STATE NEWS...
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blown into the sea. They're good as sun-shades or umbrellas, though...
Humanitarian Visas Reintroduced. A bill introduced by Califor-nia Congressman Bob Filner, the Visi-tors Interested in Strengthening
Ame-rica (VISA) Act, wo-uld give border Port Directors the discre-tion to issue humani-tarian visa waivers to Mexican children
and their parents making
brief, pre-scheduled visits to the United States for medical, educational or recre-ational purposes. Since September 11, Port Directors have stopped issuing
the-se visa waivers, which has blocked children from receiv-ing specialized medi-cal attention, partici-pating
in educational exchanges
between border schools and taking field trips to tourist sites across the border. The poli-tician has assured the public that the legislation would not affect the number of legal or illegal immi-grants living
in the United States, becau-se the children and accompanying adults visit for one day and then return to their homes.
Construction Rece-ssion hits Ensena-da Port. Recession
in the California cons-truction industry has brought a decrease in the movement of rials. Despite a hike in the handling of other types of cargo |
and containers,
de-mand for minerals to supply the U.S. cons-truction industry decli-ned this year. As compared to 2006, the Ensenada port handled 14% less tonnage this year.
Tragedy Strikes Port. A 22-year old woman died last Monday at the Ense-nada
Port after she was run over by a 40-ton crane that be-longs to the company
Ensenada Internatio-nal
Terminal. On Au-gust
13, Cruz Guada-lupe Ortega, who worked as a cargo inspector, acciden-tally
walked through a lane which was de-signated exclusively for the crane's move-ment. She was run over and crushed by the machine. Friends of Ortega
told the Gringo Gazette that even though she was fatally injured, the woman was able to make a last call on her cell phone to say farewell to her family.
Mexican officials said that these types of incidents are rare, because all cargo companies have pro-per safety certificati-ons, but federal poli-ce will investigate
the incident.
Baja Guns Mostly Stolen from US. Weapons trafficking
from the US to Baja has increased lately, according to new da-ta reported
by Baja authorities. More than 80 percent of wea-pons found in Baja are stolen in the sou-thern US, especially Arizona. At least 194 pistols and rifles and more than 10,000 ammo cartridges ha- |
ve been confiscated in Baja. That is only a part of the estimated 1,570 weapons sei-zed by Mexican au-thorities nationwide
every year, numbers
that have escalated to around 3,000 so far this year. Efforts to counter the trafficking of weapons
into Baja are varied, but have been considered in-sufficient. Baja autho-rities
and the Mexi-can Army sponsor a campaign to turn in weapons, in which ci-tizens are offered 1,000 pesos in gro-cery coupons in ex-change for their guns. Around 1,600 wea-pons have been tur-ned in so far this year, most of them low-caliber pistols.
Oh, really? A recent survey
by tourism or-ganizations
in Tijuana found that nearly 70 percent of American tourists believe that the city is "insecure", which is the main reason that visitors stay away from the city. Gabriel Camare-na, president of the local tourism commi-ssion,
said that this summer
season bro-ught a 30 percent in-crease in the number of foreign visitors co-ming to Tijuana, but that in previous years the percentage
was much higher. Cama-rena blamed foreign media for the border city's negative image in the US. Other rea-sons for not coming
to Tijuana included slow waiting times to cross the border and a lack of attractions,
according to the sur-vey which questioned 1,400 American tou-rists. |
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Those Gringo Dri-vers. A distracted American driver cau-sed a traffic accident
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ENCANTO DEL MAR...
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collecting old, rusted pieces of heavy equipment. One truck was driven to the ed-ge of the sandy cliffs, and got stuck. It now sits precariously per-ched on the edge of this cliff, ready to tum-ble into the ocean. Other rusted out con-traptions
are scatte-red about on adjacent properties. According
to one resident, the property owner pur-chased the items in San Diego from an auction and actually
had them hauled to his Baja property.
Encanto del Mar ho-meowners
are trying to look the other way when they pass their little community park. Apparently the Lang Corporation workers had a sense of hu-mor, if not art, when they planted a nude metal figure of a woman, upside down with feet sticking in the air, in the center of their park.
Several homeowners also said that there have been disputes over obtaining copies
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Why Does It Take 1 Million Sperm To Fertilize One Egg?
(They Don't Stop To Ask Directions)
of their bank trusts. An attempt to call the Lange Corporation for comments was unsuccessful,
since the phone call was not accepted by the answering service, and a peculiar long hold message was followed by an extre-mely
loud ear-pier-cing buzzing sound. Then the phone went dead. Encanto del Mar homeowners are in the process of forming a Home Ow-ners Association to address some of the-se problems. Envi-ronmental groups ha-ve also been contac-ted.  |
