Subject: Re: [BoundaryPoint] Texas Man Begins Attempt to Walk, Canoe 1,952-Mile U.S.-Mexico Border
Date: Nov 09, 2001 @ 04:43
Author: m donner ("m donner" <maxivan82@...>)
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>From: "Bill Hanrahan" <hanrahan@...>_________________________________________________________________
>Reply-To: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
>To: "BoundaryPoint" <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Texas Man Begins Attempt to Walk, Canoe 1,952-Mile
>U.S.-Mexico Border
>Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 03:52:05 -0500
>
>Nov 8, 2001
>
>
>Texas Man Begins Attempt to Walk, Canoe 1,952-Mile U.S.-Mexico Border
>By Julie Watson
>Associated Press Writer
>
>MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) - Despite increased security and fears about travels
>since Sept. 11, David Chizum slipped on his $200 Swiss hiking boots and set
>out on a voyage that few would have the guts to attempt even during
>peacetime.
>
>The 57-year-old Texan is trying to become the first person to walk and
>canoe the 1,952-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
>
>Chizum's travels will take him through a region considered by many to be a
>lawless land of smuggling and banditry, where the weather can fluctuate
>from searing heat to bitter cold in a single day.
>
>"I've got a lot of determination and some apprehension," he said before
>setting out. "But I'm really looking forward to the trip."
>
>Chizum began his trip Wednesday by dipping his wooden walking stick in the
>Pacific Ocean. Then he headed out in the fog along a wall of corrugated
>metal that marks the U.S.-Mexico border at California's Border Field State
>Park.
>
>His wife saw him off as a U.S. border patrol agent watched from his parked
>vehicle nearby. Joggers passed by on the other side of the fence, in
>Tijuana, Mexico.
>
>"You either live life trying to increase safety or you live life to the
>fullest and take the acceptable risks," Chizum said in a telephone
>interview from his home in Valley Mills, Texas, before starting the trip.
>
>"That's my attitude as it should be for the nation. If America wants to be
>the home of the brave, it can't be the home of security paranoia."
>
>The former college professor of international relations hopes his journey
>over the next five months will remind people that before Sept. 11 much of
>the world viewed borders as welcoming mats rather than security threats.
>
>"We have to find a way to keep our borders open," he said. "Economic
>interdependence is not only important to North America, but the whole
>world."
>
>Chizum, who has been planning his trip since March, considered canceling
>after terrorists slammed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center
>and the Pentagon.
>
>But then he decided this could be the most auspicious time for the journey.
>The trip, which he calls U.S.-Mexico Border Friendship Expedition
>2001-2002, will provide him with the opportunity to change people's
>perceptions of the border.
>
>"It should be a friendly meeting place between two neighbors rather than a
>place of suspicion," he said.
>
>Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mexican President Vicente Fox was pushing a
>plan to eventually open the U.S.-Mexico border to permit the free flow of
>workers and goods. But these days, talk in the north has turned toward
>remilitarizing the U.S. border and severely limiting immigration.
>
>Chizum will walk first on the U.S. side, passing through mountains that
>connect to La Rumorosa, a region that the Mexican government recently
>declared off-limits to migrants because so many people have died there
>while trying to slip into the United States illegally.
>
>He said he didn't inform authorities because the border is public property,
>but he will be carrying a letter of introduction from a former U.S. Border
>Patrol chief.
>
>"I expect to be stopped, but if I'm not, I will stop myself to talk to
>people," he said.
>
>He will carry an 80-pound pack with a sleeping bag for freezing
>temperatures and an electronic Spanish dictionary. His wife will send him
>provisions at stops along the way.
>
>Chizum said he will take photographs and document his coordinates on a
>Global Positioning System. He also will ask people along the way to sign
>his log book.
>
>Chizum plans to walk 15 miles a day, crossing back and forth between the
>two countries, until he reaches Presidio, Texas, where the depleted Rio
>Grande swells to a fast-flowing river. There, his family will meet him so
>he can pick up his canoe to complete the final leg.
>
>Throughout his trip, Chizum plans to camp out of sight and rely on the
>watchful eye of Border Patrol agents for protection. Chizum said he's more
>worried about running out of energy and water than running into bandits.
>
>"I've found people incredibly hospitable along the border," he said.
>
>Chizum, who has visited more than 50 countries, said he knows his own
>limits and will stop if he feels he can't make it.
>
>"I have every expectation that I will be capable of finishing," he said.
>"But one thing I do not have is a death wish."
>
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