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Soap
Box
June 2001
Readers Writes:
Thanks again
everyone who sent in emails. Your kind words inspire us to keep the keyboard
humming into the wee hours.
I have
watched your site since it was announced via oregon_trials
Enjoy the information and watch for new tidbits that pop up. Keep up
the good work.
John S.
Oregon
I was
surfing the GPS Enthusiasts web ring when I landed on your site. Great
content! I especially liked reading about Baja racing with GPS.
Doug A.
How can I get your GPS Navigator Magazine?
David
Sorry David,
Its only online for now. We hope to turn it into a glossy sometime in
the future. We will keep you posted. Jack
Web Site News:
Welcome our
latest member of the team, Dan Plaster. Dan is a serious photographer
with enough sense of humor to allow us to drag him around to cool off-road
events to take lots of quality pics. His work will be first seen in our
coverage of the Team Trophy Challenge event from Tillamook, Oregon. His
photos will also hopefully appear soon in at least one national magazine.
He is a former Navy man and a Jeep enthusiast. Were glad to have him
on our side.
Special Thanks
to Dan Nutt of Dan Nutt Racing for his support of this site. Despite
the skinny cash flow he has agreed to have us as a sponsor of his unlimited
class desert racer. The team has been successful in various Best in the
Desert and VORRA races, usually placing if lucky enough to finish. Look
for an upcoming article on how to go desert racing featuring Dan Nutt
Racing.
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| Dan
Nutt and Eric Gwaltney get ready to start the Yerington 300 in Nevada |
This
tidy Type 4 powered Chenworth has no problem pulling a second gear
wheelie off the start |
Ramblings from the Publisher, Jack
W. Peters
Guys
that look like this could help extend your next Latin American trip.
Pricey
Gringos
Americans are kidnapped for big bucks
Im the last
guy that would want to make anyone worry about anything, but for anyone
traveling in the third world, kidnapping is just one more thing to deal
with. Besides its very trendy now. From the movie script Proof of
Life, to newspaper headlines, executives and even tourists being held
for ransom is big business. It is big business because it is big bucks.
In April,
13 million was paid to release four American oil company employees from
Ecuador. One of the victims who had managed to escape, 54 year old Ronald
Sander, was found dead of five bullet wounds to his back. His body was
covered by a sheet with the message, I am a gringo. For nonpayment of
ransom. These guys were involved in the South American oil industry
that makes them prime targets for the typically leftist cash-hungry groups
that see kidnapping as a serious business opportunity.
Not all of
these victims are employees of wealthy companies, sometimes the motivation
is partially political. That makes travelers and tourists targets of
renegade rebel groups eager to make it on the 5:00 news. In May, a group
of 20 tourists and resort employees were taken hostage from a Philippine
island retreat by Muslim guerrillas. The Americans are SCUBA diver Guillermo
Sobero of California, and missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham
of Kansas, celebrating a wedding anniversary. Since the 20 hostages were
taken, some had escaped, some were killed, and new hostages had been taken
from a hospital. Unfortunately the three Americans are still missing,
and Sobero is feared to have been be-headed as punishment from the ongoing
pursuit from Philippine troops.
The highest
risk area is Latin America, Columbia leading with half of the worlds
kidnappings. Other high-risk areas include Mexico, India, Italy, Spain,
Philippines, Pakistan, Cambodia, Yemen and Turkey. Basically anywhere
that includes groups hostile to Western interests. The risk meter is
pegged if you fall into the category of a high profile, rich Yankee, capitalist
pig.
девушки The problem
is that it is very profitable. In the case of the four Americans released
from Ecuador, the captors were out 141 days of beans and rice and received
13 million. That much money buys a hellava lot of third world drugs,
guns and hookers. It pays for private armies to kidnap more gringos.
Dont get me wrong, three of the Americans released are from our home
state of Oregon, so we are as pleased to have them released as anyone.
Unfortunately the options are somewhat limited. Maybe for under a million
you could hire a team of mercenaries, (take your pick from former members
of elite military units), to overcome their personal differences, and
get your loved ones back. This works some of the time, but also greatly
increases the chance that captives will be killed. Realistically, the
best choice is for high-risk persons to buy KRE Kidnap, Rescue and Extortion
insurance. Besides being insured is better than family members hitting
up Aunt Mildred or your boss for $2,000,000.
Kidnappings
will continue as long as captors receive million dollar ransoms, and
corrupt countries fail to adequately pursue and prosecute kidnappers.
This only hurts the development of these countries, and helps ensure they
remain deeply entrenched in the third world.
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