Falcon Lake Killing of Colorado Tourist - a Mystery Playing Out on the Texas Mexico Border

I've lived in San Antonio for most of my life - and my family has been in Texas for the past seven generations, with ties to various communities from the Killeen/Belton area (now Fort Hood) over to Hallettsville (nearer to Houston) and down to Corpus Christi. 

Lots of family stories about lots of Texas sites, along with the usual folklore.  Pecos Bill, the Donkey Lady, the Indian lovers who threw themselves off the cliff near Floresville, the ghosts of the school bus kids who push your car over the tracks near Mission Road.

Suddenly, we're all hearing about Falcon Lake

No one ever talked about Falcon Lake, much less went there to fish for bass.  I never, ever heard about Falcon Lake until I started doing research on the drug cartels for a writing project.  Falcon Lake is big, and it sets there on the Texas-Mexican border, a big bubble of the Rio Grande - 60 miles long.  Part of the lake is in Mexico, and part of the lake is Texan.

Which all goes to provide backstory to my following of this news story: the couple from Colorado, down on Falcon Lake having fun when some Mexican pirates shot the husband in the head - and now his body is missing and Governor Perry is getting lotsa press coverage, demanding that Mexico help find the victim's remains. 

Within the past hour, there's been a press conference where the Zavala County Sheriff is reporting that  blood evidence supports a belief that members of the Zeta drug cartel were the mysterious pirates that shot at the vacationing couple, presumably to enforce their borders in an ongoing cartel drug war. 

Wow.

Falcon Lake? Really?  FoxNews is reporting that search teams continue to look for David Michael Hartley, 30, in the Mexican part of Falcon Lake, based upon the information provided by Tiffany Hartley, 29, who has told authorities that her husband was shot in the head by one or more men from two boats that accosted them as the couple were riding the lake on Jet Skis. 

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) has notified the public that David Hartley's encounter is the 5th report of Americans crossing paths with Mexican pirates on the waters of Falcon Lake.  From the DPS news release, these prior incidents are (quoting from the DPS release):

1. April 30, 2010: Four heavily armed men boarded two boats near the Old Guerrero area demanding money. The bandits were given $200 in cash and tried to follow the U.S. boats as they sped back to U.S. waters. The bandits stopped once they reached the United States boundary.
2. May 6, 2010: Two armed men approached a boat near Marker 14 on the north side of Salado Island on top of the ruins at Old Guerrero. The men demanded money, which the fishermen gave them.
3. May 16, 2010: Five armed men boarded a boat on the United States side of the lake near Marker 7. Investigators have no further information on the incident.
4. Aug 31, 2010: Falcon Lake pirates, using a small boat marked “Game Wardin” using duct-taped letters to possibly mimic Texas Parks and Wildlife vessels operating in Texas waters, attempted to stop a Texas fisherman. His knowledge of previous DPS safety warnings about Falcon Lake and the misspelling of the word “Warden” alerted the fisherman that something was wrong and he outran the Mexican vessel to safety.

Here's what I think.  I think that this couple did cross a line in the water that day, and two boats did chase them down, shooting guns in what must have been a terrifying experience for the poor woman who survived this encounter.  

Calling these shooters "pirates," however gives them a romantic label that isn't appropriate, though.  These aren't colleagues of Captain Jack Sparrow we're talking about here. 

I doubt that the couple looked like they were running drugs, poaching business from the drug professionals.  And, illegal drugs - along with guns, ammo, and human trafficking - is big business in my part of the world.  It's not legal, and it's not advertised on TV, but it's here. 

The big elephant in the room.  The 800 pound gorilla. 

When I follow this story, what I read is that the Zetas are claiming Falcon Lake as their own.  This isn't a big surprise here in Texas -- we stopped Christmas shopping in Nuevo Laredo several years back, so this is just another spot we're savvy to avoid. 

What I'm wondering is when the rest of the country is going to get up to speed here.  And, what's going to be the solution to this growing violence? 

It's nice to think that there's a big, bold border between Texas and Mexico - but that's only on maps.  Here in San Antonio, we know it's a murky co-mingling of cultures that starts somewhere south of town.  And, it's getting closer to our city limits every day. 

San Antonio Named Most-Recession Proof City in America (other than Washington D.C.) - But What About the Drug Money?

Derek Thompson of The Atlantic has named San Antonio, Texas, as the most recession proof city in America. If you don't consider the nation's capitol, of course.

Mr. Thompson's provided lots of support for his position. He even came down here and looked around. That's good - we love people to come and visit our fair city.

However, I'm pondering that there's a huge economic cushion here in my town that isn't getting considered in the analysis here: that's all the drug money that flows through our area.  Now, I'm not sure how you'd gather numbers for any real comparisons, but I do know it's here and it's huge.

How do I know?  Well, the fact that there's a lot of drug money around here isn't news to those of us who live in the Alamo City.  However, the extent to which my beloved hometown is a business hub for the transportation of illegal goods became clear to me during the three years that I was active in the Bexar County Children's Court, representing abused and neglected kids in CPS cases.  Sometimes, yes, I represented the parents who were being threatened with their parental rights being terminated, too. 

From these clients, as well as CPS Investigators, and various members of law enforcement (Border Patrol, Texas Rangers) I came to learn how the drug business is just like any other: it's a profit-oriented enterprise, and it has distribution and transportation concerns as well as manufacturing and marketing. 

Interstate 35 and Interstate 10 intersect smack-dab in the middle of San Antonio.  Last I heard, a lot of heroin was being moved along these routes by the cartels up and through the rest of the nation.  From Mexico, San Antonio is an important link in the distribution chain.

Which brings lots of money into our economy, whether we like it or not.  Not to mention the human trafficking (I learned about the coyote business during my CPS representations, too) and gun-running. 

Is this illegal stuff a true cornerstone of our local economy?  I don't know, because I have no idea how much we're truly talking about here.  However, from what I gleaned from all the people that shared their information with me, it's big numbers.  Millions, billions.

And that I think may be the real reason that San Antonio isn't hurting economically as much as other parts of the country right now. 

The Recession Ended in 2009? Who are they kidding?

The Big Kahanas are reporting that the Recession is Over.  The Associated Press is basing its news on the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), and Time Magazine is sourcing the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research)  -- both opining that things magically changed in June 2009, and yes -- over 14 months ago, the recession was over. 

Read the OECD Report Overview here.  Read the NBER Summary here.

My first thoughts:  baloney. 

Maybe if you label 2007-2009 a recession, and then a couple of years down the road, you come back and label another batch of months a second (double dip) recession, you can feel better about things.  (Which is what I'm expecting these Svengalis will do, to justify the reports they've just issued.)   

I think we're in a Depression, not dipping recessions, and that the government is scared of public reaction if they start using that very, very scary word: depression.  Lots of us remember family members telling horrific stories about the Great Depression, and heck: who wants to think that the Joad Family is their future? 

What about their numbers?  Statistics - please.  I think things have been fudged, ignored, manipulated here because my reality simply does not jive with these reports. 

Bottom line, I'm not buying what I'm being told.  But heck, who am I? 

My finance degree (BBA) is ancient history, my law degree means I look for an argument, and my writing career means I'm nosy and try to observe every piece of lint that floats by ... so I went looking around.

And I see that there are others that aren't buying it, either:

Stephen Gandel at Time.com predicts a double dip.  Another recession is coming (is here?).

Ann Brenoff at WalletPop discusses reality vs. the NBER, with stats on unemployment and poverty levels among other things.

BusinessPundit calls the NBER "hallucinatory" - love this.  Hallucinations, makes me chuckle.

ZeroHedge labels the NBER findings "worthless," wondering when the reality that we're in the midst of a Depression will be announced to the public (predicting the mid2020s).  Kudos here to actually using the skeery word.

In the midst of all this surfing around, I discovered a Dartmouth economist's site, where he analyzes governmental reporting -- and John Williams has a very, very different take on the state of our economy today. 

He's got employment at 22% (which sounds pretty real to me) and GDP in the negative since 2004.

Now that, that's sounding closer to the mark. 

Randy Quaid Squatting in a Home He Used to Own? He's Lucky this Bust is in California and not Texas: or is he?

Randy Quaid and his wife Evi have been arrested again by the California police.   According to news reports, Mr. and Mrs. Quaid not only gained access to this Santa Barbara County home -- apparently up for sale, there's a realtor who is talking to the tabloids (gotta love that, right?) -- Randy and Evi hung their portrait above the fireplace.

When confronted, they claimed to own the property -- but that was soon refuted by the owner and some annoying property records.  Randy and Evi Quaid sit in a Santa Barbara County jail as I type this.

What Is Going On With Randy and Evi Quaid?

I do not understand how these two are roaming around - still - when it seems pretty obvious that there's some serious psychological trouble here (the TMZ commenters are less tactful than I am: they just label Evi a "nutjob").  Randy apparently carved his initials into the mailbox.  The couple had set up house here, too: at the time of arrest, there were dirty dishes in the kitchen sink and clothes were already hung in the closet.  Did they really think they could hang there indefinitely?

Here's my question: didn't they have any other place to go?  Have they already alienated all their friends and family (this happens, you know).  According to IMDB, Randy has been barred from the Actor's Equity Association, but the site also shows some very nice salaries -- including $1,000,000 for Goya's Ghosts (2006).   

Are they broke? Homeless? 

The Santa Barbara cops busted Randy and Evi Quaid on felony burglary charges and each also face a misdemeanor charge of entering a building without consent. Evi has a third charge: resisting arrest (no surprise there). It's a misdemeanor, too.

As you will remember, Randy and Evi have been arrested in the not-too-distant past: just this past April, in fact. They purportedly skipped on paying a hotel bill .... 

Each is being held on a $50,000 bail. That's not much. 

Randy and Evi Quaid are Lucky They Were Busted in California, not Texas -- or are they?

With California's history of treating celebrities differently (think Paris Hilton, think Lindsay Lohan) the Quaids are probably thought by many to be lucky that they're dealing with California authorities. 

Because here in Texas, I'm betting that we'd already be hearing something about psychological evaluations and drug tests and hair follicle analysis.  Adult Protective Services, Guardianships, these things come to mind.  A bigger bail to make sure some kind of investigation could be put in place before they were free on the streets again. 

Cuz Randy Quaid and his wife Evi aren't acting in their own best interests, and maybe they're even getting close to crossing the line of becoming a danger to themselves or others (legal terms italicized). 

Doesn't look like celebrity status is doing much to help them here, and I worry that if someone doesn't step in soon, we're gonna be talking tragedy. 

So, while this story will be the butt of some late night jokes, I'm sitting here thinking Too Bad.  Randy Quaid needs some help - and some respect.  He's been nominated for an Oscar and he's built an impressive body of work. 

Have You Ever Read the Declaration of Independence?

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.