1988.. I was working in California and spending weekends and such in Baja.. In Rosarita Beach, I frequented a small motel.. Baja Del Sol.. Twnety six rooms.. clean.. quiet .. on the beach and very popular for it's excellent restaurant and bar.. There was even a drugstore which fronted the motel just off the highway.. Access to the beach was convenient with a beautiful patio and pool area.. The manager of this quaint little motel usually screened the guest carefully... occasionally, him or his wife would make a mistake and were quick to correct it.. I'd checked in that day about noon, spent a pleasant afternoon visiting with other guests in the restaurant.. most of them were regulars and we were acquainted .. About ten in the evening, all hell broke loose in that quiet little motel.. The uproar coming from one of those rooms sounded like world war three was taking place.. The manager ran past the open door of my room, headed in the direction of the disturbance.. I hurriedly followed .. When I got there, he was being confronted by a couple of those rowdy guests, and explaining to them that they'd be refunded their money, but they'd be expected to check out.. About the time I got there, he pushed the door open and lo and behold, there were at least seven people in that room.. Ranging in ages from seventeen to twenty eight.. established later by the Rosarita Beach Police officers.. Those guys had demolished a motel room.. Half gallon jugs of rum were scattered all over the room.. Mattresses, pillows and bedclothes were all over the floor and the stench coming from that room was horrible.. The room had been rented to two of those guys and the rest had rented other rooms across the street in another motel.. When we'd gained entry into that room, towels were in the commode and it was overrunning on the floor.. That manager immediately withdrew his offer to refund money and ordered the whole bunch off his property.. When they refused to leave, the police were called .. The confrontation escalated from that point, and the police physically took them outside.. Even to this point, the police advised the owner to just evict them and let them get the hell away from there.. Somehow, during the loading of their few belongings, the stash of drugs were discovered in their car.. From that point, things really took off, in a hurry.. Those guys were under arrest in no uncertain terms.. The damned fools then decided they'd just have it out with those Mexican police officers.. Bad move, boys.. those policemen didn't play any games with them and worked them over real good.. That was quite a show for the regulars who'd enjoyed so many nice weekends in that little motel.. When I returned a couple of weeks later, I learned those guys were still in jail and might spend months, if not years in the Rosarita Beach facility .. Yup.. you might know it.. parents and friends were all over the map, complaining about police brutality and the justice system in Mexido.. Some of them even managed to tell their horror story about all of that, on the local TV stations in San Diego.. The newspapers editorialized for weeks about the youngsters from their area being mistreated in places like Rosarita Beach and Tijuana..
