Farm Hands Threatened......

There is little doubt of increased unease on Texas border farms.  Most brazen among the reported confrontations occurred earlier this year on the sugarcane field near Rio Grande City.  A Hidalgo County employee was similarly threatened by three men along the border river to stop clearing brush near a canal, last month. Last weekend, on a ranch adjacent to land owned by country music star George Strait, a ranch foreman was shot at by men inside a pickup truck who were found trespassing. The foreman returned fire, and no one was hurt. It is said that farmers are scared to speak out.  The Rio Grande Valley is largely farmland, making it an almost necessary route for drug smugglers. The border fence built in the last few years doesn't run through all the farms, and even farmers with the fence worry about their safety while cultivating their crops between the fence and rivers. It is getting worse, and even some people who's families live down in Mexico are worried about visiting across the border because of the danger.