by ALAN WALLEN

"C Hues has vowed to moon it," read the lede in the U.S. News and World Report border story. What in the the world could we be talking about? The Strategic Border Initiative, SBInet, of course. This is just one of the truly amazing story lead offs in the recent string of articles in the press covering the dissent of Arivacans over the Boeing towers. These national stories focus on the "quirkiness" of our town rather than our real concern: the SBInet towers are not going to stop illegal immigrants. Instead, the focus is on one person's threat to moon the camera. Here's another telling quote, this one from The Washington Post, "It turned out to be much more than that to this quirky desert community of 2,500 residents, who learned from an environmental assessment study that they were in the cross hairs of the Bush administration's high-tech plan to use a "virtual fence" to stop illegal immigration." Although this one at least gives a hint as to the feeling "in the crosshairs", it also ends up sounding as if the residents are crazy, quirky, and maybe don't know what's good for themselves. It is, after all, a plan to stop that big scary monster, illegal immigration. National Public Radio's coverage of the first tower meeting with BP and Boeing started with a novel twist: "There was a lot of gavel banging... mostly to stop the crowd of about 50 residents from interrupting a panel of Border Patrol officials ... " In the background someone yells, "we know you lied to us about Iraq!" The story keeps going on and on about how Border Patrol wants make us safer. Again the focus doesn't seem to be on the real concerns of the residents, but of how crazy and quirky we are! I am very aware that without these reporters' hard work on this issue, there would be very little dialogue, and we owe them much thanks for getting this story out there. But as one reads the stories about the towers, it always seems like a side-bar to the "real story" of mayhem and disaster, the impact of illegal immigration on the border. These people seem to love to confuse the issues, but, which parts of the "border war" actually cause mayhem? Interesting how the words "Illegal immigration" have come to mean the border war, and is now synonymous with drug smuggling, human smuggling, and terrorism. After reading hundreds of articles on this topic, I found a gem: "The towers, many Arivaca residents contend, will not solve the economic, social and political problems behind illegal immigration." There it is, one sentence, simple and to the point. Maybe in the future we can get over how quirky we are and start looking at the real problems we face. Do you really think that some people looking for jobs are really ruining our country? Do you think the war on drugs is winnable? And do you really think some cameras can defend you from a terrorist plot? Maybe better questions are needed instead of commentary on the idiosyncracies of a small town.

Alan Wallen is a life-long Arivaca resident.

Have an idea for a guest commentary? Let me know -- Michael Marizco