Plan for Expanding Border Checkpoint

San Clemente is again concerned about the Border Patrol checkpoint.

One year ago, a projected five-year completion date of a $22-million expansion project of the checkpoint was announced, with total support from our U.S. senators and other elected officials. One year later the same project is still five years away, with an estimated cost of $30 million.

I submitted to Sens. Alan Cranston and Pete Wilson a less-costly alternative for an immediate remedy to the San Clemente fiasco on Nov. 28, 1988, urging them to install parking-lot-style spikes that could be activated to stop a car before a chase began. It is obvious that our elected officials are more concerned about the appropriation of the money to build a new checkpoint, yet not too concerned about the solution for an immediate remedy to safeguard the residents of San Clemente.

Can the Border Patrol and the city endure the five-year-or-longer waiting period? Sound logic should prevail to “fix the leak until you can build the new dam.”

JAMES FLORES

La Habra