From the Mexican Lab to Elmo to You and Me!

Illegal immigrants are back on the front pages of Colorado's newspapers again today. One story is about an illegal immigrant who shot two Denver policeman (in their backs). One of the officers was killed. Today was the sentencing hearing. The coward did not show up in court to listen to what the victims had to say. Possibly his public defenders told him to stay in his cell after they saw him. It seems he asked for some clippers the night before the hearing so he could prepare for his appearance in court. Apparently he asked his cellmate to shave a giant gang sign into the back of his head. I do not recall that fact (his being a gang member)being mentioned in any of the news coverage prior to the sentencing hearing.

The other story was about a meth ring being broken up. U.S. attorney Troy Eid pointed out at a press conference that methamphetamines are now being manufactured in high volume factories, and then shipped into Colorado. In this particular bust, seven hundred small mom and pop labs (yes, they are often adults with small children) would have had to be raided to equal the quantity seized in this sweep. 45 pounds of high quality meth, 1.1 kilos of cocaine and $59,000 were seized in this bust. Street value? Millions of dollars.

Another very interesting aspect of this was the route taken by the drug smugglers, twelve of whom are illegal immigrants from Mexico. The lab was in Mexico. The drugs went first to Los Angeles, then to Barstow, then to Las Vegas (of course), and then to Greeley Colorado, which is in the heart of a large agricultural county, where many illegals work in the fields. From there the drugs go to tiny Kimball, Nebraska, which really intrigues me. Why? Because when I was working as a child protection worker I had a case involving a mom and four children. I always suspected the mom was a meth user. When they moved to Kimball, Nebraska I asked her about the town. She told me there was just one stop sign, and the town is in the middle of nowhere. Then why is it a stop in the drug trade? By the way, there is only one more stop on the route: Roanoke, Virginia. Oh, and one more thing: four pounds of Meth was found inside a Tickle-Me-Elmo children's toy.