By John MacCormack - Express-News As author of ?The Tecate Journals,? a highly acclaimed adventure book about traveling the wilder stretches of the Rio Grande, Keith Bowden owns near cult status among some river runners.
So, when he and a rafting buddy got a $100 citation in December for building a ground fire ? in violation of their trip permit ? on a remote riverbank south of Sanderson, more than one can of worms popped open.
For starters, the offending fire was on private land on the Mexican side of the international boundary, but the park rangers who police this federally protected river, and who wrote the citation, were American.
Bowden, of Laredo, immediately protested.
?I said, ?This isn't fair.' First of all, I have permission from the landowner. Secondly, we're in Mexico,? he said of the Dec. 20 encounter.
?And he said, ?I don't care. It's on a Wild and Scenic River,'? he recalled of his conversation with Ranger Mike Ryan.
Bowden and longtime river-running buddy Scott Hayes also were traveling without a portable toilet on their three-week raft trip ? another violation of their permit ? but Ryan let them off on that one.
?We have very simple river regulations. Essentially, that you don't leave a mess behind, and that includes ground fires, and that you have to carry out solid human waste,? said Ryan, who is based upstream in Big Bend National Park.
?They agreed to do that when they got the permit, and they didn't do either one. We try to hold people to the same standards if they are on the Texas side or the Mexican side.?
But can American park rangers actually give a ticket to someone for conduct in Mexico?
Not a chance, according to Mexican Consul official Fernando Valdes in Del Rio.
?We don't know about this incident, but generally U.S. authorities should not even cross into Mexico in any official capacity and perform acts of authority, even in hot pursuit,? he said.
?This is very serious. The officers should be advised by their superiors that this is against the law,? he said.
Hayes, 50, of Massachusetts was named in the $100 citation because he was the permit holder. He said he and Bowden will not contest it. But, he said, he still doesn't think he did anything wrong or was within the reach of U.S. authorities.
?I think it's a dumb rule,? he said of the fire pan requirement.
?I've being doing the Rio Grande for 15 years, and I've never brought a fire pan. We've built at least 300 fires on both sides of the river without using fire pans. We don't leave a mess,? he said.
In the future, he said, he'll use a fire pan, but there is still the issue of authority.
?Like Keith said, can you imagine if the Mexican police landed on the American shore and started handing out tickets?? he said.
Hayes said that, on a trip of more than 170 miles in a 9-foot raft, it's not practical to carry out human waste. Instead, he said, he and Bowden use deep holes dug far from the shore and cover them with sand and rocks, then burn the paper.
District Ranger Marcos Paredes, who oversees this stretch of the Rio Grande, said it's not up to individuals to decide which rules apply to them, no matter how experienced or neat they are.
?It's based on the honor system. We assume people will act in good faith. Not only do we expect it, when they sign the permit they are stating they will,? he said.
He said Bowden does both the public and the park a disservice by ignoring the rules.
?He's a published author and his book is great. But he of all people, he should be spreading the message of protecting these resources,? he said.
Jan Forte, longtime owner of Big Bend River Tours in Study Butte, which each year sends thousands of tourists down the river, said most rafters accept the authority of national park rangers anywhere on the river.
And she was critical of users who ignore rules on proper river etiquette.
?I think that's a piss-poor attitude. If anyone is on the river, and they don't use a fire pan, they are not a river runner. They don't have any respect for the river or the country,? she said.
As to the legal question of whether a citation given by U.S. authorities in Mexico is enforceable, Paredes said that is for a federal magistrate to decide.
?We do not have authority on the Mexican bank. But we do have authority to regulate the conditions of the permit. So if there is a question of jurisdiction, folks are welcome to go before the magistrate,? he said.
?In the past, the magistrate has found that if a person has agreed to comply with the permit, it's without consideration of where they are,? he said.
