This discussion should come as no surprise to those of us who feel we have been tricked; bamboozled; snowed; and just plain lied to over the Project Jupiter debacle.

This ongoing story is about what’s happening in my neighborhood in tiny San Miguel, 14 miles or so south of Las Cruces on Highway 28. Three and a half miles north of Chope’s.

This story is about a man of indeterminate origin and citizenship status who has recreated a slum worthy of the poorest neighborhoods in Mexican cities. But what I know about this will be discussed in another post, focused on specifically the question, Who IS Pablo Cardona Martinez REALLY?

Right now, this story isn’t even so much about the 50+ dogs he had in his compound. Right now, the story is about questions like Why has this problem been going on for six years. Six Years. 72 months. 365 days times 6 years plus a random leap year is 2192 counting 2 leap days. Two thousand, one hundred, ninety-two days of not knowing what will happen next because there is no control over what Martinez allows his dogs to do. What he does: He’s already threatened to shoot me.

I’ve already talked about the destruction so it’s time to talk about how the laws are not enforceable. Yesterday after court, the former ACO who brought the original case said, We can’t MAKE him do it; we can fine him till he’s bankrupt but we can’t MAKE him do it. I wondered: Do they collect those fines? Or do they just pile up?

But what is it we want him to “Do?” Follow the law but not having 50+ dogs? By having them vetted and chipped? By treating them like the companion animals they actually are? By not letting them run wild all over the neighborhood? Aghast I said: But it’s the LAW!!! He shrugged. For six years he has been slogging through this.

What happens in our neighborhood is not the dogs’ “fault” because dogs are dogs; but they are dangerous when allowed to run in packs. Imagine walking your dog in the cool night of the Southern New Mexico summer and four or five dogs come charging at you down the berm with the speed of a loaded freight train just as you are coming up to your own property. What do you do? Above all, you can’t let them get into a dog fight with your girl.

Finally, tired of the 3rd attempted intimidation out of four nights running, I kept my girl close and charged them. Unsure of what to do in the face of this unexpected behavior, they ran home.

These things are happening; I have reported them. Why are they allowed to continue? Why is there no legal relief for the victims, the people who lived in this neighborhood sometimes long before he came? Why is the cost of defending and protecting our properties, our pets trivial in comparison? Comparison to what? That is a very good question.

#WhoSpeaksForTheVictimsLasCruces