From August 18, 2007

50-Year-Old Grandmother Shot in Head For Trying to Stop Tagger

The Whittier (CA) Daily News is carrying a shocking story of a grandmother murdered for trying to stop a "tagger":

A grandmother of eight shot in the head when she stopped a man tagging a wall died Monday of her injuries.

Relatives said Maria Hicks, 57, of Pico Rivera was taken off life support at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. She was pronounced dead before noon, according to sheriff's Homicide Lt. Larry Lincoln.

Hicks, a longtime Pico Rivera resident, was shot at 9:55 p.m. Friday by occupants of a gray car who drove up behind her vehicle as she followed a graffiti tagger. No one has been arrested.

"It's a high price to pay," said her brother, Ruben Quintero, 58, of Pico Rivera. "The family is devastated. My heart has been obliterated."

He said shock is not a strong enough word to describe what happened. He had a message for the shooters.

"Think about what you are doing. If they know in fact who they murdered, maybe they'll have some sense there is a limit to criminality. They took away a person who was positive and giving," Quintero said.

He said his sister was generous, saintly but had a no-tolerance philosophy for things like graffiti. The wall at San Gabriel River Parkway and Woodford Street was frequently tagged, residents and city officials said.

He said the tagging went on and on. That's why his sister was so incensed.

Border Patrol Looking for Terrorists...Only

According to the Laredo Morning Times and Border Patrol Laredo Sector Chief Carlos X. Carrillo, the Border Patrol is charged with looking for terrorists and not there to stop illegals or illicit drugs:

Border Patrol agents dont have the responsibility of apprehending illegal immigrants, Carlos X. Carrillo, chief patrol agent for the Laredo sector, said at a town hall meeting Wednesday."The Border Patrol is not equipped to stop illegal immigrants," Carrillo said, noting that illegal narcotics are also not on the agents priority list.

The Border Patrols mission is to keep the country safe from terrorist and terrorist weapons, he said. Carrillo added that when and if terrorists come into the country, the agents will be ready.

Churches Have No Business Harboring Illegals

Townhall.com columnist Mike Gallagher has written a piece about the continuing controversy surrounding the illegal alien "Elivra" and the church that is providing her one-woman crusade with sanctuary:

But it seems to me that church is nothing if not steeped in a foundation of morality. Every Sunday school class I’ve ever attended, every sermon I’ve ever heard, every Bible verse I’ve ever studied, always centers around the moral righteousness that God expects us to embrace. It seems pretty simple, actually: we are expected to do the right thing.

Clearly, obeying man’s law is a big part of that process. People who break the law and defy the authorities in order to achieve their own selfish goals are hardly morally righteous. It’s not likely that any pastor would counsel anyone to flaunt city, state or federal laws.

So how in God’s name can a church leader possibly defend illegal immigrants? Furthermore, what wack job of a minister would literally give one of them sanctuary?