VERY OT, but I know Senator Kerry is about...

[YvonneCa]

...taking care of our kids. This awful story is about our kids:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/14/1m14tjdead23480/

These kids were from Chula Vista where I lived for 27+ years. That's right next to the Tijuana border crossing. Kids cross ALL THE TIME because the drinking age is 18 in Mexico. Now, with all the violence, look what is happening...these are CHILDREN like my daughters and the kids I have taught.

If anyone with any connections to get EMERGENCY legislation to close the border to 18-21 year olds reads this board...PLEASE do something. These kids could have been my daughters. Adults are supposed to be able to protect children. This is AWFUL.

Rep. Bob Filner is CV's congressional rep and I'm sure he will try to do something...so will Senators Boxer and Feinstein. But this needs to be immediate...there will be more kids crossing TONIGHT, and all weekend, and next weekend.

This is about protecting children...surely something can be done so that no other families lose their kids to 'a night of partying' in TJ.


Sorry for the rant...but this is VERY upsetting to me.

[beachmom]

1. Since they are adults, I don't think you can do legislation like that.

What MIGHT work though is a big ad campaign directed at this age group, showing what precisely may happen to them if they go over the border. I also think you need to wait for more information. The article mentions that one of them was acquainted to someone who was in jail on drug charges.

Sorry, to hear about such violence so close to home.

[YvonneCa]

2. Thank you. It IS too close to home...

...which is why it upset me so much. There is more information coming out and there is a drug connection, too.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/15/1m15tjdead235855-investigators-gather-clues-4-slay/


I just think the true problem here is being mischaracterized. And, with the possible exception of Rep. Bob Filner, most people in DC don't understand the real problem parents in the Chula Vista area face. Knowing your 18 year old 'child' can leave the country without your permission any day of the week is a huge challenge for parents. Knowing the dangers they could face still doesn't protect them at an age when they think they are invincible and can handle life on their own (as most 18-21 year olds do).

I've lived in the San Diego area since 1961...and 27 years of that in Chula Vista. I KNOW teachers from Chula Vista High and Sweetwater district. My children attended high school in that district and I taught in an elementary school that feeds into that district. For YEARS, kids have gone over to drink and died driving home on the freeway. Camp Pendleton Marine Base...50 miles north of SD... started prohibiting marines from crossing because of the traffic accidents returning to base after drinking.

Now, there's all this violence (thanks to Dobbs and Co.) and the drugs. Most of these kids aren't breaking the law...the law enables them to get into a dangerous situation that they are unprepared to handle. THIS is just the 'straw that broke the camel's back'...so to speak...for me.