Aye Chihuahua

By Sheila Totten

After writing this I may become persona non gratis with the PBR's higher echelon but  that does not matter to me.What matters is the safety of the riders,personel and the bulls and I have to speak out against their upcoming BFTS event in Chihuahua ,Mexico.

Aye Chihuahua!

 The PBR is heading to Chihuahua ,Mexico next week  for a BFTS event under  a heavy blanket of controversy.Fans are speaking out against this event along with top stock contractors as Jerry Nelson who happens to own the PBR 2005 World Champion Bull Big Bucks. Writer Josh Peters has put his own negative spin on the event calling for comments on his blog.

Why is the PBR going to the most crime ridden area of Mexico? Why even endanger the riders and bulls at a time that relations with this country are strained to nearly the breaking point thanks to our President's offensive remarks which has raised the ire of the Mexican President? Why now as Mexico is in a high state of political unrest since their recent elections? The answer lies in Randy Bernard's response on Josh's site: "There's no secret the Hispanic market is the fastest-growing  market in the United States,'' Bernard said. "And corporations
want  to capitalize it as does the PBR.'' According to Josh  , Bernard also said : "The event is part of a larger strategy to expand the PBR's  Hispanic fan base, Bernard said, adding that the group makes up about 16 percent of the PBR's fans."

Fine and dandy but that does not give a good enough reason to put animals and people in jeopardy. I watched two thriving businesses here in TN go down the tubes because they went this route. Both store chains began to carry much more in the way of Hispanic goods to attract the Hispanic crowd and managed to lose their non-Hispanic customers who made up the lion's share of their  business.What is the point?Chihuahua is not a wealthy area. Mexico's government is in financial trouble. Where is the profit margin? And is it worth the dangers that may befall riders and bulls?

For all the naysayers who put down  Tuff Hedeman when he  left the PBR over issues when Bernard and others were placing "Big Business'  above riders' welfare I ask :How do you feel now?

What is more important than protecting riders and bulls? As to the convoy set-up to transport the bulls to Mexico Bernard was quoted as having said: "We've done our homework and research,'' 
"We literary traced the route, so it's going to be exact and precise…"It'll be the first time ever that so many bulls will cross
the  border and come back.'' Well,let's hope all return!

The PBR thinks because it has arranged a police escort from Santa Theresa,NM to Chihuahua(why they are not going straight down from El Paso is beyond me as that is a straight shot down route 45.) and because they have had USDA help to keep their bulls disease free(give me a break!) that they have done their homework?Hello! Anyone familiar with the goings on in Mexico knows better than that.And USDA-the same arm of the government that is trying to force NAIS on all of us while lying about the reasons for wanting it implemented.You can neither trust USDA officials nor the Mexican Police.If the Federales show up the police scram! And protection is bought down there at very high prices.If someone wants some of those bulls and tells the police  I will pay you so much more to bring the bulls to me its over and done!

I did my homework! I called various law enforcement  offices and courts in USA border towns to assess the climate down there ;and did searches online for the crime level. I spoke with truckers and trucking companies. I spoke with people who had worked there for various US businesses. All  agreed that  its not advisable to go to Chihuahua for an event. Crimes against women in the city of Chihuahua ,let alone the entire state  are way too high. Truckers have been shot at,hijacked and just like in Iraq kidnapped (by the police) and held for ransom. JB Hunt,Schneider's and Celedon have had drivers over the past eight months taken into custody with demands made for $10,000 per driver ransom.The companies refused to pay and I sure do not know if the drivers were ever returned.

Major  trucking companies no longer send their drivers to Mexico nor new trailers as the trailers ,if they come back have new tires and rims gone; replaced by nearly bald tires,etc. Instead many have Mexican drivers carry loads back and forth ;and unload and reload them at their border terminals.

Locally one of my favorite judges lost his Thoroughbred / racing Quarter Horse  ranch  he had built up in Mexico.They took all his high dollar horses,everything! Vendors who used to travel to Mexico for their wares now buy them on this side of the border or hire Mexicans to cross over and buy dolls,purses,etc for them. Federales in open jeeps with 50 mm machine guns patrol the streets just looking for a reason to shoot.This is the climate down there and quite frankly it scares me to think that people I care about might get into trouble down there just because  of what is going on politically. Down there if they bust you for getting rowdy it can mean years in a dirty jail cell. The late Billy Martin found out that even with his pull and help from the US Consulate he could not get his daughter out on bail nor out of jail period for a misdemeanor.

Current news from Chihuahua tells of the murder of a top journalist and editor who covered all the continually unsolved crimes in Chihuahua-a top crime beat reporter there for the past twenty years. Ten other journalists have been killed in a two year period there and the probability that the murders (along with those of hundreds of women from Chihuahua to Juarez)are linked to the many drug cartels there is very high . In June the state of Chihuahua's governor became a suspect in the petrol bombing of yet another journalist's home. This is the climate I have eluded to so with all these facts readily available  and easily found how did Randy Bernard do his homework?