California Borders

I am writing in response to the continuing series "American Family: On the Road With the Sipchens." I find it refreshing to be reminded that the United States extends beyond the California borders. It is also enlightening to be able to glimpse the many similarities and differences we Californians have with the rest of the country. However, it was not an article about any particular experience or person encountered on the journey that prompted this letter. It was the article "Yes, They're Alive, Well and Happy--So There" (July 14)

Firefighters have made progress in containing the Topaz Ranch Estates fire in rural Nevada near the California border, increasing the containment area to 15%, officials said Thursday. The fire has consumed more than 7,000 acres and is being fought by 575 personnel, officials said. Full containment is expected Saturday. According to the Sierra Front Interagency fire office , officials believe the fire may have been caused by an illegal burn that wasn't properly extinguished.

The desert heat was rolling off California 62 in lazy, shimmering waves. Tourist Lyndon DeWitt was rolling just as lazily out of Arizona when he was unexpectedly waved down. The visitor from Keene, Tex., was directed to pull his camper truck over to a rickety-looking shack and stop behind a 30-foot motor home bearing Alaska plates. DeWitt watched in amazement at what happened next at this sleepy desert crossroads 210 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

A 6,600-acre Nevada wildfire burning near the California border was caused by people, fire officials announced Wednesday. Though the exact cause of the Topaz Ranch Estates fire is under investigation, it was ignited by humans, said Rita Ayers, Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center's fire information officer. “It was a private residence burning that exceeded the regulatory standards,” Ayers said, suggesting that a bonfire may have been the trigger. On Wednesday, a midday flyover showed that the blaze had more than doubled in size from the 3,000 acres reported earlier in the day. A national team -- experts able to handle complex, multi-jurisdictional fires -- has been deployed to assist the 450 firefighters assigned to the blaze, Ayers said.

It all seemed so innocent. California almond blossoms needed pollinating, so Texas beekeeper Mark Brady loaded 512 hives on a flatbed truck and sent them westward. But then California inspectors found suspicious-looking insects on the truck. The bees would be marooned in Blythe for eight days, victims of the state's latest insect villain--the much-feared imported fire ant.

Shall we deem this a snub, or a compliment? Shall we respond with a wounded sniffle? A haughty snort of amusement? Or shall we simply pretend that we're way too busy buffing our bodies and meditating over crystals and lunching with our agents to even give this piffling matter a thought? Maybe that last approach is the best. It'll prove that we're cool.

A 4.1 earthquake struck the California border region on Sunday, the latest of thousand of aftershocks from the Easter Sunday Mexicali temblor. The latest quake occurred at 8:53 a.m. about 33 miles from Mexicali. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The region has seen a series of aftershocks and triggered quakes since the massive 7.2 temblor, which was the largest in the region in nearly 20 years. The Mexicali quake that occurred April 4 caused more than $90 million on the California side of the border and killed two people in Mexico.

Along California's border with Mexico, the number of people caught crossing illegally has plummeted, a trickle compared to the hundreds of thousands arrested in Arizona. But to many residents and politicians in San Diego County, the international border remains a chaotic place overrun with illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. The common complaint here is that something must be done to tighten security. But is declaring a state of emergency the answer?

California would create its own border patrol of more than 1,000 officers and volunteers under a possible 2006 ballot initiative introduced Wednesday by conservative activists and a state assemblyman. The California Border Police Act was submitted to Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer for legal review Wednesday, the first step in getting it qualified for next year's June ballot.

Firefighters have made progress in containing the Topaz Ranch Estates fire in rural Nevada near the California border, increasing the containment area to 15%, officials said Thursday. The fire has consumed more than 7,000 acres and is being fought by 575 personnel, officials said. Full containment is expected Saturday. According to the Sierra Front Interagency fire office , officials believe the fire may have been caused by an illegal burn that wasn't properly extinguished.

A GPS collar plots the journey of the lone gray wolf — loping over mountains, through forests and across highways. The young male left his pack in northeastern Oregon in early September, setting out to find a mate and territory of his own. By the end of November, he had meandered 761 miles. Lately he has been lingering a day or two's trot from California. If OR7, as he is known, crosses the border, he will be the first wild wolf recorded in the Golden State since 1924. Even if he doesn't, the trek has made it evident that the return of the mythic native predator is imminent.

A 4.1 earthquake struck the California border region on Sunday, the latest of thousand of aftershocks from the Easter Sunday Mexicali temblor. The latest quake occurred at 8:53 a.m. about 33 miles from Mexicali. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The region has seen a series of aftershocks and triggered quakes since the massive 7.2 temblor, which was the largest in the region in nearly 20 years. The Mexicali quake that occurred April 4 caused more than $90 million on the California side of the border and killed two people in Mexico.

Back in the late 1990s, when illegal immigrants tramped across his ranch every day, Robert Maupin fortified his rickety fence with additional strands of wire. Then he added chain link fencing and ringed his 250-acre property with cameras. But every night he would encounter jagged holes in the fence and litter-strewn trails through his clusters of live oak trees. These days, the 70-year-old rancher still walks the fence every day with his three dogs, but there are no longer any holes to patch.

The methamphetamine laboratories that once plagued California's hinterlands and powered a national explosion of drug abuse have been replaced by an increasing supply from Mexico, U.S. law enforcement officials say. Methamphetamine production has surged south of the border, from Baja California ranches to the highlands of Michoacan to the industrial parks here in Mexico's second largest city, where authorities in January busted the largest laboratory ever discovered in the Americas.

Along California's border with Mexico, the number of people caught crossing illegally has plummeted, a trickle compared to the hundreds of thousands arrested in Arizona. But to many residents and politicians in San Diego County, the international border remains a chaotic place overrun with illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. The common complaint here is that something must be done to tighten security. But is declaring a state of emergency the answer?

Toughened by a life of just getting by, John and Judy Leikam say they'll believe change is coming to their desolate patch of scorched desert only when bulldozers begin to plow it under. The couple have lived in this tiny community of washboard roads, a few weathered trailers and a three-legged dog for 13 years, ever since they moved from Bullhead City, Ariz., to take care of Judy's ailing mom. "Who in the hell would want to live out here?" said John Leikam, 63, a heavy equipment operator.

A 6,600-acre Nevada wildfire burning near the California border was caused by people, fire officials announced Wednesday. Though the exact cause of the Topaz Ranch Estates fire is under investigation, it was ignited by humans, said Rita Ayers, Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center's fire information officer. “It was a private residence burning that exceeded the regulatory standards,” Ayers said, suggesting that a bonfire may have been the trigger. On Wednesday, a midday flyover showed that the blaze had more than doubled in size from the 3,000 acres reported earlier in the day. A national team -- experts able to handle complex, multi-jurisdictional fires -- has been deployed to assist the 450 firefighters assigned to the blaze, Ayers said.

"California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way," which opens Oct. 1 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, aims to dispel the myth that significant contributions by Californians during this period came mainly in art, architecture and high-design ceramics. Wendy Kaplan, head of the decorative arts and design department at the museum, calls them "the usual suspects. " By extending the scope of her new exhibition to furniture, graphic design, fashion, surfboards, even the Studebaker Avanti designed by Raymond Loewy, Kaplan is arguing that what flourished in the state, particularly after World War II, was in fact a much broader movement, one whose influence extended far beyond California's borders.

NEW PINE CREEK, Ore. (Or is it California?) -- This is a town strangely divided, a tiny slice of eccentricity along a lonely highway at the long-ignored edge of two neighboring states. Thanks to a surveyor's blunder more than a century ago, the California-Oregon border runs right through the middle of this unincorporated backcountry burg, home to 250 residents equally distributed on both sides of the state line. As a result, peculiar things happen in New Pine Creek.

California would create its own border patrol of more than 1,000 officers and volunteers under a possible 2006 ballot initiative introduced Wednesday by conservative activists and a state assemblyman. The California Border Police Act was submitted to Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer for legal review Wednesday, the first step in getting it qualified for next year's June ballot.