NATIONAL ATTENTION

I live in the southwestern corner of the southeastern county of Cochise in the southwestern state of Arizona.

I live in Palominas, what is called a rural area - a lot of dirt roads, open acreage, cattle grazing, houses on at least four acres of land.

No shopping centers, no fast food, no restaurants (one cafe), only one 24-hour convenience/gas store.

We don't get mail delivery or newspaper delivery except out at the main highway - the roads do so much damage. I still haven't figured out why UPS and FedEx still deliver right to our doors, but I sure appreciate it.

So we don't get much mention in national news. Our last 15 minutes of fame was way back in 1982 when there was a shoot-out at the Miracle Valley Bible College campus between the parishioners and county sheriff deputies, where 2 individuals were killed and multiple injuries.

We do get politicians who came down here to moan and groan about how open or how protected our border with Mexico is; drug tunnels which are discovered in Nogales or Naco make local news, at least.

But tonight we got mentioned in a NATIONAL weather issue:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON HAS ISSUED A * FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR... SOUTHWESTERN COCHISE COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST ARIZONA... *

UNTIL 1100 PM MST ...ANY ADDITIONAL RAIN WILL ADD TO THE FLASH FLOODING THAT IS OCCURRING. ... 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN THE WARNED AREAS...ESPECIALLY BETWEEN HEREFORD AND PALOMINAS. WATER LEVELS IN THE SAN PEDRO RIVER NEAR PALOMINAS HAS RISEN TWO TO THREE FEET 6 PM. 

Can you tell that we're excited about it?

RUMOR HAS IT

I experienced first hand this morning how rumors get started.

My dog, Sophie, has a weak bladder, and often wakes me apologetically in the middle of the night and asks very politely if she may be allowed go outside for a short little pee.

So this morning around 2 a.m., we (Cissy, the other dog, and I) were standing in front of our house waiting to her to complete her business when we saw two police cars racing down Highway 92, lights flashing and sirens screaming.

Now, we live in the rural area right next to the U.S./Mexican border - there isn't a whole lot of anything out here except a lot of manufactured homes surrounded by yucca and mesquite trees. And very rarely on our ONE highway does any law enforcement or emergency type of vehicle need to use its lights, let alone its siren.

So TWO hauling ass was an unusual site.

We all went back into the house and slept for several more hours, but then learned in the early morning that two Border Patrol agents had been shot and one killed east of us.

And a short time later I learned the one agent's name because he was a member of our church - people were going to be arranging meals for his family and the funeral.

Okay, here's where the rumor mill begins.

Our sister missionaries, young women in their early twenties who serve for 16-18 months, came over to, in my expression, "play with the horses." I have seven very friendly, sweet horses in my back yard - unfortunately, only one of them is ride-able, and only three I trust on a halter with an inexperienced person.

So they are helping me brush the horses and untangle their long manes when I mention that a Border Patrol agent had been killed, and said he was LDS.

Turns out he was second counselor in the ward I had been a member of until just recently when our stake was rearranged.

So the senior sister quickly calls the elders to make certain they know about it -- and suddenly probabilities that we had been mentioning about the murder were being passed on as FACTS - that is WAS drug smugglers, that it WAS a mounted patrol, that it HAD happened just before I spotted those lights and heard those sirens.

And then the elder would pass on THOSE tidbits as facts ("but they were right near where it happened!"), and perhaps expand a bit on additional possibilities.

This is how rumors take on a life of their own, and I feel responsible for this one.