From the official California Minuteman newsletter dated May 29, 2007
May Muster
May was an exciting month at Camp Vigilance. Our 18th consecutive Muster started off with sightings first thing Friday morning and continued throughout the weekend though the numbers were lower than we had seen in recent months. That doesn't mean they are not crossing, it simply means they went somewhere else. There is speculation that the Gun Club Coyotes either retired from their April efforts or were caught and are cooling their Keds in a US Federal Lockup somewhere. Have no fear. Someone will take their place or our Government will give them a ticket, tell them to appear in court in four months and they'll be back at it again.
We had observation posts in all of the usual locations and a few new ones where we were responsible for turning more than one group back south (TBS). On Saturday we had 15 MM help the Carrizo Creek Range folks clean up the shooting area in ONeil Valley. Two forty yard dumpsters were filled. MM were on their hands and knees picking up thousands of shotgun shells and other assorted targets and miscellaneous junk. That area looks 1000% better now thanks to about 200 people giving up their weekend to clean it up. Congrats to Carl Gardener and the Carrizo Creek folks.�
Joe M and crew worked on the fence around Camp V. Ken, Anita and Rick once again didn't disappoint on the food with a spiral ham dinner Friday, Beef Stew on Saturday and Ham and Eggs Sunday morning. I used to lose weight at the border. I said "used to". Great food. Many thanks for their efforts! Kudos to them and other folks like George, Eric and you know who you are. The Stagecoach Depot is looking real cosey.
Rick R received a well deserved Minuteman Service Award. Congratulations!
We had Art Harmon with us from the Conservative Caucus on Sunday. He interviewed a number of folks for the Constitution Party's TV program.
Jim and Lisa were kind enough to sponsor Sue Miller from "Cruisin Critters" to do a seminar on Dangerous Dwellers of the Desert. Yours truly got to demonstrate the proper way to hold a LIVE giant African Scorpion. Sue had dozens of her "friends" to display and we learned a lot about what to do around them. She didn't bring any rattlesnakes but gave us quite a lecture on proper ways to deal with them in camp and in the field. Suffice it to say she dispelled a lot of rumors about what they can and cannot do. We filmed it and it is recommended all MM that come to Camp Vigilance have a chance to view it. THANK YOU TO JIM AND LISA FOR SPONSORING THE SEMINAR!
ORANGE COUNTY GUN SHOW
June 2nd and 3rd from 9-5 is the Orange County Gun Show and we will have a booth there. Once again JIm and Lisa stepped up to put together a kick butt display. Booth staffers are needed to work each day. Please contact Lisa at Lisa@minutemancorpsca.com . This is a great opportunity to talk to people about who we really are and what we do and to recruit new members.
NEXT MUSTER
The next regularly scheduled muster is June 22nd-24th at Camp Vigilance. Nights are cool and days are damn hot. Be sure to bring appropriate clothing and plenty of water and sunscreen. Our patio area with shade and waterfall has turned into a welcome rest area for our campers. Evening meals are provided for a small donation. The traffic generally moves at sunrise, sunset and BP shift changes. We will have a Quarter Moon all night so traffic can move anytime. Be there or be overrun.
SEARCH & RESCUE
Our first training weekend for MM Search & Rescue will be on June 9th and 10th at Camp Vigilance. The first class is full and we will be putting volunteers through the Red Cross "Professional Rescuers" certification, tracking, GPS, Emergency Procedures and other fun and physically demanding exercises. The first 8 people will deploy, during the day, at the June Muster. Anyone interested in being part of this training in the future should send me an email to carl@minutemanhq.com . You will need to hike long distances, climb mountains, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound (just kidding) and be able to commit to additional training time, outside of the regular musters, at the border. The next class will start in July. MM Search & Rescue folks will be in the field to provide humanitarian and first responder aid to anyone needing it and will be members of the National Association of Search and Rescue Volunteers (NASAR). They will participate in regular muster activities also.
TIME TO CALL OR VISIT YOUR SENATOR
Never in the history of this movement have we needed you to pressure your Senators more. They are about to give our country away and will do so unless they hear directly from you. Tony Dolz, our LA Chapter leader has prepared a list of the Senators State by State along with the zip codes for each area. When you call you must give a city name and zip code or they will not record your call.http://www.dolz.com/call/Please take the time this week to let them know that you will not stand by and allow them to sell this great nation to the third world for votes and money. The gloves must come off. They do not believe they serve the people any longer. It is time to REMIND them. It takes five minutes to make the calls that can save a nation. Just do it.
LEADERSHIP CHANGES
There has been much to do in the media about MCDC Leadership changes. These changes at HQ have not affected CA in any way. We continue to move ahead, at full strength to secure our borders and bring awareness to our governments terrible folly in not protecting it's citizens. The Senators and indeed our President should be ashamed of themselves. We on the other hand, have nothing to be shamed of. We have reported more than 1,000 illegal invaders in the last year to BP and have been indirectly responsible for millions of dollars in illicit drug seizures. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of CA has more than 2,000 members and we are growing every day. From time to time it is necessary to adjust how we do things to make the organization stronger and more effective.
For the last year we have managed the CA Chapter under an Executive Board or Council. There are 12 members of this Council and they are responsible for all aspects of operations in the State and at Camp Vigilance. We have several in-State Chapters in Napa (NORCAL MM), San Leandro (East Bay MM), Apple Valley (Desert Cities MM), Los Angeles (LA Minutemen) and others forming in San Francisco and Santa Barbara. These Chapters are run by the individual Chapter Leaders with guidance from the Executive Council and our State Membership Chairman Steve H.
I have served as the State Director and part of the Executive Council for that time. The role of State Director is being dissolved and the functions responsibilities will be spread across the Executive Council. I will continue to serve in a leadership role on the council. I am not going anywhere but will be taking on the additional responsibility of developing our Search & Rescue group. These changes have nothing to so with the MCDC leadership changes. They are required due to the rapid growth of the organization and my need to spend more time on business and personal commitments. As the Council has run everything for the past year anyway, you will see no change in how things are done. Feel free to send me an email at carl@minutemanhq.com if you have any questions or concerns. See you at the Border!
Semper Vigilans,
Carl Braun