About three hours later, the agents moved in to inspect the trailer, parked with the sheriffs other equipment. Makawi had also met with the wives of those who, like Sebastian Vega, were in prison in the U.S. Word was spreading that the sicarios wanted to eliminate the two. A few months later, Sinaloa won control of the areanearly a dozen planes flew out of the town of Urique in one day with the remaining Jurez fightersbut conditions worsened. They were more optimistic souls in a long line of people who have tried, often futilely, to farm the floodplain. Soon after, his mother was arrested for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. It had once served as an outpost for tourists exploring the natural beauty of the surrounding canyons, which helped keep it relatively tranquil until a Sinaloa bosss nephew was murdered there, in late 2014. He attributed part of the Tarahumaras success to their minimal footwear; they ran with a lightness unfamiliar to American runners, landing on the midpoint of their foot instead of the heel. It was just disbelief. The loss of a hero harms a communitys ability to believe in anything anymore, wrote the historians, Louise OConnor and Cecilia Thompson, no relation to the sheriff. Chambers, a violent, lawless man long suspected of drug trafficking, had a remote family ranch in south Presidio County, across the border from San Antonio del Bravo, a hotbed of narcotics activity. Silvino remembered the women in Huisuchi who used to weave baskets out of the pine needles. At the bottom of the canyon road, the asphalt resumed at a desolate village called Ruidosa. He looked up at the stars and thought about curses, as older Tarahumara runners tend to do before a race. The two kept a tight rein on who knew what in their investigation when it became apparent that Sheriff Rick Thompson might be involved with Robert Chambers. Competitors from all over the world, electrified by "Born to Run", made the pilgrimage to the Tarahumara homeland. Chris Pettits personal property hits the auction block, Spurs reach naming rights agreement with Victory Capital, City might use eminent domain on bar property for Alamo museum, Man with military weapon at S.A. airport won't be charged, Candidates line up for Ana Sandovals District 7 seat, New coffee shop in Castle Hills will be allowed to sell wine, Housekeepers find two dead bodies inside East Side hotel room, Jurors seated for Andre McDonald murder trial in San Antonio, 1975 ad promoted new neighborhoods on the Northeast Side, Elvis performed in San Antonio several times in his heyday, Rickhoff kicks off Bexar County judge race with attacks on Wolff for "pay to play," art spending, San Antonio businessman sentenced to 27 months in fraud case, Visit San Antonio is closing downtown visitor info center. Back then, nationality didnt matter as much; people were simply trying to make ends meet on both sides of the Rio Grande. Search our database of over 100 million company and executive profiles. They moved up and down the Interstate 35 corridor so often that Chambers lost count of the number of schools he attended. The. It was April 2, 2010, and over five days they had traveled roughly five hundred miles from their village of Huisuchi, in the remote Sierra Madre mountains of northern Mexico. Silvino, a farmer with four children, knew the canyons the way urban dwellers know city streets: every rock, cactus, and river bend was a sign. Silvino swore he would never run drugs again, but by 2010, there was still not enough food to eat. Then the judge asked Vega if he had anything to add. That year, he was paid $22,657 for both jobs and he had several small side businesses. At 7:48, Silvino spotted the worn arrow that directed runners to take the footpath to the scenic overlook called El Mirador del Cerro del Gallego. Currently, he is at the Sullivan Correctional Facility, where fellow inmates include the infamous Ronald DeFeo Jr., whose crimes are the basis of ' The Amityville Horror '. It was amazing. Cops and crooks are of the same caliber. If circumstances once again drove Silvino to carry another drug load, hed be risking a potentially lengthy prison term. There was little shade, and he dropped down on a set of steps next to four old campesinos. But, as they staked it out, they realized they were not alone. He moved swiftly. After walking for ten days in the harsh borderland, their guide had abandoned them that morning. A Presidio County native, Ponton dabbled in film in his early days and worked on the crew of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Silvino wore athletic gear and blue-and-yellow Asicsthe trails were too slippery, the roads too hard, for huaraches. I felt this sickness in my gut. Helping clients like Vega affirmed his decision, though it also generated no shortage of heartbreak. Chvez had learned Spanish as a teenager, to serve as an interpreter for her people, then earned a university degree in ecology and gotten elected to local government. At the Caballo Blanco, both Silvino and Arnulfo proved themselves, and though Jurek passed Silvino near the end of the 47 miles, he couldnt catch Arnulfo. In a bizarre news conference held just days later, Thompson admitted the ton of cocaine was his, but he claimed it was part of a one-man reverse sting. He also enlisted the two best Tarahumara runners: Silvino, who was 28 at the time, and his younger cousin Arnulfo Quimare Qui. It seemed that everyone profited except the Tarahumara. The downfall of Rick Thompson was such a devastating occurrence for the people of Marfa and Presidio County, that this phenomenon should be addressed, wrote the authors of the two-volume history of the community. According to Women's Health, Chambers was the only child born to Phyllis Chambers and Robert Chambers Sr. (His mom is pictured in the photo above with her son.) Indeed, he gave a whole new meaning to the term "triple-threat." But in the nineties, as Mexican cartels rose in power relative to their Colombian counterpartswho preferred to traffic through South FloridaWest Texas became even more essential. $10.00 + $4.99 shipping . They lived in the same indigent neighborhood on the edge of Chihuahua. Sunlight broke through the slim canopy. An agent on a dirt bike tore after him as the others scattered. Up ahead, they saw the lights of a highway and knew they were within a dozen miles of their drop-off. Tall and lithe, his skin browned from years of laboring under the desert sun, he strode through the darkness. Chambers thought about how Vega wouldnt be there for his two sons as they grew into their teens. Chambers, now 65, was quick to cooperate with federal officials and only served 13 years of a life sentence. Other Land for Sale in Texas County 30 acres $90,000. So, after returning from his aborted drug run, Silvino saw his racing career take off. , Now here he was, with six members of his own familynearly a year after, Then, all at once, they saw the spotlights. He attributed part of the Tarahumaras success to their minimal footwear; they ran with a lightness unfamiliar to American runners, landing on the midpoint of their foot instead of the heel. Volunteers were on hand to offer cheese sandwiches, bananas, and oranges. At one point, he said, when Chambers drug-loaded truck stalled near the border, Thompson quickly appeared to give him a jump. Ponton had to retrieve his attorney fees for Chambers defense by traveling to Juarez to pick up $100,000 in cash, which caused a considerable stir at the border when he re-entered the U.S. Now County Attorney for Presidio County, Ponton was featured in the recent Netflix documentary, Confession Killer, for his role in proving that alleged serial killer Henry Lee Lucas could not be responsible for most of the murders he confessed to. It was a twenty-minute drive downhill to the square, which Silvino would be running back up for the first leg of the race: these six miles were a steep climb of 1,500. feet. The actual number was likely much higher. It may have been thirty. Silvino, with his farmland afflicted by unrelenting drought, was one of the desperate ones, so he signed on to tote drugs. Tell Rick Thompson Im still investigating this. Born in Wood County, near the Oklahoma border, on Feb. 23, 1946, Thompson was raised in Marathon, east of Marfa. But Thompson, with brains, nerve and political savvy, proved up to the all-consuming job of being a rural West Texas sheriff. Silvino wore athletic gear and blue-and-yellow Asicsthe trails were too slippery, the roads too hard, for huaraches. He enticed locals to enter by promising food vouchers to anyone who finished. In late 1965, he enlisted in the Marines, serving in Vietnam as a radio man and military policeman. Log In. Robert E. Chambers lives in Dallas, TX . In 1986, Chambers led a raid on the municipal jail in Ojinaga, kidnapped an inmate wanted in the United States for rape, brought him back to Texas and chained him naked to a tree for authorities to find, according to popular lore. MR. EDITOR--I desire to find my brother; his name was Robert Co- . International runners and film crews descended on the Sierra Tarahumara. In 2003, Robert Chambers walked out of prison, after 15 years, a free man, still pursued by his own infamy. Scanning his new clients arrest report, Chambers expected the details to coalesce into the usual pattern, but he noticed an anomaly. Rick Thompson, former Presidio County sheriff, and rancher Glyn Robert Chambers received life terms from U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer of Dallas for shipping the cocaine across the Rio Grande River on Dec. 3, 1991. Silvino emerged from the forest onto a roadreally a collection of rocks and dirt. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, Former Presidio County Sheriff Rick Thompson. (He starred in a public service announcement TV ad urging people to call in and help lock up smugglers.). John Robert Chambers 1 February 1875-19 July 1951 (Age 76) Terrell, Kaufman, Texas, United States The Life Summary of John Robert When John Robert Chambers was born on 1 February 1875, in Terrell, Kaufman, Texas, United States, his father, Asa Chambers, was 39 and his mother, Sara Melissa Long, was 25. Two days later, he reached Ascensin, close to where theyd picked up the drugs. Chambers nodded. He accompanied her to court as an intern. Hed told me that sometimes he felt fated to stay in West Texas, and yet he often felt apart from it. But I knew, he recalled. It turned out to be people burning salt cedar, an invasive species that saps water from the earth. A beloved law officer had betrayed the badge, causing a tragedy of epic proportions for his family and the town. Rogers pulled off on Farm-to-Market Road 2810, better known as Pinto Canyon Road, where the asphalt ended. Silvino flung his bags into the sand and began to run. They both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Im fighting for money, hed told himself. He was starting to feel betterthe steep climbs were behind himand though he wouldnt be able to catch the leader, he thought he could finish second or third. He was sentenced to 19 years behind barswhere he remains today. He built a small adobe house for his wife and children and another for his parents and siblings, and he fixed up an old truck so he could bring his harvest into the town of Urique to sell. He attended school in Alpine, Texas, where he later bought a ranch. In the end, it was Chambers who used Thompson. They were taken from Chambers county, Ala., by said Ware to Texas some-where about the year 1847. Thompson claimed 147 arrests fewer than 50 were made. According to McNamara, Thompson mismanaged task force funds, illegally destroyed its records and grossly exaggerated its accomplishments. Unable to afford lawyers, each defendant was assigned one by the court. Ten minutes after six, the runners approached the starting line, adjacent to the, three-hundred-year-old red-earthen, yellow-domed Jesuit church, and took off. James Medford Chambers went home to be with The LORD on Saturday, January 7, 2023, at the age of 92. Hell walk tall, she told U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer of Dallas. Still, racing never provided a stable income for Silvinoprize money wasnt guaranteedand most of the Tarahumara fared far worse. It was March 2015, and the 27-year-old, with sandy-brown hair and a neatly cropped beard, was fresh out of law school. Escuders client had been sentenced to eighteen months in federal prisonsix months longer than others in his group because hed had the misfortune of appearing before a different judge. He knew hed never be able to hold an audience like that, but he realized then that this work was what he wanted to do. It was at least forty miles through the driest landscape Id ever seen. The squat white ejido headquarters proclaimed Porochi as the Tierra de Corredores, or the Land of Runners. It was the halfway point. Scanning his new clients arrest report, Chambers expected the details to coalesce into the usual pattern, but he noticed an anomaly. Early the next morning, with only a little pain in his right leg, Silvino drove in a low gear down the canyon to Urique, listening to traditional Tarahumara folk music from a USB stick connected to the CD player. Silvino, a farmer with four children, knew the canyons the way urban dwellers know city streets: every rock, cactus, and river bend was a sign. Case Details Parties Dockets Case Details Case Number: But racing couldnt alleviate the hardships ravaging the Tarahumara themselves. He didnt believe in spells, but Silvino felt the pressure of what hed come to donot just for his own survival but for the survival of his people. . In fact, Vega had come this way. Thomas Chambers. It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Robert Stanley Chambers (Seagoville, Texas), who passed away on February 4, 2022, at the age of 69, leaving to mourn family and friends. Sign Up Log In Tags Don Robert Hendrix That was my last case, and Rick was kind of the orchestra leader in trying to coordinate relationships with not only the witnesses, but the local people and federal authorities. It operated along the Rio Grande from El Paso to Alpine, from 1988 to 1992. He was the town favorite, recalled Carl Robinson, 85, a former longtime school superintendent who retired in 1992. The American ultramarathoner Micah True got to know some of the Tarahumara runners in Leadville, and he was so changed by the experience that he later moved to the Sierra Madre. (Courtesy of Presidio County Sheriff's Office) By Brbara Anguiano All I know is I worked for five months for him. Robert is a managing . But beginning in the sixteenth century the tribe fled Spanish invaders, Jesuit missionaries, and Mexican settlersand their fatal diseases, forced labor, and attempted conversionsretreating into the Sierra Madres forbidding landscape. In the Tarahumara, the cartels found literal drug runners, who not only could cover incredible distances but were desperate enough to do it. In the middle of August, Silvino and seven others cleared eight acres of weeds by hand amid a plague of red ants, tarantulas, bees, gnats, flies, scorpions, snakes, floods, and 125-degree heat. Nobody was warming up when he arrived; the Tarahumara dont stretch. Most of the visiting runners, who had come from 23 countries, made their way out under military escort. A day before the race, however, Jurez hit men stormed the police station, seizing two officers and a teenager, and American organizers called off the race. Theyre some of the toughest people in the world.. Contacted recently at his home in Oregon, McNamara, 80, said he still is trying to get to the bottom of it all. When Chambers arrived at the detention facility, the 39-year-old Vega stood up to greet his lawyer. Silvino felt the adrenaline course through him, and he told himself to escape to the mountains theyd crossed on their way north. Report this listing. He was in third place. That ended abruptly with his guilty plea Feb. 11, 1992, forcing them to accept that their Walking Tall law officer was a drug smuggler. Then, with the path hugging a creek, he entered tiny Porochi. True wondered how they would fare against the Tarahumara, and he sought to revitalize these local traditions. of clients hed defended, it was Vega, and the plight of the Tarahumara, that stuck with him.

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