| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"J Young" |
| Date: |
03 Apr 2007 11:28:54 AM |
| Object: |
Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
Is anybody *really* suprised?
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/559842.html
When Eliseo Hernandez came to the United States 30 years ago, he
thought he drove better after a few beers. Driving drunk had been
normal back in Mexico, he said. But Hernandez, 54, learned of its
perils firsthand. He quit the practice after falling asleep at the
wheel and hitting a tree 18 years ago.
Then, last year, a young Hispanic man who authorities say was drunk
nearly killed Hernandez's only son, Diego, in a crash on a rural
Johnston County road. Eliseo Hernandez's daughter, who was nine months
pregnant, lost her unborn child in the accident.
Hernandez has spent the past year following Diego through four
hospitals and 14 brain surgeries. Diego only recently began to smile
again and might never walk.
Hernandez said he hopes his painful journey will teach his friends and
family a lesson. Car accidents are the top killer of Hispanics in
North Carolina, and the disproportionate number of alcohol-related
arrests and wrecks are an embarrassment to a minority already
beleaguered by hard feelings over illegal immigration.
"It makes the Mexicans look bad, very bad," Hernandez said. "The
American people say 'Oh, it's just another Hispanic, the same as the
others.' "
In 2005, there were 37 alcohol-related crashes caused by Hispanic
drivers for every 10,000 Hispanics in the state, according to the UNC
Highway Safety Research Center. That is more than three times the rate
of alcohol-related crashes among non-Hispanics.
Hispanic leaders are struggling to stem a problem that they say is
rooted in the waves of young men who leave the calming influences of
church and family to labor alone in a new country.
"It's difficult because you're trying to compete with the loneliness,"
said Tony Asion, public safety director for El Pueblo, an Hispanic
advocacy group. "Then, as some learn, more come, and we start again."
Last month, a Johnston County father and son died in a fiery crash
authorities say was caused by Luciano Tellez, 31, an illegal immigrant
from Mexico. Dwane Braswell, 35, and his son Jerry, 9, were riding in
a tractor-trailer cab on N.C. 210 in the Cleveland community of
Johnston County when Tellez struck the tractor and rolled it into a
ditch, where it caught fire.
Empty beer cans were found in Tellez' car, but authorities say it is
impossible to know whether he was drunk.
It was the latest in a string of such accidents caused by Hispanic
men. In February in Salisbury, a woman who was eight months pregnant
and her unborn child were killed. In October, it was two college
students and a high school boy. In January 2006, a man from El
Salvador killed a Hillsborough woman in a head-on crash and fled,
leaving an injured passenger in his own car.
Researchers say drunken driving among Hispanics is at least partially
explained by demographics. As in many places where immigration is
fairly recent, the Hispanic population in North Carolina is young and
dominated by men -- both factors that make them statistically more
likely to drive drunk.
Men in their 20s and 30s made up more than half the people charged
with DWI statewide in the year ending last July. Nearly 40 percent of
North Carolina Hispanics were 21- to 39-year-old men in 2005,
according to census estimates. This same age range accounted for only
18 percent of blacks and 16 percent of whites.
Bobby Dunn, who counsels Spanish-speaking DWI convicts in Johnston and
Wilson counties, said his clients are often young men far from home
with money in their pockets for the first time. Many were too poor to
have cars in Mexico, so they have little experience behind the wheel.
They also see drinking as a way of showing their manhood.
"The magic number is 12," Dunn said, or "un doce" in Spanish. "If you
can drink 12 beers, you're a man."
Others say heavy drinking is part of a lifestyle dominated by long
work days building homes, painting or picking crops.
Walking down Buck Jones Road to his apartment in West Raleigh, Alberto
Gonzalez figured he would drink most of the 12-pack he had just bought
that night, even though it was a weeknight.
Gonzalez, 29, said he hadn't given much thought to spending a night
without a beer in hand. "I just sit and drink," he said. "Maybe a
friend will come by. Other than work, this is what I do."
Hernandez was part of an early wave of young men who came to North
Carolina to pick tobacco. There were so few Hispanics in North
Carolina then, he said, he couldn't find a store that sold hot peppers
or corn tortillas.
He had been a drinker in Mexico, he said, but it got worse in the
United States. He didn't have a family to tend to, and he felt very
alone in a place where no one understood him.
"When you are young, you don't think anything will happen to you," he
said. "When you have a family, you care more about your life."
In fact, the increasing number of Hispanic women and children in North
Carolina may explain why the prevalence of drunken-driving accidents
and arrests among Hispanics has not grown with the population.
By some measures, DWI accidents and citations among Hispanics are
actually diminishing.
Hispanics made up 18 percent of the 75,000 DWI arrests last year,
while they accounted for 6 percent of the population. The portion of
DWI citations going to Hispanics has crept up slightly since 2000,
even as the growth in the state's Hispanic population has outpaced
overall population growth by more than 500 percent.
Since 2000, alcohol-related crashes among Hispanics have dropped from
9 percent of all crashes that involve Hispanics to 7 percent.
The pressure to reverse the trend is intense. Each fatality brings
calls for deportations and tighter immigration controls.
Luke Steele, 49, adds up the deaths and sees a growing problem that
stems from immigration. He said his daughter lost her college roommate
to a Hispanic drunken driver in October.
Steele, a longtime fire rescue worker, also remembers a 1991 wreck in
which a teenage girl was killed by an illegal immigrant who "skipped
town before the case ever went to trial."
"We've still got plenty of stupid white, black, pink and purple people
that drive drunk. That's plenty to go around," he said. "The reality
is if they weren't here, they could not kill people [while] driving
drunk."
After the March wreck in Johnston County, U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, a
Charlotte Republican, reintroduced a bill that would require the
deportation of all immigrants convicted of drunken driving.
And anti-immigration groups have seized on the issue as an effective
marketing strategy for their cause.
"The effect on the labor force is real, but it's indirect," said Mark
Krikorian, director of the Washington-based Center for Immigration
Studies, which favors tighter controls on immigration. "Whereas, an
illegal alien who drives drunk and kills some newlywed couple is
tangible."
Asion, who leads El Pueblo's effort to curb drunken driving, works to
separate the DWI problem from the immigration debate.
Many Hispanics have not grown up with anti-drunken-driving messages,
and it will take time for the ideas to take hold.
"It's not something that you can do easily," Asion said. "If it was,
then the U.S. population would have already done it."
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| User: "Ray Fischer" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 12:43:48 PM |
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J Young <youngopinions@aol.com> wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
That you're a racist neonazi? Nope. Not surprised at all.
--
Ray Fischer
rfischer@sonic.net
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| User: "Geoff" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 12:50:12 PM |
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"Ray Fischer" <rfischer@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:46129254$0$14142$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
J Young <youngopinions@aol.com> wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
That you're a racist neonazi? Nope. Not surprised at all.
He sure is. If he thinks this kind of behavior is limited to Mexicans, he
should come here to Georgia (or where I used to live in Ohio) where they
have drive-thru liquor stores and DWI's are rarely prosecuted unless there's
an accident.
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| User: "Sanders Kaufman" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 04:32:06 PM |
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Geoff wrote:
He sure is. If he thinks this kind of behavior is limited to Mexicans, he
should come here to Georgia (or where I used to live in Ohio) where they
have drive-thru liquor stores and DWI's are rarely prosecuted unless there's
an accident.
Same thing here in Dallas. Cops are just too busy planning
their next party to go chase down DWI's.
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| User: "Douglas Berry" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 09:26:26 PM |
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On 3 Apr 2007 09:28:54 -0700 there was an Ancient "J Young"
<youngopinions@aol.com> who stoppeth one in alt.atheism
Is anybody *really* suprised?
I'm suprised that the writer seems to have managed to not hear about
Columbus, Georgia, on an average Saturday night. On Victory Drive, it
wasn't uncommon to see several accidents, cars on the sidewalks,
drivers guzzling beer while driving.. Hell, I caught a cab back to
base one night and the good ol'boy driving professionally was blitzed.
He passed out as I got in the car. So I rolled him, dumped him behind
The Aztec, and left the cab in a yard of junkers destined to be
targets on the tank gunnery range.
--
Douglas Berry Do the OBVIOUS thing to send e-mail
Atheist #2147, Atheist Vet #5
Jason Gastrich is praying for me on 8 January 2011
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the
source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a
stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as
good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein
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| User: "Parsifal" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 04:14:47 PM |
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On 3 Apr., 18:28, "J Young" <youngopini...@aol.com> wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
Considering that you've been sending offensive postings for years (how
pathetic can you get...), no, we're not *really* surprised that you're
a nazi turd.
You know, of course, that your admirer John Wentzky was once arrested
for DUI? (as well as for indecent exposure but that's another story).
So we can assume that DUI, intolerance, racism and homophobia is also
rooted in pseudo-christians' culture.
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| User: "Al Klein" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 09:44:07 PM |
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On 3 Apr 2007 14:14:47 -0700, "Parsifal" <jeanpascalvachon@gmail.com>
wrote:
You know, of course, that your admirer John Wentzky was once arrested
for DUI? (as well as for indecent exposure but that's another story).
So we can assume that DUI, intolerance, racism and homophobia is also
rooted in pseudo-christians' culture.
Do I detect a faint hint of bagpipe music? :)
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| User: "Geoff" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 09:50:19 PM |
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Parsifal wrote:
On 3 Apr., 18:28, "J Young" <youngopini...@aol.com> wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
Considering that you've been sending offensive postings for years (how
pathetic can you get...), no, we're not *really* surprised that you're
a nazi turd.
You know, of course, that your admirer John Wentzky was once arrested
for DUI? (as well as for indecent exposure but that's another story).
No *****? How do you know that?
--
Geoff O'Furman
Head Coach, Varsity Hockey
University of Ediacara
AA #22??
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| User: "Parsifal" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
04 Apr 2007 04:59:25 AM |
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On 4 Apr., 04:50, "Geoff" <geb...@yahoo.nospam.com> wrote:
Parsifal wrote:
On 3 Apr., 18:28, "J Young" <youngopini...@aol.com> wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
Considering that you've been sending offensive postings for years (how
pathetic can you get...), no, we're not *really* surprised that you're
a nazi turd.
You know, of course, that your admirer John Wentzky was once arrested
for DUI? (as well as for indecent exposure but that's another story).
No *****? How do you know that?
Oh, it was part of a very long thread ("Hate-Crimes Bill Would Give
Gays Special Rights"), a few days ago. Here's the link to Wentzky's
history:
http://acpass.andersoncountysc.org/gsdetail1.cgi?warrind=79265AH!!!1997GS0402248
Case Docket Inquiry
Indictment Number: 1997GS0402248 Warrant Number : 79265AH
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Defendant Name: WENTZKY, JOHN
Address: 2403 MIDWAY RD Sex: M
City: ANDERSON Race: W
State: SC Zip: 29624-0000 DOB: 7/15/1961
Arrest Date: 7/03/1996 Rcvd by COC: 7/08/1996 Summary
Judge: 733
Offense of
Conviction: SEX/INDECENT EXPOSURE
Counts: 1 /
Disposition: 10/13/1997 GUILTY PLEA Restored Date:
Court Reporter: DONNA BRADY Transferred Date:
Disposed By: EPPS, FRANK Add Sentance to SCCA: 7/26/1996
Last Change Date: 10/14/1997
Change Sent to SCCA 10/17/1997
Sentence/Explanation: 1 YEAR SUSP. 1 YEAR PROBATION AND
$500
P.D. FUND.
*SURCHARGE=$100 + $500 PD FUND (PAY $100/MO., BEG.
11/7/97)
And it was proven that this Wentzky and ours are the same person...
Yup, that's the kind of persons J Young gets support from...
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| User: "J Young" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
05 Apr 2007 11:10:39 PM |
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On Apr 4, 5:59=EF=BF=BDam, "Parsifal" <jeanpascalvac...@gmail.com> wrote:
On 4 Apr., 04:50, "Geoff" <geb...@yahoo.nospam.com> wrote:
Parsifal wrote:
On 3 Apr., 18:28, "J Young" <youngopini...@aol.com> wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
Considering that you've been sending offensive postings for years (how
pathetic can you get...), no, we're not *really* surprised that you're
a nazi turd.
You know, of course, that your admirer John Wentzky was once arrested
for DUI? (as well as for indecent exposure but that's another story).
No *****? How do you know that?
Oh, it was part of a very long thread ("Hate-Crimes Bill Would Give
Gays Special Rights"), a few days ago. Here's the link to Wentzky's
history:
http://acpass.andersoncountysc.org/gsdetail1.cgi?warrind=3D79265AH!!!19...
Case Docket Inquiry
Indictment Number: 1997GS0402248 Warrant Number : 79265AH
--------------------------------------------------------------------
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Defendant Name: WENTZKY, JOHN
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Address: 2403 MIDWAY RD =A0 Sex: M
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 City: ANDERSON Race: W
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 State: SC Zip: 29624-0000 DOB: 7/15/1961
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Arrest Date: 7/03/1996 Rcvd by COC: 7/08/1996 Sum=
mary
Judge: 733
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Offense of
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Conviction: SEX/INDECENT EXPOSURE
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Counts: 1 =A0 =A0 =A0/
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Disposition: 10/13/1997 GUILTY PLEA Restored Date:
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Court Reporter: DONNA BRADY Transferred Date:
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Disposed By: EPPS, FRANK Add Sentance to SCCA: 7/=
26/1996
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Last Change Date: =A010/14/1997
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Change Sent to SCCA 10/17/1997
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Sentence/Explanation: 1 YEAR SUSP. 1 YEAR PROBATI=
ON AND
$500
P.D. FUND.
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 *SURCHARGE=3D$100 + $500 PD FUND (PAY $100/MO=
.., BEG.
11/7/97)
And it was proven that this Wentzky and ours are the same person...
Yup, that's the kind of persons J Young gets support from...
As opposed to an otherwise good Catholic like you who strays from the
flock occasionally.
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| User: "J Young" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
05 Apr 2007 11:12:36 PM |
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On Apr 4, 5:59=EF=BF=BDam, "Parsifal" <jeanpascalvac...@gmail.com> wrote:
On 4 Apr., 04:50, "Geoff" <geb...@yahoo.nospam.com> wrote:
Parsifal wrote:
On 3 Apr., 18:28, "J Young" <youngopini...@aol.com> wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
Considering that you've been sending offensive postings for years (how
pathetic can you get...), no, we're not *really* surprised that you're
a nazi turd.
You know, of course, that your admirer John Wentzky was once arrested
for DUI? (as well as for indecent exposure but that's another story).
No *****? How do you know that?
Oh, it was part of a very long thread ("Hate-Crimes Bill Would Give
Gays Special Rights"), a few days ago. Here's the link to Wentzky's
history:
http://acpass.andersoncountysc.org/gsdetail1.cgi?warrind=3D79265AH!!!19...
Case Docket Inquiry
Indictment Number: 1997GS0402248 Warrant Number : 79265AH
--------------------------------------------------------------------
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Defendant Name: WENTZKY, JOHN
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Address: 2403 MIDWAY RD =A0 Sex: M
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 City: ANDERSON Race: W
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 State: SC Zip: 29624-0000 DOB: 7/15/1961
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Arrest Date: 7/03/1996 Rcvd by COC: 7/08/1996 Sum=
mary
Judge: 733
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Offense of
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Conviction: SEX/INDECENT EXPOSURE
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Counts: 1 =A0 =A0 =A0/
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Disposition: 10/13/1997 GUILTY PLEA Restored Date:
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Court Reporter: DONNA BRADY Transferred Date:
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Disposed By: EPPS, FRANK Add Sentance to SCCA: 7/=
26/1996
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Last Change Date: =A010/14/1997
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Change Sent to SCCA 10/17/1997
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Sentence/Explanation: 1 YEAR SUSP. 1 YEAR PROBATI=
ON AND
$500
P.D. FUND.
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 *SURCHARGE=3D$100 + $500 PD FUND (PAY $100/MO=
.., BEG.
11/7/97)
And it was proven that this Wentzky and ours are the same person...
Yup, that's the kind of persons J Young gets support from...
You should at the very least have the decency to apologize to Mr.
Wentzky for participating in this libel.
.
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| User: "Mark K. Bilbo" |
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| Title: Re: Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture |
03 Apr 2007 03:54:59 PM |
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On Tue, 03 Apr 2007 10:28:54 -0700, J Young wrote:
Is anybody *really* suprised?
That you're a bigot? No, nobody's surprised...
--
Mark K. Bilbo a.a. #1423
EAC Department of Linguistic Subversion
------------------------------------------------------------
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace
alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing
it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
- H. L. Mencken
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