Undocumented migrants discovered hiding in Benson High School parking lot

Good morning, it’s Thursday, April 22nd and this is The Herald Review’s podcast, the Daily Chirp. We’re excited to bring you a closer look at top stories, events in the community, local history, sports, and more. 

Today - Undocumented migrants were recently discovered hiding in Benson High School parking lot. Parents, law enforcement, and Benson Mayor Joe Konrad are speaking up.

Before we begin, some local history.

April 22nd began just like every other day in 1970, except that it wasn’t like every other day. It was Earth Day! And it marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement.

Earth day was the end result of a yearlong idea by a junior Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson. Nelson’s idea was to infuse the energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution. 

He enlisted the help of a conservation minded Republican Congressman, Pete McCloskey as co-chair and together they recruited activist Denis Hayes to organize college campus teach-ins about the environment. 

But why April 22nd? It was perfect since it fell between Spring Break and Final Exams. They were hoping to maximize the greatest number of student participation.

The special day inspired about 10% of the population at that time, so 20 million Americans, to take to the streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate against all of what 150 years of industrial development progress had brought to the impact of health.

So today, don’t forget to check out the Sierra Vista farmers market to join them for a celebration.

Today’s history is brought to you by Benson Hospital. The team at Benson Hospital is always working towards building a healthier community. For example, when the Benson Food Pantry needed a new home, they worked with them to find one, and their staff even helped them apply for grants to support the mission. You can learn more about everything they’re doing for our community by following them on Facebook at facebook.com/bensonhospital.

Also, The Daily Chirp podcast is giving away 5 Amazon Echo Dots - one every month now through July. You can enter for your chance to win twice a day! Today's code is SHOWERS and find the other codeword in our “Daily Chirp Podcast Alert” e-newsletter. To enter the sweepstakes go to myheraldreview.com, again today's codeword is: SHOWERS

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Now, our feature story. 

On Friday around 9:15 at night Benson police officers responded to a call. It involved undocumented immigrants who were hiding under cars in the Benson High School parking lot. 

Police Chief Paul Moncada said that officers found a vehicle with a U.S. citizen and a passenger, along with three undocumented immigrants. They were detained. the chief said. Three other undocumented aliens immigrants north from the school.

That’s when Benson Police officers and Cochise County Sheriff’s Office deputies searched for the three who fled on foot. But according to Moncada they couldn’t find them.

Border Patrol was contacted and said they’d be there in an hour.

But after the hour passed, they still weren’t there. So they were contacted again and gave yet another one-hour ETA.

So Benson PD decided to reach out to a Border Patrol agent who was in the area instead. And that agent contacted a supervisor. Ultimately they were told that Border Patrol wouldn’t respond at all. At that point, all three detained subjects were released.

It all started when a high school student discovered undocumented migrants hiding under his car. The student’s parent sent out a warning on social media.

It said  -- quote “kids, after games, be safe. Watch your surroundings at all times. Illegals are everywhere now. The baseball team is aware of this. Pass the word to softball, track and tennis. Sadly, this is just the beginning of illegals in parking lots, neighborhoods, etc..”

Benson School District Superintendent Micah Mortensen also sent a letter home to parents, describing the incident.

The letter stated that as part of the school’s safety protocols, coaches will remain with students until every student has safely departed campus.

Mortensen went on to ask that parents encourage their children to report all incidents or situations that make them uncomfortable, saying that we must all be vigilant in order to keep our children safe.

Benson Mayor Joe Konrad weighed in on the situation as well. He expressed concerns about what he described as “an escalating UDA problem” and its impact on border communities.

Konrad noted that it seems like Border Patrol’s hands are tied, and citizens are going to have to be vigilant and take extra precautions to stay safe. He said that people need to call the police when they see something that seems out of place.

Konrad also said police officers aren’t getting the support they need from federal officials. Especially once they determine they have detained migrants who are in the country illegally.

Police officers are sworn to enforce Arizona law, but have no jurisdiction in immigration matters. 

To Konrad, this immigration issue is a huge problem, and it’s only going to get worse if the border crisis continues. It’s very disheartening.

You can learn more on this story by visiting us at myheraldreview.com.

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Thanks for listening, before we continue, a quick message from our sponsors, Prestige Family Living. 

Next, we’d like to highlight Mike Frosco, Bisbee High School’s retiring athletics director. 

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What do you give a man who is retiring after 50 years of service to Bisbee High School athletics?

Well, the Bisbee High School Alumni Association has a great idea to honor retiring athletics director Mike Frosco — a plaque at Warren Ballpark dedicating the field to him.

It was alumnus Snoody Borowiec that presented the idea to the board of the Bisbee Unified School District.

And proud Pumas alumnus Don Bays said he met Frosco back in 1958 when the coach allowed newcomers to try out. Frosco was one of them.

Bays says that he was a senior when he met Frosco on the first day of practice. He described him as a frail, scrawny looking kid with a permanent, built-in smile. Bays said that he was very quickly proven wrong about Frosco’s athletic ability. He was an outstanding player every year. 

Bays noted that he doesn’t think there's anyone more deserving to have his name attached to the field than Mike. Coach Frosco is Mr. Baseball.

After college Frosco returned to BHS as an educator and a coach. As a coach he was inducted into the Arizona Hall of Fame. He coached three state championship teams, had 23 state tournament appearances, was awarded 11 Coach of the Year titles and had 555 career team wins.

Then when he gave up coaching, he continued to be involved with the kids in the entire school district as director of athletics.

Frosco also has been involved in getting funds to improve Warren Ballpark.

Ultimately, the school board’s decision to honor Coach Frosco would be a tribute to a man who touched many young men’s lives.

The final decision to follow the recommendation of the alumni to dedicate the field to Frosco will be made at the board meeting on May 11th.

Next up the Community Food Pantry of Benson has added something new to its list of services. brought to you by our sponsors, Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative.

[New sponsor audio message]

The Community Food Pantry of Benson has added something new to its list of services.

As part of its monthly cooking class, they now have community resource presenters. The presenters will inform residents about different services they might need.

The cooking class is the third Friday of the month, and last Friday they had two representatives from SEAGO - SouthEastern Arizona Governments Organization - who talked about how to access programs for caregivers and seniors. 

Because of COVID, Friday’s presentation was their first in-person outreach session in over a year.

This was a very welcome change. Throughout the pandemic outreach has been hard for the organization. Some seniors and caregivers were faced with computer literacy barriers and struggled with devices and the internet.

But they overcame the challenges and built a program called Trualta that they’re rolling out soon.

It’s a skill-based online learning portal designed for families and caregivers. It’ll include articles, videos and professional-level training.

Ultimately SEAGO’s goal is to support seniors and people with disabilities so they can maintain their independence safely at home.

Finally, today we’re remembering the life of 

John Michael Donnelly. He was born in San Diego, California, the youngest of 5 children. He was a “surprise” child - 19 years younger than his older brother, Donald. He grew up in San Diego and graduated from St. Augustine High School. John made the decision to enter the Carmelites and conducted his initial studies in the San Francisco Bay area. Later, he studied in Ireland and in Rome for the priesthood, where he earned a master’s degree in Theology. He took the Sacrament of Holy Orders in 1967 in Rome, and took the name Kevin, which is the name many people knew him by as an adult.

In the early 1970’s, Reverend Donnelly met Susan Mullaney and made the decision to leave the priesthood to marry, in the sincere belief that priests ought to be allowed to marry and in the hope that it wouldn’t be long before that change occurred. Susan brought three children into the marriage, Lisa, Laurie and Bruce. And together they had a son named Kevin. When Susan’s health began to fail, they made the decision to move from northern California, where they met, to southeastern Arizona, where Susan lived as a child. They were married for 43 years.

In 1987, John was accepted into the Episcopal Church as a priest. After several years in pastoral ministry at St. Alban’s in Tucson, and the Church of the Transfiguration in Apache Junction, John served as a chaplain for the Arizona State Prison at Douglas, ministering to an inmate population of over 2,000 individuals for 20 years. 

He loved to sing, and played the piano, guitar and cornet. He was well known for his gentleness, being very approachable and humble, with a wry sense of humor. John spoke French, Italian, Spanish, Latin and was conversant in Irish Gaelic.

After his cherished wife, Susan, passed in 2016, John reconciled with the Catholic Church. The day before his death, two Carmelite friars visited him, and he renewed his vows as a Carmelite. 

His son Kevin commented that his dad was glowing with happiness at renewing his vows. By the next morning, Divine Mercy Sunday, John was on his way to sing with the angels.

Thanks for tuning in to the Herald Review podcast today, join us again on Friday! And remember, the Herald Review is here for you with local news you can trust. For more information on any of the stories you heard about today, visit us at myheraldreview.com. Right now you can become a member starting at just $1.99 per week. We also encourage you to rate and review our podcast on Apple Podcasts!

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