Posted on 03/27/2008 11:19:53 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
PENITAS — A pickup truck crammed with suspected illegal immigrants collided with an SUV near the Mexican border today, killing three people and injuring at least nine others.
Police said there could have been as many as 25 people in the truck when it crashed before dawn on U.S. 83, the main east-west artery along the border in the Rio Grande Valley.
"There were bodies all over the place," said Penitas interim Police Chief David Harris. Nine people were taken to hospitals, while Border Patrol spokesman Oscar Saldana said his agency had three suspected illegal immigrants in custody.
The truck's driver, believed to be injured, ran off, Harris said. Information was not immediately available on the condition of the other driver. Department of Public Safety troopers were investigating the cause of the accident.
Some of the survivors told police they had been hurried into the back of the truck and had not gone far before the accident. "I think they had paid a fee" to be smuggled across the border, Harris said.
Blood stained the grass at the scene, which happened to be in front of L&I Funeral Home. The gold pickup came to rest against a telephone pole, just feet from the funeral home's display of headstones.
La Joya police spokesman Joe Cantu said the area was a major immigrant-smuggling corridor, and accidents where immigrants are tossed from the open beds of pickups are not unusual.
Lately there had been an influx of immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, but most of those involved in today's accident are believed to be Mexican, he said.
If they weren’t wearing seat belts, they could be in REAL trouble.
~ BAD SIGN! ~
I surely agree with that.
bump
From a Texas Historical Marker at Penitas:
Possibly one of oldest towns in the United States. Established, according to tradition, in mid-1520s. Founders were a priest and five other Spaniards of the unsuccessful Panfilo de Narvaez Expedition into Mexico in 1520. Narvaez was sent to arrest or kill Hernando Cortez, conqueror of Mexico, who was accused of disloyalty to the king. Cortez, however, defeated Narvaez in battle, imprisoned him, and took most of Narvaez's army for his own. After Narvaez was released from prison (1521), he and the remnant of his men set out for Florida. But Father Zamora and five officers gave up further plans to travel with Narvaez, and settled at Penitas. The refugees were befriended by Indians living in huts and dugout-type homes in the vicinity. The Spaniards erected stone houses with whitewashed walls. Father Zamora brought the Catholic faith to the Indians, also teaching them weaving and better farming. The Indians taught cookery to their guests. Cabeza de Vaca, aide in a later Narvaez expedition, is famous for having written of his shipwreck and wanderings in Texas from 1528 to 1535. The founders of Penitas are recalled best by their descendants, some of whom still live in this area. (1970)
I read about this settlement about 40 years ago but had long since forgotten its name. I ran across the above the other day.
stand, any possibility of Thanksgiving services here in the 1520s?
Cheers.
I kind of always thought that the whole first thanksgiving was some sorta big shame.
A Texas oil well was on fire, and the owner was looking to contract someone to put it out. Two people showed up. The first was the famous oil well fire fighter, Red Adair.
"How much to put out this fire?" the owner asked. Red replied, "One million dollars, cash in advance". "Oh, I'm afraid that's way beyond what I can afford", said the owner.
He turned to the second person, Juan Gonzalez, and asked him, "How much would you charge?" "Well senor", said Juan, "for you I weel do it for fifty thousand dollars." The surprised owner quickly agreed.
Later that same afternoon an old pickup truck, loaded with what had to be at least forty Mexicans, came roaring over the horizon directly towards the well fire. The Mexicans were yelling and banging on the roof and sides of the old pickup as it shot past the startled owner directly into the inferno! The Mexicans jumped out, most of them shoeless, and began stomping out the fire. It was complete chaos, as Mexicans were running about, yelling and screaming, sombreros catching on fire, arms waving.
Well, after a few minutes of this, the fire was out! Juan Gonzalez, who was driving the truck, walked over to the owner, his clothes still smoking. The owner looked at him with awe and said, "I've never seen anything like that. You and your men certainly deserve the money. Tell me, what are you going to do with fifty thousand dollars?"
"Well senor", said Juan, "the first thing I'm gonna do is feex the brakes on the truck".
fwiw, believe anything that the "nameless shunned one" posts about the FIRST THANKSGIVING (in what is presently TEXAS) at YOUR peril.the "shunned one" is a KNOWING, premeditated, LIAR, whose "word of hoinor" is an oxymoron.
free dixie,sw
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