• Embed Doc
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
DIRECT EXAMINATION5BY MR. MOORE:6Q.Would you state your name, please?7A.Olga Arguelles.8Q.How old are you, Olga?9A.37.10Q.How where do you live, Olga?11A.I live in Anapra, a subdivision of Sunland12Park.13Q.Does your mother and father live there?14A.Yes, they do.15Q.Do you have other family who lives there? 16A.In Anapra, just my mother and my father.17Q.Well, how about your immediate family? Do you18have children?19A.Oh, my children, yes. I have four kids.20Q.How many children do you have?21A.Four.22Q.And --23A.Actually, I have two 20-year-olds, a2419-year-old and a 15-year-old. So they are teenagers --25Q.Okay. 56911A.-- teenagers and adults.2Q.And have they lived their lives --3A.How long have they -- how have they lived4their lives?5Q.Yes.6Have they lived their life in Anapra?7A.They've lived their lives in Anapra, yes.8Q.Would you describe the community of Anapra --9A.Okay.10Q.-- where it is, where is it located?11A.Okay. Anapra is located exactly three miles12from ASARCO and three miles from the dump. It's a13subdivision of Sunland Park, New Mexico, and we're right14next to the border of Texas.15Q.And distinguish that from Anapra, Mexico. How16far away is Anapra, Mexico?17A.I would think maybe -- I remember I used to18walk to Anapra, Mexico. So it's walking distance.19Q.Between your house and Anapra, Mexico, what do20you find? Do you find Ardovino's restaurant?21A.Ardovino's restaurant, uh-huh.22Q.Is Ardovino's restaurant about halfway over23there?24A.Yes.25Q.Okay. How many people live in Anapra? 56921A.I would have to estimate maybe -- maybe a2hundred. I'm not really sure.3Q.Could it be 1,200? Are you thinking families4or people?
 
5A.I know it's about a hundred houses, so I'm not6really --7Q.Okay. Does 1,200 people sound --8A.It would make sense.9Q.-- reasonable?10A.Uh-huh.11Q.When you look out in the middle of that12community, there is a small house that they use as a13community center, is there not?14A.La Casita, yes.15Q.Tell us about that house. How did you wind up16using it as a community center?17A.Well, I think there was -- actually, the18police department went in with the SWAT team, and they 19arrested the people that were renting the house, and20then it was rented -- prior to -- after that, it was21rented to -- I think it was Project Veda, to use as a22community center for Anapra.23Q.Did the DEA seize the house?24A.Seize the house? What do you mean?25Q.Yes. 56931Did they take the house, the DEA come and -- 2A.Well, they took the people renting the house3at that time.4Q.Okay.5A.Uh-huh.6Q.But how big a house is it? How many bedrooms7did it have?8A.I wouldn't call them bedrooms, Mr. Moore.9It's three rooms and a restroom.10Q.Okay. Prior to -- roughly, when did you begin11to use that house as your community center?12A.I think it was sometime in maybe '98, '99.13I'm not sure.14Q.And how did you begin to use the house?15A.Well, actually, it started out as sort of like16a meeting place for Girl Scouts, and then it evolved 17into GED classes, food bank, after-school tutoring, a18youth club. It evolved into several things, according19to what the community needed.20Q.Did you ever work there?21A.Yes. I was a volunteer for La Casita under22the auspices of AmeriCorps.23Q.For how long?24A.I think it was a little bit over two years.25Q.And what kind of stuff did you do? 56941A.I organized the youth group. I was a -- I was2a tutor. I did mostly the donation letters, just3recruiting volunteers from Santa Teresa High School for
 
 4the afternoon tutoring. I made donation letters for the5Christmas give-away. I made donation letters for food 6baskets, for jackets, for shoes, for anything I could7do, I did.8Q.Okay. If you walk outside the door of La9Casita, what do you see? Can you see ASARCO?10A.Not directly outside the door.11Q.Well, inside the yard?12A.Well, towards the back, yes. If you look13towards the back, yes.14Q.And what else do you see?15A.I'm not sure.16What do you mean?17Q.Well, can you see the electric company?18A.Oh, the power plant right across the river,19yes.20Q.Okay.21A.We can also -- in the summer, I haven't seen22it lately, but we can see -- and actually a lot of 23people complained about Jobe dynamiting the property24right off Cristo Rey. We see the trucks from the25landfill drive up McNutt or down McNutt. 56951Q.You said you had four children?2A.Yes.3Q.Can you just talk about a day of the life of a4kid living in Anapra? What do you --5A.Okay.6Q.Just tell me what it's like.7A.I can't attest to -- my children's lives is a8little bit different from most of the children in9Anapra.10I can't really explain why, but the majority 11of the kids in Anapra -- I don't want to say that they12don't have any hope, but I can't perceive that they have13hope or that they have faith.14They -- you know, they have -- I've worked15with them, and they are very, very intelligent kids, but16they have to sort of deal with a lot of -- I'm not sure17if it's disabilities, I'm not sure -- you know, a lot of18health problems, you know. Just when I was working with19the youth group, most of my kids were learning disabled.20Q.Let's go about it this way.21They get up in the morning and they catch a22bus to school, right?23A.Okay. Some of them catch a bus, Mr. Moore. 24The younger kids catch the bus, the kids that go to25elementary school. 5696
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...