Local Border Patrol statement absent from the web?

The January 9th edition of The Port Townsend Leader features a statement by Chief Patrol Agent John C. Bates of the Blaine USBP sector.

This statement can be found on page A-9 of the print edition which will be on sale locally for one week.

It is unfortunate that this statement is not available in the Leader’s web edition which is offered free of charge. Keeping a statement made by a public official out of the web edition suppresses discussion and limits readership Re: public policy issues that impact the local community.

Did Chief Bates select just one local paper for his statement, or did this statement go out to several newspapers?

The statement from Chief Bates also includes a link to the USBP 2012-2016 Strategic Plan for border security.

Here is related info from another source:

Border Patrol’s New Strategy Highlights Agency’s Lack of Clear Direction

March, 2012-

An insert included with the The Port Townsend Leader informed us on Olympic Peninsula US Border Patrol operations.

The article reads like paid advertising or something produced by US Border Patrol public relations.

Most of the photos used in the article were provided by the federal government.

More from the Blaine sector:

The Garage Sale Incident

This might be a good time for The Leader to assign a reporter and follow-up with some questions.

Please ask Chief Bates about secret arrest statistics, denied FOIA requests & whistleblower investigations that result in further suppression of information.

The US Border Patrol limited questions at the recent grand opening of the $11.9 million, 50 agent facility at Port Angeles:

“Jones asked a Peninsula Daily News reporter to interview only Border Patrol personnel selected by the agency and to confine interviews of selected personnel to topics concerning the station’s opening.”

“The Border Patrol has refused repeated requests by the Peninsula Daily News — including those made under the Freedom of Information Act — for arrest totals for the Port Angeles station, which covers a territory that includes Clallam and Jefferson counties.”

Please remind Chief Bates that local law enforcement agencies post dispatch logs in The Leader:

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Log

City of Port Townsend Police Log

Please ask Chief Bates why arrest statistics are not secret at Erie, PA.

The people of Erie, PA did not have to submit a FOIA request to find out what justified the expansion of their local Border Patrol station-

No public information/security conflict at the U.S. Border Patrol station (not sector) in Erie, PA.

Erie Station- similar to Port Angeles in that it is separated from Canada by water.

This local story cries out for investigative reporting:

“The whistleblower, Christian Sanchez, was stationed at a Port Angeles, Washington office staffed by over 40 employees – an office where there was insufficient work for the prior crew of four.”