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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 22, 2005 Ashlanders on aid trip detained Group forced to leave behind computers because of embargo By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Six Ashlanders, traveling with the Pastors for Peace mission delivering humanitarian aid to Cuba, were detained at the Mexican-American border for 18-hours on Thursday as homeland security and other government agents searched the 14-vehicle caravan and forced the group to leave their computers here in the United States. Jane Palmieri, an Ashland resident and Southern Oregon University student, said the U.S. Department of Commerce would not allow the 40 computers the group were to donated to Cuban schools to leave the country. Federal law prohibits technology from being shared with Cuba. Seven members of Pastors for Peace, which has been delivering aid to Cuba for 12-years stayed with the computers. She said after a “completely exhausting but inspiring” experience at the U.S. border in Hidalgo County, Texas the border patrol finally let the delegation into Mexico at 4:55 a.m. this morning. “We’re tired but not too tired because it is so inspiring to be a part of this movement,” she said. “I feel like we are walking in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr.” Palmieri, 25, and five other Ashlanders — Suzie Aufderheide, 56, her twin sons Ian and Colin Riversong, both 18, MaryAnn Jones, 74 and her son Brad, 45 — joined with 140 other Americans to deliver more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba with Pastors for Peace. Ian Riversong, who was given the trip as his high school graduation present, said the experience was enough to reverse his normally pessimistic attitude. “As soon as we were detained at the border we could call out for all this support and we got all these people to help us,” he said. Palmieri added that the group was contacted by at least 17 politicians during the delay. And Riversong said even the local police were generally supportive of what they were doing. “The cops down here were really nice,” he said. “They don’t all agree with the law but they have to enforce it. If they could have let us just go I think they would have.” Palmieri said on Thursday that the situation seemed somewhat harrowing. She said there were more than 50 federal, state and local law enforcement that were surrounding their caravan. She described their demeanor “intimidating but not threatening” and said the group felt they could not leave their vehicles because “we fear if we remove ourselves the buses will be raidd and our aid will be confiscated.” The Department of Homeland Security and the Bureau of Industry Security, two of the federal agencies responsible for the border delay, did not return phone calls for comment. Palmieri said the aid package destined for Cuba contained medical supplies, eyeglasses, textbooks and bicycles in addition to the computers. Socialist Cuba has been economically hampered in part because of 46-year-old trade embargo by the United States. Pastors for Peace has been traveling to the island nation since 1992 delivering aid and calling attention to the embargo. Palmieri said it was well over 100 degrees on Thursday in very southern corner of Texas. Hidalgo, Texas, just north of the border with Mexico, sits near the Rio Grande Delta. It is about 40 feet above sea level and its landscape features mesquite, chaparral. Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams