On Sunday

On Sunday, June 24, 2007, two people that I knew were killed in a car accident. They were hit by a pick-up truck while riding their motorcycle down Highway 49 in Gulfport, MS. The driver was apparently trying to make a U-turn. They barely had a chance to avoid the truck. Wayne Hughes was still on the bike when he was found. He was 45. Michelle Hughes was thrown 30 feet away. She was 48. Their youngest son, Ron, witnessed the entire thing.

The guy who hit them was an illegal alien. He jumped out of the truck and fled the scene with his wife and child. He was caught later that day and is currently being held on a $51,000 bond for a variety of charges. None of them are “vehicular manslaughter,” because apparently, Mississippi doesn’t have that crime on its books. Hopefully, this time he’ll be deported.

“This time,” you ask? Oh, yeah…this time.

On June 17, he was arrested for DUI and driving without a license. He shouldn’t have even been in the country on June 24. But he was. And as a result, two people are dead.

I know bringing this up isn’t going to bring them back, but that doesn’t change the fact that it pisses me off. He. Should not. Have been here. Period. So to anyone who believes that there shouldn’t be a crackdown on illegal aliens in this country, tell that to Chris, Denise, Jeanette, Ron, and Francis. Those are their children. I’m sure they’d love to hear your reasoning.


You know, I’ve never been to Central America. From what I read about it, it seems to be pretty rough and corrupt at virtually all levels of government. And from what I understand, traffic laws there are more of a suggestion, not the law of the land. “Hey, you might wanna stop at that sign…unless you don’t want to.”

Now, the actual evidence of that, I’ve seen with my own eyes. There is a huge Latin population here in Atlanta, and I’ve almost been run over a ton of times and I’d say 5 times out of 10, it’s by someone of Latin descent. And I’m not saying that to say that Latinos can’t drive, because I know that most of them probably can. I’m saying that where they come from, the country probably doesn’t put the same emphasis on stopping at a red light that ours does. Hell, just a month ago, the front of my car was almost torn off by a guy who ran a red light. He was driving a white van with ladders on top of it. I didn’t see the guy, but based on what he was riding in and where I was (Buford Hwy aka Nuevo Mexico 2), I’m willing to bet that he was Latino.

Just to show that I’m not bigoted, back in 2003, I was almost hit at the intersection of Columbia Dr. and McAfee Rd (aka “The Hood”) by a guy in an SUV with chrome rims, who ran a red light. I didn’t see that guy either, but I’d bet you both the hands I’m typing this with that he was black.

Getting back to my point, if you were not from here, but took the time to come here legally, chances are you’d know the traffic laws a little better than you do. Yeah, I know a lot of people from here ignore little things like signaling before making a lane change (and you have no idea how much I hate that), but at least they were told. People who are driving illegally most likely have no idea about that. I’ll bet you the two extra hands I won in the last bet that they had no clue about that when they were driving around down in El Salvador. And if they did, who the hell cared?

So when this guy made his U-turn in the middle of Hwy 49, he probably had no clue about things like looking for motorcycles before doing it. I don’t know how well motorcycles sell south of the border, but the numbers can’t be that high. In fact, he was citing for “failing to yield.” Perhaps, if he’d come here legally, he would have learned about yielding.