6A Friday, November 16, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
GREGORY BULL I Associated Press
Central American migrants arrive by school bus to a shelter offering breakfast in Tijuana,
Mexico, Thursday, Nov. 15.
Caravan migrants arrive in
Tijuana, brace for long stay
BY ELLIOT SPAGAT
Associated Press
TIJUANA, Mexico — More buses of
exhausted people in a caravan of Central
American asylum seekers reached the U.S.
border Thursday as the city of Tijuana con
verted a municipal gymnasium into a tempo
rary shelter and the migrants came to grips
with the reality that they will be on the Mexi
can side of the frontier for an extended stay.
With U.S. border inspectors at the main
crossing into San Diego processing only
about 100 asylum claims a day, it could take
weeks if not months to process the thousands
in the caravan that departed from San Pedro
Sula, Honduras, more than a month ago.
Tijuana’s robust network of shelters
was already stretched to the limit, having
squeezed in double their capacity or more as
families slept on the floor on mats, forcing
the city to open the gymnasium for up to 360
people Wednesday. A gated outdoor court
yard can accommodate hundreds more.
The city’s thriving factories are always
looking for workers, and several thousand
Haitian migrants who were turned away at
the U.S. border have found jobs and settled
here in the last two years, but the prospect
of thousands more destitute Central Ameri
cans has posed new challenges.
Delia Avila, director of Tijuana’s family
services department, who is helping spear
head the city’s response, said migrants who
can arrange legal status in Mexico are wel
come to stay.
“Tijuana is a land of migrants. Tijuana is
a land that has known what it is to embrace
thousands of co-nationals and also people
from other countries,” Avila said.
Mexican law enforcement was out in
force in a city that is suffering an all-time-
high homicide rate. A group of about 50
migrants, mostly women and children,
walked through downtown streets Thurs
day from the city shelter to a breakfast hall
under police escort.
As buses from western and central
Mexico trickled in overnight and into the
morning, families camped inside the bus
terminal and waited for word on where they
could find a safe place to sleep. One shelter
designed for 45 women and children was
housing 100; another designed for 100 had
nearly 200.
Many endured the evening chill to sleep
at an oceanfront park with a view of San
Diego office towers and heavily armed U.S.
Border Patrol agents on the other side of a
steel-bollard fence.
Florida man pleads not guilty
in political pipe bombs case
BY JIM MUSTIAN
Associated Press
NEW YORK-The Flor
ida man accused of sending
pipe bombs to prominent
critics of President Donald
Trump pleaded not guilty
Thursday to charges car
rying a potential penalty of
life in prison.
Cesar Sayoc entered the
plea through his lawyers
during his appearance in
Manhattan federal court.
U.S. District Judge Jed
Rakoff set a July 15, 2019,
trial date.
The judge suggested
earlier dates, but Sayoc’s
attorneys said they needed
more time to prepare given
the amount of discovery in
the case and a lack of staff
ing at the federal public
defenders’ office of New
York.
“This is a slightly more
complex case than the
average one,” federal
defender Sarah Baumgar-
tel told Rakoff.
Sayoc — who faces five
federal counts, including
use of a weapon of mass
destruction — is accused
of sending 16 improvised
explosive devices through
the U.S. mail to victims
across the country. None of
the devices exploded.
Authorities said he tar
geted numerous Demo
crats, critics of Trump and
CNN — a scare that height
ened tensions before the
crucial midterm elections.
Federal prosecutors said
authorities are still scouring
surveillance video from the
U.S. Postal Service and lin
ing up experts to examine
the explosive devices.
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CALIFORNIA BAR SHOOTING
Thousands warmly recall
officer hailed as hero
AL SEIB I Associated Press
The casket with the body of Ventura County Sheriff Sgt. Ron
Helus is carried out after a memorial service for Sgt. Helus
at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, Calif.,
Thursday, Nov. 15.
BY CHRISTOPHER WEBER
AND JOHN ROGERS
Associated Press
WESTLAKE VIL
LAGE, Calif. — The
sheriff’s sergeant who
gave his life saving others
during a mass shooting
last week was remem
bered warmly Thursday
as a deeply religious man
devoted to family who
could be counted on to
never hesitate a moment
to put his own life on the
line if it meant helping
others.
Several thousand peo
ple, including hundreds
of law enforcement
officers from through
out California, packed
the Calvary Community
Church in Westlake Vil
lage for the emotional,
90-minute service honor
ing the life of Ron Helus.
The 54-year-old sher
iff’s sergeant was shot
to death during a Nov.
7 gunfight with a man
who was raking a popu
lar Southern California
country bar with bullets
when Helus ran in to try
to stop him.
The gunman killed
12 people before shoot
ing himself to death. But
authorities say Helus —
the first officer into the
bar — saved numerous
others by immediately
exchanging gunfire
with the shooter, giving
patrons and employees
time to flee.
Among Thursday’s
mourners was musician
Billy Ray Cyrus who
said he told the family
before the service, “I’m
probably going to have to
change the definition of
hero. From now on it can
just be a picture of Ron
Helus.”
Then, accompanying
himself on guitar, Cyrus
dedicated his song “Some
Gave All” to Helus, sing
ing the words, “Some
stood through for the red,
white and blue. And some
had to fall. And if you ever
think of me, think of all your
liberties. And recall, some
gave all.”
The emotional message
left the audience in stunned
silence until Pastor Steven
Day said, “If you’d like to,
you can thank him,” and the
crowd erupted in applause.
The audience had also given
Helus a standing ovation at
the beginning of the service.
Mourners included hun
dreds of officers from
police agencies across the
state who stood solemnly
outside the church hall as
the 54-year-old sheriff’s ser
geant’s flag-draped coffin
was wheeled inside. Each
offered a crisp salute as it
passed by, then joined hun
dreds of other mourners
inside.
Still more people, includ
ing many who had never
met Helus, stood outside
in the parking lot or lined
nearby streets. Others lin
gered by a huge makeshift
memorial featuring flow
ers, messages and stuffed
animals.
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