Kinney County Sheriff's Office Battling Runaway Rumors

Gun Battles in the Hinterlands of the County? Invasions 100K Strong?

It’s commonly held that Mark Twain was the one who said “a lie can travel halfway around the world, before the truth can get its shoes on.” Appropriate, Historians say, because there’s actually zero evidence to suggest Twain ever said it. Similar quotes have been attributed to Churchill, but he probably never said them either.

Still, the words speak to what Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe and other County officials are dealing with— taking calls almost daily, he says, from people around the country who’ve heard all kinds of crazy stuff about what’s been happening in Kinney County.

Most recently, folks listening to a semi-sorta-kinda-famous UFO Researcher and “truth-teller” named Kerry Cassidy & Project Camelot, have been told of running gun battles between Texas Militiamen, Cartel smugglers, and criminally minded illegal aliens numbering in the 100’s of thousands invading the County. It’s not even a good lie, and it’s spread coast to coast, the Sheriff says. The story being told even says “the invaders” have taken over a small U.S. town in preparation for more— describing it in terms similar to a beach head. Visitors to the website now are seeing a “walked back” version of the story, calling these details unconfirmed.

Here’s the truth: Right now, Mexico has most of the potential migrants bottled up in Tapachula, way down South. Others are still making their way through Panama. Right now, a group of about 2,000 have fought their way past Mexican forces, and are traveling toward Mexico City. On foot, we are told. This batch of 2000 is the group led by the widely-publicized activist Irineo Mújica who has been quoted as saying he and his charges are ready for war.

Immigration Activist Irineo Mujica. Arizona Based U.S. Citizen Image Courtesy: www.frontlinedefenders.org

As for the stuff about running gun battles, not so, says the Sheriff— though he does say they’ve been keeping busy with the usual stuff. “Friday morning, we had 2 high speed pursuits and bailouts before lunch,” the Sheriff said.

The Texas-based militia group that is currently confirmed to be active in Kinney County is called the “Patriots for America Militia” group. They are led by a man named Samuel Hall. While speaking with the Sheriff today, we became aware that authorities are anticipating the potential arrival of a much less welcome militia figure in the area, and are planning to “invite” him to operate elsewhere. We hesitate to publish the man’s name, but his activities elsewhere around the country apparently raise concerns about how much help he could actually be, if the tradeoff would be unacceptable levels of controversy and publicity seeking. It’s not illegal to show up somewhere and say “Hey, I’m with a militia group, and I’m here to help!” But, it is much harder to do anything meaningful without some measure of approval from local authorities.

We are told the “Patriots for America” group has been settled in an undisclosed location with access to barracks-style sleeping arrangements and a commercial kitchen as they continue making arrangements with local landowners to operate on their property.

By the way, that quote about lies racing ‘round the world? It may be a distillation of wisdom first published by 17th/18th Century Essayist Jonathon Swift, in 1710:

“Besides, as the vilest Writer has his Readers, so the greatest Liar has his Believers; and it often happens, that if a Lie be believ’d only for an Hour, it has done its Work, and there is no farther occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it; so that when Men come to be undeceiv’d, it is too late; the Jest is over, and the Tale has had its Effect…”

Swift is also the man who wrote “A Modest Proposal,” which is hailed as the perfect example of his dry, dead-pan, ironic style of satire. In it, he suggested that perhaps the Irish should sell their children to the rich, for their eating and consumption, as a way of dealing with the potato famine that was ravaging the country.

TDEM Meeting Details Published in Uvalde

Uvalde’s Daily Newspaper has published its account of the controversial TDEM meeting that we mentioned to readers last week. A lot of good details there, suggesting that at least some of the outrage vented toward TDEM was coming from Uvalde City and County officials more than private citizens.

Also of note is something that leads us to our next item: Kinney County’s securing more than 3-million dollars in Operation Lone Star Funding.

If Money Talks…

One of the things we’ve been pointing out here at the Cavalry - Dispatch is a thick undercurrent of dissatisfaction with some of Governor Greg Abbott’s decisions here in Kinney County. Many vocal citizens have wanted the Governor to take actions that many in other parts of the state and country would call needlessly drastic. Among them, would be the well-monied international business interests that rely on an open border and oppose action that would be tantamount to closing down the various international ports of entry. Recall in our reporting about the militia group’s arrival, there were observations suggesting that the Governor doesn’t care about Kinney County, that the handful of votes available here aren’t enough for state leaders to worry much over, and so forth.

Militia Men Reporting for Duty

Well, if money talks, 3.1 million dollars in Operation Lone Star funding should speak fairly loudly in the Governor’s favor. That’s the highest amount awarded to any individual county in the state so far. Even so, Sheriff Coe and others wish the funds had been accompanied by a National Guard assignment. “Even just a regular military convoy up and down 277 would help lock it down,” said the Sheriff on Monday, referring to US 277, which runs between Del Rio and Eagle Pass, and has a major intersection in Kinney County. 277 runs all the way down to Laredo to the South, and up past San Angelo to the North, making it an obvious artery for smuggling. Right now, there are National Guard troops stationed in Val Verde County and Maverick County, worrying the Sheriff that smugglers will try to slip between the two in Kinney County.

Changes at the Cavalry - Dispatch

And finally tonight, we should alert you to some forthcoming changes here at the Cavalry - Dispatch. Roughly 2 or 3 weeks ago, Kinney County announced plans to hire a Public Information Officer. Something the County’s never had or seemed to need. But, County officials have been deluged with such a flood of outside media requests for interviews and information related to the border crisis that they’ve struggled to even come close to keeping up with it all. Not going to lie, our ears did perk up at the announcement. But, even after turning in an application, we felt fairly certain there would be a young, attractive, rancher’s daughter or son with an appropriate background and education waiting in the wings. Someone not only degreed in public relations and information, but also without any time spent questioning and quizzing local officials. As one shuffles into middle age, they learn to be realistic when it comes to managing their expectations, so you can perhaps imagine our surprise at being offered this position with the County.

We will be accepting it.

There’s a lot of work to be done, and we hope we’ll be able to alleviate the burden of at least some of these requests from various media entities, allowing the Sheriff and others to focus on more concrete efforts to police the county as the border crisis continues. It is entirely possible that the position will be eliminated once the crisis has settled and things can get back to normal around here.

So, what does this mean for our readers here? It would be highly irregular for us to continue attempting to operate as a journalist during this time. However, we will publish whatever official news releases we put out on behalf of the county here, as well as various other more official county organs, such as the County Facebook pages and other social media pages as well. But, readers will probably notice a shift in tone— and that is only to be expected. As a private enterprise, the Cavalry-Dispatch is free to take certain shots and be occasionally irreverent. We are free to take wild leaps of speculation and analysis, as well as diversions into esoterica like Jonathan Swift. We can ramble, for our entertainment and yours.

As a representative of the County, however, we will be speaking on behalf of many people and cannot afford as much of that behavior going forward. Precision of communication takes a much higher priority.

We start tomorrow.

Thank you for reading, we hope you will continue, even as our style and publishing schedule undergoes these necessary adjustments.