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Conference Saturday on the wall

Avalanche staff

ReViva Collective is hosting the Big Bend Border Wall Conference on Saturday (May 17) from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. at the Alpine Civic Center, 801 W. Holland.

The conference is designed to bring together perspectives and information about the construction of the Texas-Mexico border wall, as defined by the Secure Fence Act.

Conference speakers include:

€ Dr. Mark Saka, history professor at Sul Ross, who will speak on "Economic and Social Origins of Increased Mexican Migration to the United States"

€ Border Patrol Chief John Smietana and Deputy Carry Huffman, who will give a presentation on the proposed plan for the border wall in the Marfa sector

€ A Texas RioGrande Legal Aid representative who will be available to advise landowners

€ Enrique Madrid of Redford, who will present a discussion on the militarization of the border. Madrid, a historian and a founding member of the Texas Historical Commission's Texas Archeological Stewardship Network, has been deeply involved with the history of the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border.

He has a particular interest in the 1997 slaying of Ezequiel Hernandez Jr., an 18-year-old who was herding goats and was shot by a U.S. Marine patrolling against drug smugglers.

€ Nat Stone, who will speak on how inequitable water distribution between the United States and Mexico has compromised Mexican ranching and agriculture, consequently reducing security on both sides of the border. Stone is an activist and documentary filmmaker who has done extensive research on water issues concerning the Rio Grande.

€ Bill Addington, who will speak on environmental issues and the importance of community organization.

The Sierra Blanca landowner, together with the Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund and others, helped to defeat a proposal to bring low-level nuclear waste to Hudspeth County. Since the early 1980s, Addington has fought proposals to dump sewage sludge and radioactive waste near his home. More recently, he has focused on groundwater export proposals and population growth in the region.

In addition, two organized strategy planning sessions will be held along with a screening of footage documenting the history of the Border Wall and the people resisting it.

For more information contact ReViva Collective at revivacollective@gmail.com or 432-837-5736.

Here's the day's hour-by-hour schedule:

10 to 11 a.m. -- Saka

11 a.m. to noon -- Border Patrol Chief Smietana

Noon to 1 p.m. -- lunch

1 to 2 p.m. -- Strategy and planning

2 to 3 p.m. -- Madrid

3 to 4 p.m. -- Stone

4 to 5 p.m. -- Strategy and planning

5 to 6 p.m. -- Bill Addington

Breakfast and a light lunch will be served to those attending.

Much covered in Clouse's last turn