Respect our agents

To the editor,

The letter to the editor published in the Jan. 21, 2010, edition of the Hungry Horse News that denigrated our U.S. Border Patrol, and Supervisor Richard Johnston in particular, requires a response. I will not give any credibility to the author of that letter by mentioning his name in my own article correcting the record.

I will preface my remarks with mention of my credentials in my former career as an Aerospace engineer and Computer Scientist that required me to have a Top Secret Clearance with the U.S. Dept. of Defense. I also attended law school, and a Citizen Law Enforcement Academy in Colorado. Since retiring to Montana, I attended a Citizens Academy sponsored by the U.S. Border Patrol here in Whitefish.

The primary goal of this academy was to strengthen partnerships between the Border Patrol and ordinary citizens of border communities. We discussed national strategy, history, law enforcement, and derivation of legal authority.

Citizens gained hands-on exposure to some equipment, firearms training simulators, experience learning shoot or no-shoot scenarios, and the incorporation of weaponless hand-to-hand combat techniques.

We also reviewed the relationships between the Border Patrol and local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, as well as Canadian/American Customs and Port-of-Entry Agencies.

Richard Johnston was instrumental in developing the agenda and arranging for speakers for the academy program. Many guest speakers from various other agencies took part and made presentations that encompassed 20 hours over a five-week period.

The fact that members of the U.S. Border Patrol enjoy their job is fine with me. After all, they are risking their lives to preserve and protect our American way of life. If they can take some solace in finding enjoyment in driving SUVs, ATVs, and snowmobiles, and hiking, cross-country skiing, and riding horseback, in the beauty of national parks and forests in the performance of their essential duties to defend a very long, porous, rugged, remote, limited access, indefensible-terrain border from drug smugglers and Muslim Jihadist terrorists, all the better!

They are deserving of our thanks, not being scorned by the uneducated/uninformed.

Bill Baum

Badrock Canyon