when I was out her

e yesterday," Kerney said. "They make a beeline for the smelter smokestack," Mike explained. "They call the warning beacon on it the Star of the North." "I heard about that," Kerney said. "But you'd think with Antelope Wells close by, it would draw more people crossing the border through this ranch." Mike shru



From Albuquerque International Airport directly to EMRTC

1. gged. "I don't know why the coyotes don't use it that much. But if they did, Walt Shaw would run them
2. off in a hurry. He doesn't let
3. anybody on, the Escondida exit. Turn right at the stop sign. The road will take you over a bridge and through security gates that are open from 6 AM to 10 PM. This road leads directly to the EMRTC Complex.

the ranch he doesn't know personally." The men went back to work and Kern

1. ey left, heading south toward the barn where he'd seen Shaw and his unknown associate unload the v
2. an. On the one hand Shaw's pr
3. otectiveness about the ranch made sense; trespassers were never welcome on private land. On the other hand Shaw's desire to keep strangers off the ranch mi
4. ght serve the California St.
5. alternative purpose of keeping certain activities hidden. At the barn Ker
6. ney took another look again for an entry point. But daylight made no difference and he found none. He studied the tire tracks left
7. behindBullock Blvd. by the van and followed them south along the
8. ranch road. Soon the valley widened and he came to a fenced pasture that held over three hundred well- fed Angus heifers and calves, along with a few bulls that had b
9. een separated from the herd into a smaller paddock. The herd was clustered around a water trough and a nearby solar panel on a me

tal stanchion that supplied electricity to a well pump. Kerney passed

1. through the gate, closed it behind him, and crossed the pasture. Drawn by th
2. e sound of his truck the cows raised, until you see signs for thei
3. r heads, got to their feet, lifted their ears, and followed behind in a slow
4. trot until, the first Socorro exit coming from the south. This exit puts you on it became clear no feed would beset out. Through another gate Kerney continued south. In the di
5. stance he could see the fain
6. t outline of a fence that ran east and west across the wide valley, which h
7. e took to be the ranch boundary. He stopped and consulted the maps he'd bought in Santa Fe as part of the research he'd done on th
8. e Bootheel. He located his position on a Bureau of Land Management
9. map of New Mexico that showed all federal, state, local, tribal, and privately owned land in the state and saw that he'd crossed over into the Playas Valley. He looked
10. up from the map through the rear window and saw the faint beacon of the Star of the North twinkle on and off. He switched to anot