Locals resent"pirates"label,claim"safest lake in nation," amid fewer but jaunty tourists (jet ski)

[UTUSN]

Note that this picture is AFTER the HARTLEY couple's incident. My beef is not with the HARTLEYs, but with how the Wingnuts, going back to 9-11 when the terrorists crossed the NORTHERN border, have made their focus the SOUTHERN border, drumbeating hysteria to cover their racism (the Minutemen, the TeaBaggers) by taking the opportunity of "national security" to focus on the SOUTHERN border. The use of the word "pirates" trips off the whole "terrorism" fear-mongering. I submit that the drug cartel wars in Mexico are little different than Shrub's personal family cartel wars against his personal enemies, at least SOME of which had little to do with national security.


Harry Phillips, left, and Gary Tharp, right, fishermen from Austin, stand by their boat after fishing Thursday in Falcon Lake.

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http://www.themonitor.com/articles/zapata-43646-tainted-town.html

Zapata residents worry town will be tainted by Hartley case

Ana Ley
The Monitor

ZAPATA — Officials in this tiny community expect to lose millions of dollars in revenue to a whirlwind of negative publicity surrounding the apparent death of a U.S. citizen on Falcon
Reservoir.

Zapata — a hamlet with a population of 5,000 — is a popular spot for bass fishing enthusiasts. The sleepy lakeside community thrives on tourism, attracting thousands of Winter Texans and visitors from across the state each year. ....

‘SHE KNEW THE RISKS’

.... "If you know how dangerous it is, why go there?" Mendoza said. "We feel for the Hartley family. But she knew the risks, and they decided to cross. There’s no reason anyone should go over there."

Mendoza said the community resents local media for portraying Zapata as a dangerous place, and he scoffed at the term "pirates" used in news reports about the case.

"It’s just ridiculous," he said. "It’s something you would hear in a movie. But the media likes to spread the negative." ....

"You don’t live in Mexico for years and not make any contacts," Terry Green said, referring to the time the Hartleys spent in Reynosa, where David Hartley served as a station manager for Calfrac Well Services Ltd., an oil field services firm. "His body was big. (Young-Hartley) said she tried to bring him back. … She would have gotten shot. Everybody has suspicions out here." .....

'SAFEST LAKE IN THE NATION’

http://www.themonitor.com/news/private-43647-zetitas-detective.html

Private detective: ‘Zetitas' killed Hartley

.... Reyna believes, after talking to his "network of intelligence sources in Mexico," that the lowest ranking members of the Zeta drug cartel were responsible for the shooting. The "Zetitas," or baby Zetas, shot at the couple to try to steal the personal watercraft they were riding, he said.

"The kid that shot (at the couple) did not know how to handle the weapon," he said. "Because of the recoil (and power of the weapon) one of the shots got away from him and he shot Hartley." ....

"Yes, it was a baby Zeta," Gonzalez said. "Some of them are 15, 16 and 17 years old that operate that area."

The private investigator also claims the name of the shooter was Guadalupe Gomez, also known as "El Piojo," Gomez was killed in Matamoros on Friday, Reyna said. ....

Another claim Reyna makes, which coincides closely with the theory put forward by STRATFOR, is that the "Zetitas" were not ordered to kill Hartley by Zeta leaders.

"They did all this without the consent or knowledge of the main Zeta group," Reyna said. ....

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