U.S. Forest Service Warns Against Campers Drinking Tecate Beer, Eating Tortillas and Playing Spanish Music
U.S. Forest Service Warns Against Campers Drinking Tecate Beer, Eating Tortillas and Playing Spanish Music
The US Forest Service issued and then retracted a Labor Day warning advising hikers to “beware of campers in national forests drinking Tecate beer, eating tortillas and playing Spanish music” because “they could be armed marijuana growers.” A high-ranking Forest Service official in Colorado also identified people speaking Spanish and eating Spam or Tuna as “warning signs of possible drug trafficking.”
The warnings, which were issued as part of a slide show presentation for law enforcement officials and the general public, came after police arrested two people for allegedly growing 14,500 marijuana plants in a Colorado forest. However, little information about the case has been disclosed, including the names of the defendants. Polly Baca, co-chairwoman of the Colorado Latino Forum has accused the US Forest Service of racial profiling and says the warning is discriminatory and could put Hispanic campers in danger. Julien Ross, Executive Director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, further added:
“All Coloradans, and in particular elected lawmakers, should restrain from blaming entire communities for the acts of a few individuals…because a perpetrator’s immigration status has nothing to do with propensity for criminal action, such policies do not prevent crime and erode community trust. Research shows immigrants to be far less likely to commit crimes than native born citizens and to actually contribute to making neighborhoods safer. Lawmakers concerned about the drug trade would be better served focusing on lessening the demand for drugs in their local district than scapegoating immigrants. “
Hank Kashdan, associate chief of the U.S. Forest Service, apologized on behalf of his colleagues:
“It is inexcusable, and we regret that this insensitivity distracted attention from the real problem of illegal marijuana cultivation on federal land and the threats to human safety and environmental degradation it poses.”
25 Responses to “U.S. Forest Service Warns Against Campers Drinking Tecate Beer, Eating Tortillas and Playing Spanish Music”
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Who will apologize the crime prohibition causes? That Cato document is just as true today as it was in 1990. Since the reaching out to Republicans isn’t going so well, we should salvage these accurate and legitimate Libertarian observations from them.
September 9th, 2009 at 4:39 pmI would just add “dude”.
jps Says:
Who will apologize the crime prohibition causes? That Cato document is just as true today as it was in 1990. Since the reaching out to Republicans isn’t going so well, we should salvage these accurate and legitimate Libertarian observations from them.
September 9th, 2009 at 5:29 pmIf Tecate, Tortillas and Spanish Music are outlawed then only Mexican Marijuana growers will drink Tecate and eat Tortillas.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:12 pmin Colorado.
I guess the Forest Rangers had better warn hikers about 85 year old women of Scot decent with knitting needles, tending a fire cooking porridge Etc. Etc.What the hell is wrong with you people.You would rather put some poor hiker in danger then tell it like it is.Suppose the poor hiker is of spanish decent and comes to harm.It will certainly make the pain less if the Hiker knew that the people that beat him/her to a pulp were of spanish decent. The Captain
September 9th, 2009 at 6:38 pmLegalize and there would not be this problem.
September 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pmsometimes profiling actually works. step out of your PC bubble and take a look at the reality of the situation. if 12 year old white girls were growing pot in teh woods they would tell you to be on the look out for girls wearing twilight t-shirts.
September 9th, 2009 at 7:03 pmLegalize it!
September 9th, 2009 at 7:47 pmHA! I drink Tecate, eat tortillas, and listen to spanish music when my friends and I are in the mood! what a joke! how about…look out for grungy-looking persons with gigantic guns…the gigantic guns should be the only thing to profile against. not tecate, its too good. Don’t give Tecate a bad name US Forest Service!
September 9th, 2009 at 8:06 pmI like to avoid campers, drinking out of 30pks, eating baked beans and listening to Rush Limbaugh. They are most often surounded by a large dark cloud of noxious gas.
September 9th, 2009 at 8:27 pmThat sure is discrimination. Latinos like Dos Equis too!
September 9th, 2009 at 8:46 pmThis is hilarious. I am a regular backpacker in the West Elk Wilderness area in Colorado; but I live in San Antonio, Texas. And in San Antonio, I don’t know anyone, white, black, or hispanic, that doesn’t drink Tecate, eat tortillas, and listen to Spanish music from time to time.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:56 pmAhhhh white people, don’t you love em
September 9th, 2009 at 11:00 pmWhen you’re in civilization is the time to be offended. When I’m heading out to the woods, I’d like frank, simple advice.
Personally I’m happy for the beta. Muchas gracias, USFS. I’ll be cierto to steer clear of the tortilleristas.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:25 pm1. Tecate is great, inexpensive hot-weather beer. I’ve got some in my fridge right now, under the Guinness.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:34 am2. Tortillas are yummy.
3. Spanish music is awesome.
4. Marijuana, known for its medicinal and mind-altering properties for more than 500 years, was outlawed for nefarious reasons: racism, industrial competition with nylon and woodpulp, greed and lust for power.
5. Legal cultivation of hemp would help fight global warming and protect forests.
6. The possibility exists that kaneh bosm, an ingredient of the anointing oil of the Bible (Christ means “the anointed one”) was the psychoactive hemp oil.
7. George Washington grew it.
Typo in last comment: should say 5000 years.
The Pên-ts’ao Ching, the oldest pharmacopoeia known, states that the fruits (flowering tops) of hemp, “if taken in excess will produce hallucinations” (literally “seeing devils”). The ancient medical work also says, “If taken over a long term, it makes one communicate with spirits and lightens one’s body,”[9] Marijuana, with a powerful effects on the psyche, must have been just being formed. The Pên-ts’ao Ching, speaking for the legendary Emperor Shên-nung of about 2000 B.C., prescribes marijuana preparations for “malaria, beriberi, constipation, rheumatic pains, absent-mindedness, and female disorders.” Quoted from
Li, Hui-Lin. 1974. The Origin and Use of Cannabis in Eastern Asia: Linguistic Cultural Implications. Econ. Botany (3): 293-303.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:41 amSchultes, R. E. 1967. Man and Marijuana. Nat. Hist. 82: 59-63, 80, 82.
Dude. I love Tecate, speak Spanish. Not much on Spam these days, however.
Having said that, the truth is, the Mexican cartels have set up massive grows on national forest lands and Indian reservations, at least in N. Cali and Eastern Washington, where I live. BIG grows- we’re not talking a couple of old hippies or Vietnam Vets growing for a living – we’re talking plantations with outlawed chemicals and toxic waste and 15-50,000 plants nestled in amongst the clearcuts they have inflicted upon our lands to open up the canopy.
And, let’s face it, these guys do not respond nicely when disturbed! Let’s drop the political correctness and just speak the truth. It’ll be fun!
September 10th, 2009 at 12:41 amHispanic people camp?
September 10th, 2009 at 1:23 amHA! Ay no!
I guess if they warned hikers to watch out for long-haired hippies with grungey hair and big backpacks, they’d be warning them about themselves?
September 10th, 2009 at 10:16 amOh and Tecate rocks.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:16 amCouldn’t they increase the number of officers. I understand issuing a warning but if they want to make it a safer place start going hardcore against the growers.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:12 pmDoes this mean that we can now go camping without some knucklehead blasting spanish music all night long? Getting away from the city and all the electronic devices is the whole reason for going camping, stupid!
September 10th, 2009 at 9:59 pmThe doc jps references states that “Drugs do not cause the recent alarming crime rates in this country, drug prohibition does.”
Just heard a report yesterday at ~5p PST on KFI640 AM that “ALL 100 MEDICAL MARIJUANA ‘DISPENSARIES’ HAVE BEEN ROBBED 1 OR MORE TIMES TAKING CASH, MARIJUANA OR BOTH.”
All you have to do is search on the Internet to see how much crime occurs even when it’s basically available to the public. So much for jps’ report…
September 11th, 2009 at 12:56 pmthat’s funny, I thought they were into budweiser.
September 11th, 2009 at 3:07 pmIt is a sad day when the national forest service allows a racist bigot to make their public relations statements. The worst part being, that this is only one of the millions of incidents that Latinos in the rural southwest face every day.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:01 amDean,
who the hell is they? What country are you thinking of when you make those sweeping generalizations and stereotypes?
September 14th, 2009 at 10:02 am