Originally Posted by Mike D

Now, aholt on there fellers! Before you guys decide to canonize Mr Barnett, perhaps you ought to understand the full facts of the case and previous history.

Barnett does not "own" the 22000 acres of property. He leases it from the state of Arizona as "grazing land". He has a small spread in the center of the ranch where his house sits.

In a previous incident, Mr. Barnett held four Hispanic Americans at gunpoint who were legally hunting on the property (State land, remember). Needless to say, the justice system took a dim view of his defense of, "They were armed and I felt threatened".

A "successful" towing business is not what I would ever call Barnett's Towing. Through his contacts in the Sheriff's department he pretty much received a monopoly on all the business from any state highway, police call and pretty much set his price for someone to get their car back minus any property or items which were not welded down.

A suit was filed, the towing contract was put up for bid and he lost it. He retired to his spread and decided to return to his ranching pursuits. Barnett's Trucking filed bankruptcy and is no more. One contract should not make a "succesful" business.

I feel for the man because I know what a trash heap the illegals make of their trails and he should have the right to defend his property and standard of living but driving along state owned land and essentially perorming the duties of law enforcement strikes me as just a bit of vigilanteeism.

Reporting the illegals to the border patrol, yes, taking the law into his own hands, no!