie fame.

I ended my stint at the Journal as the chief of the Southern Bureau located in Las Cruces. I covered stories throughout Southern New Mexico and West Texas, including wildfires in the Gila National Forest. I then moved on to the now defunct El Paso Hearld-Post where I was given the title of education reporter, which involved covering five school districts, a community college and a university.

While at the Herald-Post, I uncovered misconduct within the Ysleta School District involving bribes for votes, and a superindentent who wined and dined executives on the taxpayers dime. I then worked as the Mexico reporter for the El Paso Times.

The school district debacle honed investigative skills that I may need to call upon while covering the Judge Arditti trial, which will set a precedent by allowing reporters to witness the jury selection. It will be an experience for readers and the community alike.

Since leaving the Times, I have been a freelancer on retainer for the Dallas Morning News, covering anything from human traffickers to Iraq war heroes. My dispatches concerning the Iraq war were stopped by the newly formed Homeland Security Department as they made their way through the Internet. I have also freelanced for the New York Post and have written for Latina Magazine.

As I cover the Judge Arditti trial for the El Paso News Organization, the Internet, coupled with my observations, will be my greatest tool. My posts will more than likely not be tampered with by Homeland Security, but expect updates throughout the day and a story at the end of each day of the trial.

There will be fireworks going off in the courtroom and precedents are expected to be set.


Please welcome Sonny Lopez

Posted by El Paso News on April 28, 2011 Comments Off

Please help us welcome Sonny Lopez to the El Paso News Organization!


Homicide statistics for Cd. Juarez

Posted by Martín Paredes on April 27, 2011 Comments Off

Homicide statistics for Cd. Juárez

The Mexican government has made available for public access a database of homicide rates for Mexican cities. Through the database an analytical comparison between Mexican states and individual cities can be realized.

The homicide rates believed to be related to the ongoing drug war are determined based on the following factors, according to the government data collectors. For the death to be included in the data set it must meet one, or more of the following requirements.

First, the body must exhibit some type of gunshot wound. The location of the body and the circumstance under which it is discovered. The modus operandi of the drug trafficking organizations is taken into account when contextualizing the crime scene. And, the identification of the body is also taken into account.

The data available for Cd. Juárez is as follows:

Year     Execution   Murder/Assault
2007     134             2
2008     1,300         32
2009     2,204         26
2010     2,661           77
Data source: Mexican federal government

Execution is defined as a body found that does not seem to be a result of a fight between security forces and criminals, or criminals vs criminals in public assaults or gun battles. In most cases, an execution is a body or bodies found bound, tortured and murdered.


Arditti defense files court motion asking for impartiality: El Paso News to cover

Posted by El Paso News on April 25, 2011 Comments Off

The El Paso News Organization (elpasonews.org) will be covering the Judge Arditti trial from opening statements until the verdict is read. Our reporter will be providing quick updates throughout the day and complete in-depth coverage at the end of each day.

The trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, May 2, 2011. Don’t forget to check back frequently for updates.

On Thursday, April 21, 2011, Arditti’s defense attorneys filed a motion asking that the judge in the case remain impartial throughout the hearings. The motion asks the judge to:

“to not rule on any defense motions unless said motions are fully read, understood, studied and carefully considered”,

“set aside the adequate and appropriate amount of time necessary to preside over this case and to give this case the full attention it deserves”,

“to not rush and/or hurry along the defense during the trial of this case but to allow the defense adequate and appropriate time to try this case and to defend their client”,

As of press time the judge has not ruled on the motion. Stay tuned to the El Paso News for full coverage of the case.

Read the Motion: TX vs Arditti Motion April 21, 2011


Applying for the Texas Concealed Handgun License

Posted by Martín Paredes on April 22, 2011 Comments Off

For those contemplating applying for the Texas Concealed Handgun license the process is fairly straight forward. Basically, if you are a legal resident (you do not have to be a US citizen) of the State of Texas and have a clean arrest record, no convictions and do not owe child support or back taxes, the license should be in the mail to you after you sit through the required class room lectures and pass the shooting test.

The 10 to 15 hour class covers the obvious dos and don’ts about carrying and how to respond to confrontations. Each instructor is free to offer the class as they see fit, with some taking the laid back approach and others offering a more formal setting. Therefore each experience may be different.

In my case, the class was composed of seven males with one being a law enforcement officer from another state renewing his carry license and a female applying for her original. Besides covering the legal requirements of how to carry, the instructor spent time on the psychology of diffusing a confrontation.

Of interest, according to my instructor, is that the license actually raises the level of standard that will be applied to the licensee during any investigation after a weapon is brandished or used. Because you have been granted a license to carry a concealed handgun you are now going to be held to a higher standard than a normal individual without a license.

The classroom also covered the “castle” and the “no duty to retreat” doctrines. The “castle doctrine” applies to everyone, whether licensed or not. According to the instructor, the “castle doctrine” allows anyone, the right to defend their home against any intruder with whatever force they choose to use. Individuals do not have the right to chase the intruder after they have left the home but they can use any, and all the force necessary to stop the intruder once inside the home. That applies to license holders and none license holders alike.

Likewise, the “no duty to retreat” means that you can hold your ground and do not have a duty to retreat while defending someone or your property. So, if there is back door that can be used to escape, the law, according to the instructor does not force you to take that action. That also applies to licensees and unlicensed individuals as well.

The instructor was quick to remind us, though, that the law is designed to be interpreted and therefore each law enforcement and prosecutor will apply each instance at their discretion. As well, it is important to remember that taking a life is not something that can readily be remedied once all of the facts are known and therefore should always be the last resort.

Two items that I did not realize is that the concealed carry permit, at least in Texas, by law, requires that you keep your weapon concealed at all times. In other words, if someone sees your weapon, for example, while reaching up for something and that individual calls the police you are likely to lose the privilege temporarily or even permanently. Concealed means the weapon cannot be seen, even by accident, even a bulge is frowned upon.

The other item the instructor made a point to discuss was showing your carry license along with your driver’s license when stopped by law enforcement, even if you are not carrying at the time. According to the instructor, the reason for this is that the officer will see that you are licensed when he runs the customary background check and wonder why you didn’t inform the officer of your license.

The most interesting thing I learned is that a license really doesn’t give you any more rights than a normal Texas resident; rather it raises the standard by which you are held by, by the mere fact that you are now licensed. For example, although the license theoretically allows me to have a weapon on my person, the law still excludes me from carrying it in most places. The obvious ones are schools, government buildings, court room and airports. But private individuals and businesses can demand that you do not carry on their property and the licensee must comply.

The shooting part of the day and the actual test of the whole exercise is the most fun. The test is, again, straight forward. You shoot 50 rounds. If you take the test with a revolver than you are only allowed to carry a revolver but if you take the test with a semi-automatic than you are allowed to carry either the semi or the revolver.

The shooting part is in three phases, the first is at nine feet, the second is at 21 feet and the third is a 45 feet, shooting at a silhouette target. At each stage, the instructor taps you on the shoulder and you shoot one round, two rounds or five rounds at 2 seconds per round, depending on the instructions given to you. You must score at least 170 to pass the shooting test. If you have any proficiency with the gun, then it is not difficult to pass. My personal feeling is that the shooting test was more about your ability to safely handle a weapon, under pressure, rather than hitting center mass all of the time.

Finally, two items of special note; you should never get too comfortable carrying a gun because that leads to serious problems. If carrying becomes too comfortable than you might inadvertently commit a serious felony by going to your child’s teacher-parent conference forgetting that you have the weapon on you. Second, as the instructor stated; licensees “do not have the luxury of confrontation when carrying”. Licensees are held to a higher standard when using a gun to protect property or an individual, therefore great care is required before getting involved in any confrontation.


News alert: Jones & Sanchez Guilty!

Posted by El Paso News on April 20, 2011 Comments Off

Dena Richardson of KFOX TV just reported on her Twitter account that Luther Jones and Gilbert Sanchez have been found guilty of all charges and remanded to jail.


Commentary: Texas Politicos – Stupid is as stupid does

Posted by Martín Paredes on April 20, 2011 Comments Off

In the immortal words of Forest Gump, two recent politicos from the State of Texas have tried to be too clever in their search for justifying more federal monies for their fiefdoms. Republican US Representative Francisco “Quico” Canseco of San Antonio recently sent a newsletter to his constituency claiming that “car bombs” had recently gone off in El Paso, Texas. According to the El Paso Times, Canseco’s March 31 letter stated that “[w]e have seen Sheriffs and their deputies fired upon and shot at, car bombs in El Paso, ICE, DEA and Border Patrol agents killed in the line of duty”.

The problem is that there have been no cases of car bombs in El Paso. Texas Governor Rick Perry had made the same assertion on July 15, 2010. According to Zahira Torres’ article, Canseco’s office responded that misrepresentation was a “technicality”.

The problem with these two statements is that they misrepresent the facts and instead of addressing the real issue, they distract from it. Cd. Juárez is in the threshold of violence and is suffering. El Paso borders its sister city and most residents, on both sides, suffer the consequences of the violence. And, although it hasn’t been proven yet, there is anecdotal evidence in court documents to suggest that cross-border violence does, indeed exist.

But, Canseco’s “technicality” rather than forcing a discussion on this very important issue, hides it behind the rhetoric that accompanies the idiotic lack of fact checking that politicians should apply to their utterances. Stupidity is not a crime in itself, but the ramifications of such stupid remarks should have consequences to them. And, unfortunately they do. Continued murders are the consequence.

People are dying. It is as simple as that. On one hand you have local politicos and business leaders in El Paso touting the “safest” city on one hand while demanding more money for border security. While, state officials are saying bombs are exploding in the city. So rather than address kidnappings in El Paso who end up dead in Cd. Juárez, the politicians would rather play word games to prop up their agendas. Well, here is an agenda everyone should embrace – the end to the violence with an honest discussion and a factual representation of what is truly going on, on both sides of the border. People’s lives, really, do depend on this, simple fact.


Commentary: Latest computer breach shows that going “green” requires trust

Posted by Martín Paredes on April 18, 2011 Comments Off

You log into your bank account or open your latest credit card statement and there it is; an appeal to go “green” by signing up for e-bills. It sounds enticing, no more paper in your mail box, should you take them up on their offer? The Epsilon computer breach a few weeks ago should make the answer clear – no!

Going “green” surely should be good for the environment because it means less paper and envelopes to clutter our landfills. Not to mention not having to write checks, lick the envelopes and run to the mail box. What could be wrong with that?

What is wrong is that you give up control over your financial wellbeing. The banks and the credit card companies love the “green” movement. They use it to lower their expenses while taking more financial control away from you. When you sign up for e-bills you are giving the bank the authority to take money from your account under the guise of convenience. You depend on the bank to give you an accurate statement, with no hidden fees and take only the money you authorized them to take from your account.

But is that how it really works? When was the last time you looked closely at your e-bill? Your statement for that matter? Do you know what your interest rate is? Are there any fees hidden in there? Most consumers don’t notice these and the banks depend on your ignorance to miss the fees and interest hikes that line their pockets.

Best of all for the banks, by switching you over to e-billing you are reducing their costs to operate. No more hiring people to open envelopes, process payments and deposit checks, electronically or otherwise. No more paper and envelopes to buy and no more postage to pay for. The “green” movement has given the banks lowered expenses and the ability pay themselves from your account.

Even though you may closely watch your bank statements, have you noticed how hard it is it to stop someone from taking money out of your bank account once you’ve authorized them to auto-debit money from it? You’ve basically given them authority to go into your bank account and take out money before asking you for permission, month after month.

Trust, it all comes down to trust. You trust the bank to treat you fairly, to only take the money that you have authorized them to take and more importantly, not to add unfair fees to your account. Do they merit this trust? The major banks and credit providers have given your name and email address to a third-party; Epsilon.

Epsilon is an online marketing firm based out of Dallas. They provide marketing email services to house-hold named companies such as BestBuy, CitiBank, Target, JP Morgan among 2,500 other companies.

If you do business with any of these companies, chances are that you have already received the notice that your name and email address have been compromised. Although the theft of the personal data will probably only result in more annoying spam in your inbox, the data breach demonstrates the inherent risk of giving up control of your finances to a bank.

The companies affected by the security breach of Epsilon will hide behind the “it wasn’t us, but rather a contractor we work with” for the loss of your personal information. Ask Epsilon to explain themselves and their public relations wall just says, we’re working on it and have no more information at this time. And that is where the risk resides. One company’s actions or lack of them, in this case, Epsilon affects millions of consumers that never did business with Epsilon in the first place. In other words, the “buck” doesn’t stop with the company you are with, rather, with a company you never heard from before the the data was stolen. Try to get Epsilon to fix the ramifications to you and see how far that gets you.

It was the company that you did business with that entrusted your personal data to Epsilon, yet you have to deal with the ramifications of their business decision, most likely made to bolster their bottom line. Now you have to deal with, in this case, a clogged mail box full of junk mail. On the other hand, what if it had been your checking account and the information needed to take money from it? You might eventually get your money back, but who is going to reimburse you for the stress of dealing with the loss of your money, however temporary, or your loss of time? As attractive as it may sound to “save” the environment by saving a few trees is it really worth the loss of your financial security?


New York Post: The CIA staged a clandestine operation out of El Paso in 2001

Posted by Martín Paredes on April 16, 2011 Comments Off

The New York Post published an article titled; “The CIA, Siberia and the $5M bar bill” on August 17, 2009 that details a CIA operation to buy Russian helicopters that was launched from El Paso. The author, Sharon Weinnberger, details an escapade right out of a cloak and dagger novel, drunken characters and unprepared operatives.

According to Weinberger, a charter crew was detained by Russian authorities in Petropavlosk on December 4, 2001 for entering Russia without the proper documentation. Weinberger writes that the Boeing 737 departed Biggs Army Airfield on December 2, carrying a crew plus 16 American citizens traveling on tourist visas.

The New York Post piece gets its information from court documents. The article states that the operatives were traveling to a Siberian helicopter manufacturing plant to buy two Russian helicopters for $3.2 million. The Post article states that the purchase was at the behest of the Central Intelligence Agency. The helicopters were destined to be used in Afghanistan, according to the article.

Jeffrey Stayton was the chief of the Aviation Division at the US Army Test and Evaluation Command and “an expert in Russian copters”. Along with Stayton, a group of Maverick Aviation personnel, six people alleged to be CIA operatives and “Army personnel and contractors from El Paso with experience modifying Russian aircraft for use by the US military” were on the plane to the Russian factory when it was initially detained, the article states.

In “an interview, the pilot, Fred Sorenson, said he thought the visas they had ordered would arrive by FedEx by the time the plane landed”, but it turned out that there were no visas waiting for the travelers. The team was released the next day, after the visas arrived, according to the Post article.

The travelers were unprepared for the freezing conditions, “but the Army personnel from El Paso also seemed woefully unprepared”, writes the author, adding that none of the El Pasoan’s “had ever been to Russia before — some had never left Texas”.

Because of a delay in the delivery of the helicopters, the El Paso Army members were “told to act like tourists on a winter gateway to Siberia”. But the “tourists”, apparently did not enjoy their time in Siberia and several members began drinking and bragging about their CIA work, the article states. The author points out that the Army warrant officer in charge of the El Paso team, Brian Patterson, “was drinking heavily”.

The El Paso team went so far as to threaten to shoot down the charter crew if they left Siberia before the mission was completed. The charter crew, fed up with the problems, nonetheless left for Japan, leaving the El Paso and the Maverick teams in Siberia.

The piece goes on to state that the Army Criminal Investigative Division investigated the operation due to some unusual expenses, one of them being a $5 million credit card transaction to an El Paso bar named the “Cockpit Lounge”. According to the author, this transaction was part of how the operation was funded.

In the end, the helicopters made it to Afghanistan and two members of the operation were convicted of fraud.


Citizen Reporters: Activist Journalism

Posted by Martín Paredes on April 13, 2011 Comments Off

If you’re a news junkie, like us, earlier this year you watched right along with us while history unfolded as the Egyptian revolution captured the world’s attention.   The dominant story—how a citizenry came together to overthrow a leader which has now shifted power throughout the Arab world—made headlines across the globe, but beyond the core story of the uprisings, we witnessed how the movement materialized through the internet and use of popular social networking sites.  As the Egyptian government worked to suppress free speech, we witnessed the emergence of “Citizen Journalists” who defiantly continued to blog and provide eyewitness accounts and videos of the violence that was evolving.

Egypt is a clear example of how in a free society citizens are beckoned to take an active role in examining its government and evaluate its elected officials. After all, we are the ones who put them into these roles of leadership.   As the national and local government funding turmoil continue to manifest itself, many in the community wonder and ask why— why is it the government can’t get it right?

There’s no question that government bureaucracy, for its part, thrives on the disinterest of its citizens– except perhaps during election season, when a politico’s survival is contingent on our vote.  In El Paso, the recent widespread corruption indictments of numerous elected officials demonstrate the importance of why the community needs to keep a watchful eye.  So in the spirit of the Egyptians, who provided us with a robust example of citizen journalism, we encourage you to do more than sit back uninvolved and indifferent to what goes on around you. 

 Whether you write, take pictures or video, or just want to share a snippet of news, this is the place to do it.  We want to hear what you have to say.  Our goal is not to incite bashing or petty griping, but to provide another avenue for news, kindle thought-provoking dialogue, and engage in healthy adult-focused debate.  Conversely, this is also a site to showcase good news! If there is something you feel is being done right throughout your community, then we also encourage you to share it.

Become a citizen journalist:

  1. First step, spread the word!  Tell everyone you know about the site: the El Paso News Organization. (www.elpasonews.org)
  2. Second, you must register . Registering is simple and we, under no circumstances, will sell your email address.  This site is your site.  It’s not a money making operation, therefore we’ve no interest in using your email for profit. Why do we require your email? It will help us curtail any abusive behavior.

3. The final step: participation. This may be the hardest step, but once you take it you never look back.   You can start with baby steps—by providing a simple comment.  As you begin to feel comfortable, then you can graduate to writing articles, news snippets, and uploading pictures or video. The idea is to share your thoughts and what’s important to you!  You would be surprised how many people are interested and want to hear what you have to say.

Now what?  Well, go forth and multiply, or in this case, contribute and share—story ideas, content, opinions, kudos, blurbs, etc.  We’ve provided you with the mechanism, and we want you to fully take advantage of it. So you too can call yourself a citizen journalist!