This weekend, a Harvard Illinois public school was transformed into a Mexican consulate as it hosted a drive to issue the Mexican matriculae to area illegals and register new voters.
According to Midwest Minutemen, vanloads were brought to the registration drive provided by LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. The Midwest Minutemen estimate that by the numbers of persons entering the school over the last four days, over 800 Mexican matriculae were issued. A staffer at Harvard's soon-to-open Castle Bank requested the school's use.
Harvard is located just south of the Wisconsin border in McHenry County. As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 7,996 people, 2,610 households, and 1,853 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 76.25% White, 0.85% African American, 0.38% Native American, 1.43% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 18.76% from other races, and 2.33% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 37.81% of the population.
Below you'll read unedited Field Reports from those who've been on the scene. We've also posted some of the photos Evert Evertsen, secretary-treasurer of the Midwest Minutemen, is circulating widely to his mailing list.
Field Report for July 18, 2008
Mexican Consulate in Harvard, Illinois
Morning started with the Mexican Consulate erecting a banner - 3’ x 6’ - saying “Mexican Consulate is Here” directly in front of our rally area. Apparently our presence caused some confusion within the Mexican brain-drain populous. (Gosh, we’re sooo sorry.) We also noted several coming in the Jr. High driveway covering their faces so as not to be recognized, and several who saw us filming them and their vehicles and changed their minds about coming in.
One of the consulate officials spoke to the police about our filming and wanted it stopped.
Sorry, but no way, Jose. His concern, which he conveyed to the police, was that we would be putting the photos out on the internet. Bingo!!
Also, two of our people used the washroom facilities at the Jr. High yesterday. Today the former Superintendent, Richard Crosby, sent out a female District employee (Janice I believe) to tell us that our people are no longer able to use the facilities or enter the building, because the Consulate had rented the building and only people with appointments are allowed to enter. I think perhaps we made them nervous.
Our rally will move to Route 14 (the main highway in town) tomorrow in front of the new Castle Bank building under construction.
Early on this afternoon we were treated to a drama that could easily have been a high-priced ticket item, especially if it had been followed by a good dinner. A young lady was walking up the driveway carrying a box of paperwork when she put the box down, put her hand over her heart and proceeded to tell our people, in a shaky, teary voice, how her “heart hurts” because we are so full of hate. Seeing us there just makes her ashamed to be an American. It was a beautiful show. A thousand apologies for not getting it on film. Oh, the best part? She claimed to be a lawyer (working for the Consulate, of course)! Shortly thereafter she walked back down the driveway, down the street a couple houses, got in her car & drove back up the driveway. No wonder she's a lawyer & not a brain surgeon!
See, when you go out for rallies, folks, there is just no end to the fun..
We added another sign to our collection today. It reads: Illegals Register Here. Ev will get the photos for you to see. It was so great because the Mexicans all started coming to us like we were going to give them the Matriculas. Several pulled over to our taped area to ask questions. It was also obvious that many of them are, indeed, illiterate in two languages. It’s really a beautiful thing we do!
By the way, I’d like to send accolades out to our people who showed up to keep us company in (again) 90 degree weather and extremely high humidity. Here they are:
Mary from Crystal Lake. Mary is truly a worker on many fronts and a great lady with a hard-working, supportive husband. Thanks, Mary!
Diane from Marengo. This was Diane’s first time out and I think she now realizes that we don’t eat babies. I understand her husband is also a really great guy. Welcome, Diane, and thanks for your support!
Clyde from Elgin. God bless Clyde! He always shows up and pitches right in to help in any way he can - plus, his wife is one of the best parade float decorators you’ll ever meet! Can’t thank you enough, Clyde!
Paul from Carpentersville. Here’s a guy with more than enough on his plate as it is, but took time off work to stay with us, jot down license plate numbers, and called ahead to see if we needed any cold drinks. Of course, it’s always great to have Slugger and Miss Congeniality with us. Thanks, Paul, for everything!
Paul and Michelle from DesPlaines. Gas as cheap as it is, it’s no small wonder they want to drive in excess of 55 miles one-way to join us. These two are a great team who have put in a lot of hours for us. Great job, guys!
Bob from Bloomingdale. Another one who spends a fortune in fuel to help the cause (60+ miles one-way), plus a great researcher when we need info. Bob should be thanked more often for all he does, but we don’t want to embarrass him. Thank you, Bob!
Tomorrow (Saturday) will be another hot day with chance of thunderstorms.. Hope the storms hold off until after 4 pm so our great patriots don’t get soaked. We’ll update you tomorrow night on how the day goes.
Again, thanks to all of you for standing with us; your support is always appreciated.
Ev and Diane
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FIELD REPORT: Harvard, Illinois
July 19, 2008
The day certainly started off on a gloomy note weather-wise as the allotted “appointment” holders rolled (or in some cases, walked) into our public junior high school to obtain their “documents” from the Mexican government, via the Mexican Mobil Consulate. This being the third day of their 4-day surge, our concern over the health and safety of those foreign nationals in our building is continuing to mount. Considering the number of “appointments” being held per day (we understand they can “serve” 200 Mexican citizens daily), we’re concerned about the electrical draw on the power supply for all of the computers and data bases. There must be a lot of computers in there to “serve” 200 Mexican Nationals every day for four consecutive days, considering the need to access data bases in Mexico to confirm that these foreign nationals are who they claim to be. Whooops!! Just remembered! Mexico HAS NO DATA BASE TO CONFIRM IDENTIFICATION OF THEIR OWN CITIZENS. That in itself must make the job of bestowing IDENTITY DOCUMENTS very difficult, indeed. We, as American citizens, don’t know for sure how many computers they have because we are not allowed in OUR building.
In any case, we had a great day! The turnout of Patriots was a thing of beauty; we had people at the Junior High to photo each “entrant”, and a crowd along busy State Highway 14, directly across the street from the new Castle Bank which is currently under construction. We really can’t figure out how many new ‘customers’ a bank would have to attract in order to pay for such a building; if you have any idea, let us know or, you may want to call the bank & ask them. We understand through the response to our FOIA to the School District that Castle Bank’s own Rosalinda Carreno made the request to use the school “building and/or property”. You may want to call the bank to thank Rosalinda and/or let her superiors (if she has any) know how much you appreciate her efforts on behalf of Mexican Nationals.
201 W. Diggins St. 1265 South Division
Harvard, IL 60033 Harvard, IL 60033
Phone: 815-943-6441 Phone:815-943-8561
Toll Free:800-952-6441 Toll Free: 800-952-6441
Fax: 815-943-6440 Fax:815-943-8560
Overall, the thumbs-up signs and horn honking of passing motorists was quite inspiring. We did, of course, have the usual products of public education pass by with their stunted language arts knowledge. Apparently the most easily pronounced four letter Mexican word begins with an “F” and ends with a “K”. Oddly, our response of “God bless you, too” failed to pacify. It would appear the formerly sleepy little town of Harvard, Illinois is aware there is an illegal alien problem and were glad to have Minutemen to draw attention to it. Have any of you had the opportunity to have people drive by slowly and yell, “Thank God you’re finally here!”? We had people park their cars and walk over to shake our hands and thank us for our efforts! We are enthused!
Halfway through the day our contingent at the Junior High had a car pull up, a male exited the vehicle and asked our photo taker why he was taking photos, and then demanded that he be given the digital camera. Our no-nonsense Vietnam vet signaled the police (who were stationed within 100 feet) who immediately started walking over, at which time our camera-shy friend re-entered his vehicle & drove up to the school. It strikes me as odd that they drive in eagerly to get a picture on a Matricula that costs about $28 (and I’m assuming the Mexican officials will take that in US dollars), but get unglued about an American citizen taking their picture for free. All was well, however, and the day continued on.
Over on the South end of town, the smiles, friendly waves & thumbs up continued with the steady stream of traffic on Route 14. Periodically, an individual with no concern for the rule of law would pass and show us his/her best driving finger. Between noon- and one-o’clock, a nice black Cadillac (note the Field Report from 7/18/08) drove by with its passenger hanging out the window screaming obscenities about “white people”. This could have been mildly amusing since there are those among us who are noticeably brown and black, but what made it work was that as the fool is hanging out the window his trusty gang-banger hat flew off & hit the pavement. Our concern for his welfare, and the loss of his personal property, mounted and one of our members retrieved the article of clothing from the highway. Shortly thereafter didn’t little Einstein return with his female driver and whip through the strip mall where we all stood making intelligent decisions about an appropriate lunch spot. This time he displayed all of his language arts skills in perfect elocution and maximum volume, ending with a threat of bodily harm. Police officers, again roughly 100 feet away, were notified. Einstein, however, was not about to stick around and attempted to leave the scene quickly. Unfortunately, trying to exit a strip mall onto a State highway on a Saturday afternoon takes a little doing. IQ really does count! We were able to get some very complimentary photos and film of him and also the lovely grinning female driver. The police chief will be given the photos in the morning; he believes this future Darwin-Award winner is already well known to his police department.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is the final day of this four-day Trojan Horse routine.. Again, I must say that our people have been encouraged by the positive responses we’ve received and I thank all of them -- and all of YOU -- for continuing to protect our Constitution and our Country. It would appear the Mexican Consulate has been successful in “serving” approximately 800 people over a 4-day period. We, however, have been successful in waking up approximately 9,000 Americans and letting them know there are others who are willing to do something to regain the rule of law.
Special thoughts go out to the San Diego Minutemen. We hope your rally outside the Home Depot store was a great success.
Ev and Diane Evertsen
