PHOENIX - What a difference one little word can make, particularly if you're surfing the Internet looking to help the state pay for a border fence.
A website set up last week at "www.buildaborderfence.com" brings up a screen with multiple pictures of what is billed as the international border, with only five strands of barbed wire separating the United States from Mexico. The caption blares, "Does THIS look like a secure border?"
It also tells readers any money they donate "will be used for web site development and other expenses used in the promotion of the border fence," with an address in Las Vegas where people can send their money.
Las Vegas? That should be your first clue.
The website set up by the state the day before - the one where the money actually goes to build a fence - is "www.buildtheborderfence.com"
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But Howard Chinchuck, who set up the alternative site, said there's nothing improper about what he is doing.
"On my site, if you notice, it doesn't say that the money goes to build the fence," said Chinchuck, who said he is a Las Vegas cabdriver. "It actually says it's helping build a website to promote the fence, not to actually build the fence."
If anyone sends him an email, he will direct the respondent to the state's official site, he said.
And the donations? "It's expensive to run a website and to build it," he said. But everything he is doing is aimed at helping the state raise the necessary funds, he said.
"I'm completely for building a fence to keep the people out," he said, adding that his family came here from another country, but did it legally.
"I'm sick and tired of jobs going to people who don't belong here," said Chinchuck, who used to handicap horse races at Vegasinsider.com
He said he doubts he is taking any money away from the state's official website, considering all he's gotten so far is one check for $25. The official state website has picked up more than $100,000 in donations.
