NOGALES' TEENS-AGERS HELP IMPROVE LIFE IN THE BORDER TOWN

Juntos Unidos works with local city officials.

In late November, Children's Express published a group of stories about the border town, Nogales, Ariz. The following story is part of that series.

In the past few years, Nogales has been plagued by many problems, most stemming from its location across the border from Nogales, Mexico.

Besides being a major drug trafficking spot, Nogales' sewers have recently been overtaken by a gang of homeless children, most immigrating to the United States illegally.

Local authorities have attempted to curb the problem by installing steel grates, but the effect has been minimal. Environmental, crime, gang, and drug problems have been rapidly increasing and, for many residents, the situation is beginning to look hopeless.

To many residents of Nogales, Ariz., the town's problems seem unconquerable.

Many people feel that things have been neglected for so long that, like a run-down house, they are now beyond repair.

But a few organizations and people, including teen-agers, remain hopeful.

Since October 1991, Juntos Unidos (United Together) and Young America Cares/4-H have been working with teens in Nogales to develop leadership skills, become more aware of local issues and develop solutions.

Their skills and learning seem to be paying off. In January 1994, they took on the City Council.

Nogales, Ariz., was considering instituting a teen curfew as a reaction to the increase in teen crime rate.

Ariel Ochoa, 17, was the first member of Juntos Unidos to hear of these plans. He informed the rest of his group. He then invited a D.A.R.E. officer who had told him about the plan to share his information with the students at his high school.

"We brought together a group of individuals who were concerned about what the curfew was going to consist of, and what the rules and regulations were going to be," he said.

"We wanted to come up with a compromise as to how we could work with the curfew yet not limit the freedom of kids, who choose to stay straight and stay in school and basically be good kids."

Juntos Unidos members then sponsored a public forum at the high school, focusing on alternatives to the curfew.

"(The City Council) thought it was going to help to prevent gang activity in the city," said Bibi Lopez, 17, another member. "But it actually wasn't going to work, so we came up with a different idea and substitutions for the curfew."

One idea was a teen hotline. Another was a neighborhood watch.

"All I basically did was confront the City Council and told them, `You're going about this wrong, and there are some activities that will work to solve your problems,'" Lopez said.

"We had the alternatives written down, outlined and the costs estimated," said Richard Saspe, 18, who was one of the leaders of the student committee, "We talked it to death, and finally they just said, `Tell us what you want.'

"We always tried to be very professional in our methods. And we're not the kind of youth group who, like, holds strikes and walk out of school. We channel through the existing government agencies."

"They were surprised," said Lopez, "really surprised. At first, (they thought), `Oh, it's a bunch of kids that don't know what they're talking about.'

Their professionalism paid off. The council dropped the curfew idea, and several of the suggested solutions have already been instituted, including the crime hotline and school-safe zones. They're also working on a mentoring program for at-risk high school students.

Two Juntos Unidos members, Mindee Padilla and Ismari Garcia, both 15, were selected to attend a citizenship workshop in Washington, D.C., sponsored by 4- H Young America Cares.

Two other members, Ariel and Gabriel Kory, 17, are on the Governor's Youth Commission Against Drugs.

Juntos Unidos has also requested assistance from the City Council in restricting signs that are often posted in schools, attempting to attract underage drinkers to Mexican bars. The fliers, signs and banners include: tequila shots two for one; beers, $1; $10, all you can drink.

These teens believe there are still many changes that need to be made.

Children's Express asked a few of the members to share their opinions on how to solve pressing local issues.

ON GANGS

ARIEL: Police officers are very willing to do their job, and they're willing to take these kids in for having committed crimes and doing the things that they do, but this is an issue that transcends the city limits. It's something that has to do with the federal government and applying pressure on the Mexican government and saying, "We need some help here."

RICHARD: Nogales is at a point where we could go either way with this gang problem. . . . We're at the point where we could get these potential neighborhood gangs to do something good for their neighborhoods. I think that agencies, such as Juntos Unidos, coordinate those efforts in that direction.

The problem with the "tunnel rats" now is that when they (city officials) installed the grates, they had SWAT teams covering them, and still we get bad press in the Arizona papers about the police not being able to do anything about it. We don't have the equipment to stop the crime. . . .

These are very smart kids, believe it or not. If they commit a misdemeanor crime, such as breaking a window in one of these businesses, which happens very often, the police take them. They're in a nice warm bed, get three meals a day and then they get shipped back. It's a question of survival.

ARIEL: But I think the problem is much more than just having our kids under our streets. It's something that has to do with the social structure of two sister cities, but them being so different from each other. Again, I think it all goes back to the political structure of both cities and how it seems to be in Mexico, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

RICHARD: What concerns me is that there has been little responsibility taken for environmental problems. Right now, . . . there is so much stuff they're putting into our water. I mean people living in makeshift houses across the line are having all kinds of birth defects.

It is not just a problem of Nogales. As you know we have a sister city across the line, and the Santa Cruz River flows from south to north, so whatever they do affects us directly.

So, first of all, we have to establish some lines of communication. That's what our leaders have been trying to do for 10, 20 years or more. . . . We have to find sound, efficient, natural ways of solving this problem. One way is probably plant filtration or something like that.

ARIEL: I think that the key problem has arisen due to . . . the commonplace idea that the way that we treat nature or the way we dispose of things, human waste, won't catch up with us. I think Nogales is a prime example that it will. . . . It's a problem that goes beyond the city limits.

ON DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE

RICHARD: Even a lot of the people at school that we know traffick drugs across the border. I mean, it's a joke at the school: "I need money; hey, you know, get a car and go to Tucson. It's 60 miles north of here, and you got a couple thousand dollars in your pocket."

ARIEL: In this community, there's a big distinction that alcohol is OK, it's not a drug, it's OK to drink it and as long as it's alcohol, you're fine, but if you get into any other kind of drug, it's bad.

I think that's where we need to turn around and maybe take a look at that and say alcohol is a drug, and alcohol is affecting the greatest population of our youth in this community. It's now become habit. You could call it a ritual to go across the line and get a drink because it's there.

It's real baffling because you see parents letting their kids go across, number one, knowing that they are going to go across into an establishment that serves alcohol to minors. That's a mindset that we need to eradicate.

RICHARD: I mean, people go across the line, not because it's easy to get alcohol, but because they're not offered another alternative. I don't want to be part of that group of people in the city that cry and say there's nothing to do so we'll go across the line. But I think when you offer people an alternative they might take it.

An example is Operation Graduation. I recently graduated and was faced with decision: Should I party across the line, get drunk, and I probably won't remember anything, or should I go to this Operation Graduation.

I went, and maybe, like, 500 people showed up. And it was the best decision I could have made because I was able to have fun with my friends, I was able to have fun with some of the teachers that were there, I was able to have fun with some of the adults, parents that were there.

ARIEL: I think we've done some projects which have brought about some progress.

The idea to tell children "don't do this, don't do that," I differ with because when you tell a child or you tell me don't do that, I'm going to try my hardest to do what you told me not to do.

EDITED BY: Amber Bollman, 15 ASSISTANT EDITOR: Justin Klemann, 15