Fake documents draw new scrutiny at border

YUMA — Authorities are now charging border crossers with identity theft if the Border Patrol catches them crossing the San Luis port of entry with fake documents.

The policy began in January and has since netted 118 people, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix. Each of them was charged with a federal misdemeanor.

The Yuma Sun reports that the most frequent fake documents include crossing cards, visas and passports from abroad. In a few instances, the documents are fake U.S. documents.

Check out the Sun for the full story here. To surf more Arizona headlines, use our interactive map here.

Workers escape unscathed from border shooting

ARIVACA LAKE — Three government employees who were scouting this area for a land-access project were fired upon last week by a group of unidentified men wearing camouflage, according to press reports.

The employees worked for the Arizona Game and Fish department and Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation. They reportedly were in an area 15 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border and eight miles east of Interstate 19 when the incident occurred.

While riding ATVs, the employees came upon at least four Hispanic men in camouflage clothing, who scattered upon seeing them. Two of the men reportedly shot at one of the employees and missed him by about 10 feet, according to the Green Valley News & Sun.

The employees left the area and notified the authorities. Border Patrol units arrived in 45 minutes.

For the full story, check out the News & Sun here.

Border fence contractor faces $8.7M lawsuit

NEAR LUKEVILLE — A local convenience store owner is suing the company hired by the U.S. government to build Arizona’s portion of the border fence, claiming it owes the store money for overdue storage and water use fees in connection with the project.

The lawsuit in Pima County Superior Court comes from Gringo Pass Inc., whose convenience store is the last stop before crossing from Arizona into Mexico at the Lukeville port-of-entry.

According to the complaint, a lawyer for Gringo Pass claims the company entered into a verbal agreement with Kiewit Southwest Co. that would allow the company to park its vehicles and equipment on the convenience store’s property during the construction project. That project called for building a 5.2-mile fence through the region for $21.3 million, according to press reports.

In July 2008, the fence swamped the border and local businesses. Officials for Organ Pipe National Monument released a 17-page report that claimed the fence had design flaws that turned it into a man-made dam while monsoon storms swept through, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star.

In its complaint, Gringo Pass blames the project for causing $6 million in damages to its property. As a result, the company is asking Pima County Superior Court Judge John Davis for a $6 million award.

It also claims Kiewit did not pay about four months worth of rent for space and more than 4 million gallons of water. The company is asking the judge to award it more than $2.7 million in connection with those fees, plus 10 percent interest per year.

Tucson lawyers Joel L. Herz and Russell B. Stowers are representing Gringo Pass. To download a copy of the complaint, click here.

Customs agent sues DHS after search

YUMA — A Customs and Border Protection agent is suing the Department of Homeland Security, claiming other agents violated his constitutional rights during a recent search of his home.

In a court complaint filed Friday in federal court in Phoenix, Jimmy Slaughter, a K-9 handler at the San Luis port of entry, claims the agents entered his house last July without a search warrant while looking for a woman whose mail had been coming to Cook’s house for five years, according to press reports.

The Yuma Sun posted this story on the case yesterday. In it, Cook is quoted as saying in an affidavit:

“I was at home with my wife when the doorbell rang. I opened the door and noticed approximately seven uniformed ICE agents with vests and guns standing at my door. I could only see three unmarked cars in front of my home.

“I said what is up fellas? Not having a clue as to what was happening. The lead agent stated that, ‘We have received information that Guadalupe Uolla is residing at the residence.’ I opened the door to look at the paperwork and five entered my house.”

The Sun mentions this exchange after Slaughter’s wife, Shiela, was made to stand in the middle of the room:

“That is when I stated I was a K-9 handler at the port of entry. All of the agents stopped in their tracks looking at each other and the lead agent asked, ‘You are?’ I could tell they were confused and I asked to look at their file on the subject they were after.”

None of the sources interviewed by the Sun offered any comment. Check out the Sun’s story for more information.

Mexican trucker sues Pinal County sheriff

CASA GRANDE — It was the second stop that did it. And it was the same sheriff’s deputy.

As a result, Sergio Ornelas Cruz is suing Pinal County and Sheriff Paul Babeu for negligence and intimidation because of the actions of one of his deputies, Ken Bouldin.

Their story began on Interstate 10 near Eloy in January 2008. That’s when Ornelas, a Mexican citizen with NAFTA credentials that allow him to ship goods across the U.S.-Mexico border, was bringing a load from Agua Prieta, Mexico, and was stopped short of the Phoenix area by Bouldin.

According to his court complaint, Ornelas gave Bouldin his title, registration, driving logs, health certificate and insurance information, along with his border permits and related paperwork. But Bouldin detained him anyway and confiscated his truck and log books – a trucker’s lifeline.

Several hours later, Bouldin took Ornelas to a federal immigration office for processing, where he was released without his truck.

In May 2008, Ornelas was driving another load from Agua Prieta to Phoenix through the Eloy/Casa Grande area, according to the court complaint. Around 9:30 a.m., he was stopped by deputy Bouldin.

Ornelas claims he reminded Bouldin that he had stopped him a few months back, and that all of his paperwork was in order. Still, Bouldin detained him for two hours, shackled his legs and hands and left him in the front seat of his squad car while he impounded Ornelas’ truck and log books.

He took Ornelas to a federal immigration detention center in Florence, where he was released. But this time, authorities released Ornelas to Bouldin.

Ornelas claims Bouldin promptly drove him to a gas station near Casa Grande and abandoned him there. When he asked for his log book, Ornelas claims Bouldin drove off.

“Both of these stops left Mr. Ornelas terrified and fearful of the conduct of Arizona law enforcement officials,” the complaint states.

Now Ornelas is seeking compensatory damages and other costs from the county and the sheriff’s department. He is represented by Tucson lawyers Ted A. Schmidt and Dev K. Sethi.

Budget squabbles singe rural firefighters

SONOITA — As chief of the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District in Santa Cruz County, Joseph De Wolf oversees the response to everything from large wildfires to rollover accidents involving speeding trucks full of illegal migrants.

He does it all on a budget of only $890,000 – not enough to meet the challenges he confronts every day, he says.

“We’re under a huge amount of financial pressure right now,” De Wolf says. “I don’t have what I need to cover my area.”

De Wolf has other pressures to contend against as well. For more than a year, he and others in the county have been battling a lawsuit from local residents that protests the formation of the fire district two years ago, and the additional property taxes the district imposes on homeowners.

The lawsuit is just one example of the growing dissatisfaction across Arizona with the state’s fire district assistance tax. Fire districts provide both fire suppression and emergency medical services for many residents outside of major metropolitan areas.

Over five years, levies for the state’s nearly 160 fire districts have grown by 129 percent, an average of 26 percent per year since 2003, according to the Arizona Tax Research Association. That’s more than three times the rate of growth for total property tax levies over the same period.

“The one jurisdiction that has aggravated taxpayers more than any other are the fire districts,” says Kevin McCarthy, executive director of the Arizona Tax Research Association. “Fire districts have flat-out abused taxpayers throughout the state.”

Most property taxes in the state are capped at an overall growth rate of 2 percent per year. Yet under state law, fire districts have no cap on their year-to-year growth, and are free to raise levies up to a maximum rate of $3.25 per $1,000 in home valuation.

Unrestrained by law, many fire districts took advantage of soaring property values to raise levies far beyond the growth rate of other taxes.

Anti-tax activists such as Marc Goldstone, chairman of the Arizona Tax Revolt, a voter initiative that would cap property tax increases for all tax districts at two 2 percent per year, have used fire districts as the “poster child” of property taxes gone out of control.

Neither the Arizona Tax Revolt, nor a similar initiative, Proposition 13, made the 2008 ballot after failing to collect enough voter signatures. But if their supporters regroup for 2010 and are successful in curbing the powers of tax districts, the fiscal impact will be severe for rural fire chiefs.

“If Prop 13 goes through, I would anticipate that fire district funding would probably decrease by at least a third or one-half,” says Rick Southey, Bullhead City fire chief and president of the Arizona Fire Districts Association. “There’s no way around it. Services will be cut.”

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Both initiatives would rein in the taxing powers of special districts, and rely on differing formulas to achieve that end. Proposition 13 would roll property values back to 2002 levels, and cap further increases at two 2 percent annually. The Arizona Tax Revolt proposition, while also rolling back property valuations and capping tax increases, would further require a two-thirds majority vote for any taxing entity to raise future property levies.

The Arizona Tax Research Association, under the leadership of Kevin McCarthy, opposed both of last year’s property tax initiatives. But he has lobbied the legislature to curb the taxing power of fire districts.

With voter anger mounting, the state legislature may ultimately take the matter into its own hands, and pass legislation along the same lines of the initiatives. Unless some action is taken, enough voters may ultimately be swayed to approve a radical anti-tax initiative, regardless of the consequences.

“When they get irritated enough, they don’t care what the impacts are going to be of some of these measures,” McCarthy says. “If Prop 13, or something like it passes, [fire districts] should view it as a self-inflicted wound.”

The impacts of any major restriction of fire districts’ taxing powers would likely fall disproportionately on the state’s poorer regions. With local property values well below those of wealthier areas, these districts are already struggling to provide an acceptable level of service. Rolling property tax valuations back to 2002 levels would be particularly devastating.

“How are we going to maintain our labor and our growing call volume?” asks chief De Wolf. “How can I pay wages that are competitive when I’m working off a budget that’s six years old?”

De Wolf says he must already rely on volunteer help to provide services to the 2,000 homes and 3,000 residents in his district. Spread over 350 square miles, the region is home to Arizona’s wine country, and its rolling hillsides are increasingly dotted by “cowboy mansions” built by the retired ultra-rich.

But as volunteers are called on to assist with car rollovers and other gruesome incidents, this solution is proving problematic.

“When people volunteer, they volunteer to help with the grandma who fell and broke her hip,” De Wolf says. “They don’t volunteer to come onto a scene with an overturned truck full of illegals with massive head injuries.”

As for the lawsuit against De Wolf and other county officials, its outcome is yet to be resolved.

Nevertheless, this November, voters in Santa Cruz County voted by an overwhelming margin against dissolving the Sonoita-Elgin fire district, dealing a significant blow to the lawsuit’s backers.

As a result, many of the lawsuit’s supporters have dropped out. Yet Tom Pescod, an area veterinarian and the lead plaintiff in the case, is carrying on – and still demanding $1 million in compensation.

“It’s a nice number,” he told opposing attorneys in a court deposition. Pescod did not respond to TZR’s numerous requests for comment.

On the state level, anger against high property taxes may be slow to dissipate. Even as property values plummet, relief from fire district taxes may still take some time. This year’s taxes will be based on 2007 property values – well before the big plunge seen in 2008.

“Taxpayers won’t see increases,” McCarthy says. “But they’re not likely to see a lot of relief.”

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Border Patrol faces lawsuit over fatal shooting

DOUGLAS — A Mexican couple claims a U.S. Border Patrol agent maliciously shot and killed their son as he tried to cross illegally into the United States with a group of Mexican nationals, according to a recent lawsuit.

The nine-page complaint comes from Renato Ariza Dominguez and Maria Clara Leonor Rivera Cordero. They are suing the Border Patrol agent, Nicholas William Corbett, in federal court in Tucson on behalf of their son, Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera.

In January 2007, the couple claims, Dominguez Rivera was traveling with three other Mexican nationals near the U.S.-Mexico border outside of Douglas, Ariz. The National Guard stationed at the border notified Border Patrol agents about illegal immigrants crossing the border, and agent Corbett was dispatched to apprehend them.

Around 3:15 p.m., Corbett caught and arrested three men and loaded them into his patrol vehicle. The complaint says he drove off after another group, which included Dominguez Rivera.

His family alleges that Corbett nearly hit the group with his vehicle. Then he hopped out and ordered the four illegal immigrants to kneel. Dominguez Rivera was attempting to kneel when Corbett shot him dead through the chest.

The complaint says Corbett told his supervisors that he shot Dominguez Rivera in self-defense because he confronted him with a rock. But the other witnesses gave a conflicting account of events when interviewed individually, according to the complaint.

Lawyers for Dominguez Rivera’s parents are suing Corbett on these grounds. They also accuse the Border Patrol of negligently allowing Corbett to remain on the job despite a history of violent behavior. However, the agency is not named as a defendant in the case.

The Dominguez Rivera family is represented by Richard J. Gonzales in Tucson and Federico Castelan Sayre, Kent M. Henderson and Michael J. Carey in Santa Ana, Calif.

Sheriff’s official implicated in drug-smuggling case

BISBEE — Federal prosecutors have called on the former commander of the Cochise County Jail to testify in the upcoming trial of an alleged leader of a Mexican drug smuggling organization.

Ron Hager, 54, who abruptly resigned in November 2007 as Bureau Chief of the Detention Division – the third highest-ranking position within Cochise County law enforcement – was served with the subpoena earlier this fall.

Hager has not been charged with any crime, but the subpoena suggests a previously undisclosed relationship with Carlos “El Caliche” Molinares-Nunez, a Mexican national who will soon stand trial on multiple charges related to his role as the alleged leader of a marijuana smuggling operation.

Hager’s wife, Eugenia Aguirre, a former employee of the Cochise County Jail, has also been called to testify in the Molinares-Nunez trial, which begins Jan. 9 in U.S. District Court in Tucson.

According to a report in Benson’s San Pedro Valley News-Sun newspaper, which first broke the news of Hager’s involvement in the Molinares-Nunez case, Hager is the target of a public corruption investigation by the FBI. The information about the corruption probe was attributed to Anthony Coulson, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s assistant agent in charge in Tucson.

In an interview, Coulson would not confirm that Hager was the target of an FBI probe. But he did say that the subpoena raised troubling questions about Hager’s potential relationship with Molinares-Nunez.

“It’s absolutely of concern,” Coulson says. He also did not rule out a possible future indictment of Hager.

Molinares-Nunez was apprehended in December 2006 during Operation Vanquish, a joint operation between the DEA, FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Bisbee Police Department.

At the time, DEA Spceial Agent in Charge Timothy J. Landrum said, “Operation Vanquish’ identified and dismantled a violent criminal enterprise responsible for smuggling and distributing multi-ton loads of marijuana into Southern Arizona.”

Molinares-Nunez – whose nickname, “El Caliche,” refers to the rock-hard surface covering parts of the Sonoran Desert – represents a major catch for counter-narcotics enforcement along the border, Coulson says.

“He’s obviously very significant,” he says. “He’s committed a number of crimes; he has a number of people working for him in an organization.”

Shortly after his arrest in 2006, arsonists – presumably from a rival gang – destroyed Molinares-Nunez’s lavish house in Naco, Sonora, federal prosecutors say.

Molinares-Nunez faces life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges against him, which include conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana, and continuing a criminal enterprise – a statute used against organized crime figures.

With the indictment against Molinarez-Nunez sealed, no further information related to the case is publicly available, says a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix.

But the report of Hager’s potential involvement with an alleged organized crime figure has generated political fallout for Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, who promoted Hager to jail commander.

According to published reports, DEA agents approached Dever in October 2007 to ask for assistance with an investigation of Hager, and Dever maintains that shortly thereafter he terminated Hager’s employment. He has also repeatedly stated that his first indication of possible trouble with Hager was when he was approached by the DEA in late 2007.

Yet a former high-ranking deputy in the Sheriff’s department disputes Dever’s portrayal of events.

Lance Crosthwait, who says he and Dever were once “best friends,” was appointed chief deputy – the department’s second-highest position – by Dever in 2004.

Interviewed by phone, Crosthwait says that he first brought concerns about Hager’s behavior to Dever’s attention as far back as 2005. Dever’s claim that he knew nothing about possible misconduct by Hager until approached by the DEA is simply not true, he says.

“I told him time and time again that there was something there, but the Sheriff looked the other way,” Crosthwait says. “I said there were some serious problems… I told him exactly what was going on.”

Crosthwait would not elaborate on precisely what Hager did to arouse suspicions within the department, but says that it did not involve specific knowledge of criminal acts.

Dever, who has served as sheriff since 1996, declined repeated requests for an interview but issued a brief statement via email.

“All of you need to pay attention to the fact that Ron Hager has not been charged with, nor accused of any wrongdoing. He has simply been subpoenaed as a witness in a closed case,” Dever wrote. “I have no more information than that, and nothing more to say. The fact that he no longer works for me is my prerogative.”

Dever’s political adversaries have seized upon the Hager controversy to call into question whether personal loyalty or other considerations clouded the sheriff’s judgment as a law enforcement officer.

Norm Bradley, a Democrat who challenged Dever, a Republican, in the November election and lost, has more than 30 years of experience in counter-narcotic. He served as deputy assistant commissioner for air and marine interdiction for the U.S. Customs Service, and as a staff member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He also worked briefly for Dever in the mid-90s, but resigned after four years.

Bradley contends that Dever was running the sheriff’s office like a “fiefdom,” and that concerns about Hager were handled based on personal and political considerations.

“Where things start going awry is when the operational interests start to be overcome by political interests,” Bradley says.

Bradley says departmental records show that Hager was not fired, but allowed to resign voluntarily. After that, he became the administrator of a jail complex in The Dalles, Ore., then resigned after being subpoenaed in the Molinares-Nunez case.

Bradley and others question how Hager could have secured the high-ranking position in Oregon while being investigated by the FBI and lacking a positive recommendation from Dever, his direct supervisor.

Dever, however, has denied giving Hager assistance in finding his new job. And despite persistent criticism over his handling of Hager, Dever won re-election handily in conservative-leaning Cochise County with about 60 percent of the vote.

Earlier this year, Dever survived a challenge in the Republican primary from Bill Cloud, a retired investigator from the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Cloud worked for the Border Alliance Group, a multi-agency counter-narcotics task force headquartered at the Cochise County Sheriff’s department, which shares a building with the Cochise County Jail in Bisbee.

Cloud says that it was common knowledge that Eugenia Aguirre, who Hager married sometime in 2006, was a family member of Molinares-Nunez.

Given the circumstances, when subordinates raised questions about Hager’s activities, Dever should have taken action, Cloud says.

“This is a small community – a border town, no less,” he says. “The law enforcement community is pretty tight-knit. The sheriff should have known that these activities were going on.”

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>>Email the editor at aklaw@zoniereport.com.

Lawsuit raises stink over sewer line

NOGALES — The city and its attorney, who developed a convenience store, are using their bureaucratic powers to stymie a competing project by not allowing it to hook up to the local sewer system, a recent court complaint claims.

The bizarre case in Santa Cruz County Superior Court involves allegations of small-town politicking, a potential conflict-of-interest and the lucrative business of selling gas and groceries just north of the Mexico border. If the claims are true, the case could paint the Nogales City Attorney’s Office in a bad light.

The complaint comes from Sherman Montgomery and Puchi Properties Inc., who own 1 acre just north of the U.S.-Mexico border along the southbound lanes of State Route 189. Joe Machado, the new City Attorney, developed a convenience store in the area as well.

In 1991, the city installed a sewer line there. At the time, Machado’s project was using it to discharge waste from the store and eventually tried to claim ownership of the line, the complaint claims. A judge ruled otherwise, but the City Council eventually divested itself of the sewer line in a closed session that violated the state’s Open Meetings laws, the complaint states.

But Machado’s business kept using it, it claims. And since then, Machado has become the City Attorney – whose office has direct influence over the sewer line ownership issues. Montgomery claims he has been told the sewer line is no longer operable, even though Machado’s old business is still using it, the complaint claims.

Montgomery says he has spent $100,000 to develop his property into a competing convenience store. But so far, he claims he has been unable to hook up the toilet due to city policies and Machado’s influence.

He is suing for compensatory and punitive damages in federal court. He is represented by Tucson lawyer Robert F. Kuhn.

Verbal jabs fly at ‘immigration solutions’ forum

PHOENIX — Audience members at an “Immigration Solutions Forum” held at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication found that their keynote event was a little short on, well, solutions.

The forum was the first sponsored by Voices for Civil Dialogue, a 5-month-old initiative that aims to address complex public policy issues locally through guided “dialogue and deliberation.”

The project is the brainchild of former Congressional candidate Annie Lloyd, who said the purpose of the forum was to “look for a common ground” and to “gain insight, understanding, and to learn together.”

The problem was not a shortage of citizens looking for insight. Thirty minutes before the forum began, the lecture hall buzzed steadily as a patchwork crowd of teachers, teachers, political interns, students, and neighbors assembled and quickly filled the empty seats.

Mesa resident Jerry Heikens said he was most interested in the humanitarian aspect of the immigration situation. He hoped the forum addressed issues like sex trafficking across the border.

Carmen Mercer, vice president for volunteer border patrol group Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, was also looking for answers about physical and sexual abuse, and said she “seconded” Heikens’ call for education “on both sides of the border.”

José Olagues, a reverend at the Presbytery of Grand Canyon in Phoenix, said he was pushing for reform of an immigration policy system that has been “broken for years.” He wanted discussion of family reunification and “humane treatment” of unauthorized citizens.

Karen Wilson said she came to find out how to develop “unequivocal respect” between those squabbling over approaches to such a contentious issue.

Only Wilson got what she came for.

For the better part of two hours, the seven-member panel skirted proposal of actual solutions in favor of discussing how to come up with a solution.

Panel members Johndennis Govert, Genoveva Acosta-Bueno, and Ron Wakabayashi all underscored the importance of looking at the issue in the context of a larger framework. They highlighted the need to truly understand the forces of globalization and diversity before being able to communicate about immigration effectively.

Deedra Abboud, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation of Arizona, began by defining effective communication itself.

“The biggest misconception about communication is the belief that it actually happens,” she said. “We think because words come out of our mouths it means that we’ve communicated. But communication is also listening, responding, validating.”

Abboud also warned against the danger of acting based on assumptions, including those that stem from racial or ethnic stereotypes.

“Look at me,” she said, “I’m Muslim, I’ve had many people tell me to ‘go back where I came from.’ And I’m from Arkansas! Misinformation doesn’t help anyone.”

Sheridan Bailey, founder of Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform, said he believes such a tendency to pigeonhole originates at a very primitive level of human nature. When we’re responding to other cultures, he said, “our physical constitution automatically reacts to things that are different as a threat.”

This tendency can greatly hinder decision-making in regard to immigration, he said, when the mere idea of undocumented immigrants having a “place at the table” in negotiation “enflames those who are threatened by the exaggeration of a ‘cultural invasion.’”

Jean Tennyson, president of Navigating Our Future (NOF), agreed. “Humans are wired for survival,” she said. “When we feel we or those we love are threatened, we fight back.”

But Tennyson did not see this as an excuse to exclude immigrants in constructive dialogue. Rather, she emphasized overcoming such instinctive resistance and making sure all “stakeholders” are represented.

Julie Erfle said she became one such stakeholder in the immigration issue “suddenly” and “not by choice.” Erfle began actively working with politicians, law enforcement, and church leaders after her husband, Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle, was shot and killed last September by an undocumented immigrant.

In discussing her work, she was the only panel member who ventured into a projected solution, albeit briefly.

“When you talk to law enforcement, they aren’t looking for amnesty,” she said. “What they’re talking about is legalization. People pay upwards of $3,000 to coyotes,” she said, referring to individuals specializing in smuggling people across the border. “Many law enforcement officials have suggested that, instead of paying $3,000 to a coyote, the federal government take that $3,000 and use it to implement a guest worker plan so people can come over legally to work.”

The crowd quickly came unraveled at Erfle’s suggestion.

“Whether you call it legalization, amnesty, it’s the same thing, and $3,000 won’t help unless there is enforcement on both sides,” said a woman in the audience who introduced herself as Sandy.

Her voice rising, she said she was frustrated with a nation who seemed to ignore the fact that undocumented immigrants are a “total Pandora’s box.”

As Sandy began attacking the panel for doing the same, moderators abruptly cut her off, reminding her that the purpose of the dialogue was to respectfully explore the decision-making process, not fight about specific past or future policy decisions.

That didn’t stop Heikens from standing up and bluntly asking if the issues he cared about – coyote exploitation of immigrants, slavery, and human trafficking – would actually be addressed.

They were not. The question-and-answer session ended with hands still in the air and an almost palpable tension.

After the session, most audience members lingered, forming small groups to discuss their views – views they felt had largely been ignored. But Annie Lloyd, who planned the event and handpicked the panelists, was not upset.

“Tonight was not about solutions, it was about a beginning,” she said. The goal was to “address how to create opportunities for expanding civic engagement,” and the fact that panelists’ comments got the audience thinking and questioning meant the forum was a success, even if those questions went unanswered, she said.

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