Laura Bush Kills Motorist

A reader asked me about this a few days ago. An astute Texan pointed out the answer to me this morning:

"The wife of Gov. George W. Bush was responsible for a traffic accident that killed a high school classmate in Midland 37 years ago, according to a newly released accident report. Investigators said a 1963 Chevrolet driven by Mrs. Bush - then Laura Welch, a high school senior - ran a stop sign and struck a Chevrolet Corvair driven by Michael Douglas. Copies of the accident report - parts of which are illegible - were released Wednesday by Midland City Attorney Keith Stretcher after state Attorney General John Cornyn held that the information was public....Mr. Stretcher, the Midland city attorney, initially declined to release any information about the accident on the grounds that it involved minors and therefore was exempt from disclosure under the Texas Public Information Act. He also contended that disclosing the information would violate the parties' privacy rights. Police listed two violations as contributing to the accident, both by Mrs. Bush. One checked box read "disregard stop sign or light," and the other was illegible....Both drivers were Robert E. Lee High School students. Neither was drinking, and no citations were issued, according to the report." - Dallas Morning News, May 4, 2000

I hope when next I run a stop sign and kill someone that there are no citations issued.

Comments

[diane]

Now she sits holier-than-thou, passing judgment on gay people and others.

[Diane, perhaps you weren't paying attention when legislation came down the pike declaring that without a doubt she is in fact holier than thou.]

[Lonnie]

I agree, I hope the next time I run a stop sign and someone is either injured or killed no citiations are given.

Another classic example of what will be sweep under the rug whenever you have money or the access to money. Justice in this country is only for the poor in terms of our crimminal justice system. With money and lots of it, say good bye to the blind lady called justice.

She should be charged now if permitted!!!

[raymond]

You all need to get a life and forget the vindictive comments. At the time of the 'ACCIDENT' she was a young lady in high school and probalbly not from a well know family.

If you did your research insurance rates are rising for young females, and if you sit in a court room once in a while most motor vehicle violators are young ladies. It is a fact that a large number of young ladies are neither responsible nor attentive enough to be behind the wheel of a moving motor vehicle.

Quite often a person is not cited when an accidental death occurs. If the offending person appears to be psychologically effected authorities don't want a negative bounce back at them for going overboard.

Raymond

[n/a]

Let's just say the victim that Laura Bush killed 37 years ago had actually lived and had been paralyzed all this time. Now Mrs. Bush strongly opposes stem cell research that could allow the man a chance to walk. Is this the type woman you can respect a first lady? Oh, I forgot she found Jesus and it's all OK. That's bullshit. So help us all God, our president allows corruption and the first lady is a hipocrite. You ALL better get out of your chairs and go vote this time, and in every state demand a voting paper trail to the computerized voting machines. http://www.geocities.com/votersforum2004

[Concerned Citizen]

Let's just say the victim that Laura Bush killed 37 years ago had actually lived and had been paralyzed all this time. Now Mrs. Bush strongly opposes stem cell research that could allow the man a chance to walk. Is this the type woman you can respect a first lady? Oh, I forgot she found Jesus and it's all OK. That's bullshit. So help us all God, our president allows corruption and the first lady is a hipocrite. You ALL better get out of your chairs and go vote this time, and in every state demand a voting paper trail to the computerized voting machines. http://www.geocities.com/votersforum2004

[Concerned Citizen]

Let's just say the victim that Laura Bush killed 37 years ago had actually lived and had been paralyzed all this time. Now Mrs. Bush strongly opposes stem cell research that could allow the man a chance to walk. Is this the type woman you can respect a first lady? Oh, I forgot she found Jesus and it's all OK. That's bullshit. So help us all God, our president allows corruption and the first lady is a hipocrite. You ALL better get out of your chairs and go vote this time, and in every state demand a voting paper trail to the computerized voting machines. http://www.geocities.com/votersforum2004

[canadian beaver]

Too bad she did'nt hit dubya instead, save a lotta other people from being wacked by yankee bombs!

[christina]

Just a few comments from another ex-Texas librarian to those wondering what happened to "others" who did something similar. Nope, don't think it was deliberate but if you think she got off easy or it was no "big deal" at the time, please check out the TX Laws regarding traffic fatalities and penalities meted out in such accidents and decide for yourself(ves) if she was treated differently than others and do consider, yes, it was 1963 but think again not just about the color, race, religion, political (freedom riders in big trouble)implications of being the "driver" but also about what YOU and YOUR family would do if you hit some one and killed him/her!Maybe I've spent too much time in legal reference reading all that case law and too much time reading penal statistics, and have too many memories of the time I was almost killed (in NY by an idiot on her second offense and whoa, just gotta look at the scars on my knees to recall the adrenaline, fear, and thinking this was it when jumping, flying out of car window and thanking God for that parking lot arm that broke some of the speed, and but more importantly knowing that my parents, as I would do now with ANY seventeen year of mine, would be the LAST ones I would call for help/bail if I were the driver and the only people I'd feel more heartsick for, unable to forgive myself for harming would be the parents of the teenager I killed but then maybe that's me so back to legalese..... )So please read the Texas Statutes for the time (1963 and still pretty much the same) better known as Vernon's Penal Code (call, write the TX State Law Library or email them and no they are not a "biased" group - boring old legal stats don't lie so librarians just give you the photcopies of correct pages) what she did can be found under the citation for "Murder without malice" and you will see that what happened was usually - emphasis usually depended on conditions cited below (See TX records for citations, fines, prison, etc. for "Murder without Malice" - various volumes of legal stats and penal records.) You will see that the penalities could run the gamut depending on who, where, how, who hit, previous record etc. In addition when you look at the other TX legal, penal, and govt records (also newspaper and non-legal sources), one can see that charges WERE usually filed when the driver DID NOT come from a "prominent" family or wasn't from a "well-connected" family or person of prominence (ok, yes, Teddy in MA or dear Bill Janklow in SD - "system flaws/bias/get out of jail free cards" still live on - who got a slap on the wrist), and think also if you were "colored," "Mexican," a "j[J]ew or other non-Christian and don't forget in 1963 that meant most Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, too, in Texas, what would happen to you! It is extremely depressing reading and of course even without any fatalities involved those who fell into the above cited "categories" well, you would be facing some pretty big penalties ranging from revocation of your driver's license, fines (easy offs), community service (easy off), probation, to ,yes, jail time and if black on white, well, a lot of jail time! Maybe that doesn't matter to some people still or maybe some of you don't want to look up all those dreary old legal codes and statistics but give it a try! As I noted above, I don't think she did it deliberately (and yes I am an Irish-American Catholic who thinks Teddy got off way too easy and will never be voting for him!) but driving a car is a privilege and a responsilbilty and a seventeen year old driver or heck any driver must have that belief and take it seriously and be prepared to pay the price(s) - legally as well as morally according to the law(s) of their state and the "accpeted" morals of their community in Laura Welch Bush's a predominantly Christian (Protestant), white, strong on law and order and personal responsibilty - if they break the law and yup going through a stop sign and killing another driver even if not deliberate is against the law in Texas and the rest of the fifty states! Do we all want to live in some banana republic or "latinfundista pais" where the well connected can do this and shrug it off [worked in Third World for YMCA and yup that is life in many countries - laws different for rich)? I guess what disturbs me most and frankly shocks me that people aren't disturbed by it when they hear about what happened is that they think it is somehow all "ok" now like it was then for a well-connected (and yes her father was a big power player in Midland in 1963, plenty of documentary evidence to support that), white, Protestant girl to get off scot-free for taking albeit accidentally a boy's life! My God what were her parents thinking? What does she still and her mother? Mike Douglas was a teenager - he could be anybody's son - the needless death of a teen diminshes ALL of us or what kind of people are we? Donne was right "No man is an island" and "each death diminishes me" ditto for woman/en! I just don't understand at all how some one who talks about personal responsilbilty and whose mother talks the same line, too, can live with themself(ves)! "Sad" she called it, well, sorry in my mind sad is hitting a squirrel a teenager ,uff da, that is on another moral and ethical plane alltogether and like Kennedy and Janklow the hyprocrisy boggles the mind and depresses the soul, and indifference does diminsh all of us as human beings with souls and free will. Lastly, Laura Welch Bush would have had to take legal reference to get a MLS degree - mandatory for most library programs still - and she would have had to look at dear old Vernon's and well you can avoid penal stats but there all those old volumes sit and many are on fiche and film now, too, for one's edification. OK, most of you probably think I have spent way too much time on this "subject" and maybe you have your mind(s) mdae up one way or the other but please, please, do look at the legal system in place and the codes and statistics that back up what happened to MOST drivers in a similar situation in Texas in 1963 and through the rest of the sixties, seventies, etc. and come to your own conclusions based on the law and your own moral compass! Sign me as one NEVER to call if anyone in my family or circle of friends and colleagues runs a stop sign and accidentally kills a teen - I will not help!

[Caligirl]

Sign me as one NEVER to call if anyone in my family or circle of friends and colleagues runs a stop sign and accidentally kills a teen - I will not help!.....Figures!!! What an ass! Did you even think about your comments as you typed your silly heart out, with that long "tweaked out" Texas law reference you babbled on and on about? You need to just hang it up as far as the game of life goes! (You LOST!!!)Christina needs meds not meth!

[nick]

get a life!!!!! 37 years ago she did not know george bush, or have any type of political pull. All of you dumb ass liberals can't seem to get past the conspiracy theories. She made a mistake, just like many before her, and must carry the guilt with her for the rest of her life. That in my mind is punishment enough!!!

[nick]

get a life!!!!! 37 years ago she did not know george bush, or have any type of political pull. All of you dumb ass liberals can't seem to get past the conspiracy theories. She made a mistake, just like many before her, and must carry the guilt with her for the rest of her life. That in my mind is punishment enough!!!

[jeff]

I am more concerned with George Bush and his AWOL status while in the Texas Guard. I am also concerned about his misuse of religion for political purposes. I am also concerned with how many brain cells he burnt while snorting coke and guzzling beer.

What political issues in the 2000 campaign did he actually obtain? Did he ever win the electorial vote count? We know he did not win by the popular.

Did you know that Jeb Bush was pardoned by his father for crimes committed in Colorado.

So what if Laura killed someone 37 years ago for drunk driving and the family had the money to cover this issue up.

So what if a vice president from Texas and a govoner from Texas had a former president eliminated.

Come on people...it does mean something. Information past and present about people in political positions should be available.

That is the only way Americans can openly make an unbiased opinion about who should lead this country.

[jeff]

I am more concerned with George Bush and his AWOL status while in the Texas Guard. I am also concerned about his misuse of religion for political purposes. I am also concerned with how many brain cells he burnt while snorting coke and guzzling beer.

What political issues in the 2000 campaign did he actually obtain? Did he ever win the electorial vote count? We know he did not win by the popular.

Did you know that Jeb Bush was pardoned by his father for crimes committed in Colorado.

So what if Laura killed someone 37 years ago for drunk driving and the family had the money to cover this issue up.

So what if a vice president from Texas and a govoner from Texas had a former president eliminated.

Come on people...it does mean something. Information past and present about people in political positions should be available.

That is the only way Americans can openly make an unbiased opinion about who should lead this country.

[bazz]

You kids do know that this Michael Douglas was her boyfriend, right?

http://www.bartcop.com/pickles.htm

Let's all hope this was merely a coincidence, and not something like a cheated-on 17 year old girl out for a little Texas justice...

[headlefty]

...now O.J. has a White Women that he can REALLY relate to...

[Nancy]

I have no doubt that if this baggage belonged to either Mrs. Kerry or Senator Clinton, the republicans, the media and folks like Falwell would have crucified either of them. This makes me think that decency is not what they're after when they condemn others since they flim flam us about the truth about themselves.

I'm sorry that any one would have this in their past. But in reality, it is in Mrs. Bush's past. It seems that she'd been past that stop sign many times in the small town. That young Mr. Douglas was her former boyfriend. That she was going at a speed that it must be deduced that she not only did not intend to stop at the sign but was going so fast as to cause death for the person who she plowed in to. At the very least, she was wreckless. They seem like The MacBeth's to us at work. One is not a very noble leader who supported the war in Viet Nam and yet would not fight himself, while around the same time Mrs. Bush was dealing with this. Everytime we see them together, we say we think of them as "The MacBeth's."

[Janelle]

Like anyone knew that one day Laura Welch would be the wife of a president so they had to just slap her on the wrist and sweep the whole issue under the rug. Geez . . .

This political stuff makes me sick. I am voting for Bush because of where he stands on the moral issues this country is facing. I also think he's better able to handle the war on terror. Kerry comes across as a spoiled rich kid who just what he wants when he wants it and will say anything to get it. Bush seems sincere.

I say "seems" because every politician that ever ran says and does things because they want our vote. How many politicians keep half of the promises they make?

God, be with this country, no matter who is re-elected; but especially if Kerry is. Our morals have already diminished so greatly. I can't imagine what they'll be like should Kerry win. It'll be a very sad day if Kerry wins.

Anyone who claims to be a Christian ought to vote for Bush based on the moral issues alone.

[Someone from somewhere]

Laura, Georgie, and the whole damn families of both of them are fucking liars, thieves, backstabbers, money whores, and cheats. But the sad sad truth is that Nobody gives a shit! that's why he's in office. Nobody has got the balls to do anything. Well, wait, I'm pretty sure some do - but they were silenced or thrown in jail. Oh wait - then there is the "insurgency", you know, those fighting because they were invaded. But, look around, even at yourselves and think, Do I have the balls to stand up for what is right - even if it means losing everything I own? My cushy couch? my Almighty SUV? my cell phone? my pay for porn cable channels? My microwave? my fast food on every corner? My cheaply constructed, way too expensive tract house?
Well, no! of course not. That would mean being called a terrorist! Unpatriotic! Not normal! I'm more content watching those kind of heroes on TV, the stuff that comes on inbetween corporate messages telling me how to act. How to be cool. How to spend the mere pennies I earn. That way I can always imagine what it would be like to be a hero, a stand up kind of person. But actually go out there and speak up? Hell no, too scared.
Americans are cowards, greedy littlc cowards. But wait, I'm not saying all Americans. Just the ones who see the bullshit but think it's up to someone else. Or even better, don't worry, we can change it all by voting! Those people are the cowards.

Voting - or even the concept of democracy is corrupted as soon as money gets exchanged. Pure and simple. It might have a little tiny bit of purity - at the beginning, but then the money starts whispering shit into the ears of those that want more and so evil begets evil begets evil - until.....well here we are!

What makes anyone think that anything - anything will get better if Kerry gets bought in - i mean voted in? Whose side does this freak think he's on anyway. Do you think he's going to wave his little FairyKerry wand and make it all better? right...Where does his money come from? He wasn't born on the opposite side of the world...They might be two separate players, but Damn if they are'nt on the same team.

The only difference between the two clans are the sexes of the gold diggers.

There is only one wsy out of this mess people! the hard way. It's not the here and now we fight for. It's our children's children. It's for generations that have got to have a better way of life than what we see now. I don't mean easier ways of shopping either! I mean a BETTER QUALITY of life. How would we want them to remember us?

[Info Babe]

Why don't we talk about Ted Kennedy's little drive off a bridge. Hmmmmmmmmm? Ever hear of a girl named Mary Jo? No charges, but that neck brace sure looked cool didn't it? He was an adult man too, not a teenager. He even had a wife and kiddies at home.

[filchyboy]

Info Babe did someone tell you that you couldn't discuss Ted K.'s acts? Do I have a requirement to post about every hapless loser who kills someone? Perhaps you can just let me post about what I want since it's my blog?

[disgusted]

It would be a terrible thing to truly accidentally kill someone in a traffic accident because of your own negligence. And of course no one knew she would end up married to a president. But the bottom line is in 1963 Midland Texas, if this has been a young black man to have run a stop sign and killed the town's white football star, he would have either been executed, still rotting in prison today, or dragged from the back of a pick up truck until dead. That's just the truth.

[Anet Partida]

Hey Jethro and Ellie, I mean George and Laura, I have a problem with the both of you. I'm emailing you to let you know there are masses of mobs out here that are screaming for your blood. May God have mercy on both your souls...cause you're going to need it.

[Apolitical]

Sticking with the facts:
How many First Ladies are directly responsible for somebody's death.

One.

[BlueStateBob]

Laura Bush believes in the "culture of life" so the fact that she killed someone should be swept under the rug. By the way, her husband is responsible for over 100,000 deaths. But, he too believes in the culture of life, so that makes it o.k.

[khalid rahim]

Liberal conspiracy theorists try to defame someone who was 17 and unknown in 1963.

Try turning your cannons on Ted Kennedy, who was 37 and a senator when he killed a woman.

[Cannons? Who has cannons? Are you implying that one death is more valuable than another?]

[LarrySN2]

She not only murdered one person she has murdered tens of thousand by simple association to her murdering husband George, and they both drink and bath in human blood simply by association to blood, and it just goes to show you that lots of money frees you from anything, and if you have lots of money you can kill thousands and you'll get no time in jail, and it just goes to show that burning babys over an open fire which George does as has been widely documented that you'll be seen as a saint, and Laura actively runs around at night shaving the skin off of old people in old folks homes -- Bush is the worst illegal president that Amerikkka ever had and I'm so glad we are all on the same page on this issue of the Bush's murder regime!!!!!! Vote Democrat!!!

[Patrick Johns]

Bush is a drunken pig. His wife is a murdering sow. Boy George and the Republicrats have turned the Grand Old Party into a Gang Of Pigs.

The poles are melting; the oceans are desalinating; since WW2, 54% of Earth's species have become extinct,thus furthering the greatest mass extinction since the dinosaurs died. Of course, Bush killed the EPA's enforcement ability.

But perhaps the most horrible fact is that, since the end of WW2, the Nazification of the United States has been almost completed. Don't believe me? Check out these links:

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html (Essay by Dr. Lawrence Britt entitled "Fascism Anyone?".)

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm (Expansion of Britt's essay, giving current examples from media and government.)

http://www.ucsusa.org (Union of Concerned Scientists website: check out the link on Global Warming.)

My mother lived under the Nazi regime during WW2. I'm also an active member of the Sierra Club. I know what I'm talking about. This is true and it's happening now.

[Rockyroad]

Michael Douglas, the man she killed. He was her boyfriend. He was in a different car, the car that she hit when she blew the sign.

Wow. Hard to imagine such bad luck.

Lucky for her no charges were filed . . . no investigation undertaken . . . no money exchanged hands . . . justice wasn't silenced. . . Her record expunged.* Who knows the ex-librarian might have married an addict with a God-complex, a "situation-squad", a couple of DUI's, a VP with a trio of DUI's, who shot a friend in the face after drinking a few beers . . . who then retreated to his spidey hole to hatch a plan to invade the remainders of the "Axis of Evil." Oh yeah, then there are the twins, four underage drinking citations between them.

These are only the facts on the record! God help us! Forget Scooter Libby, Dub'ya should pardon half the prison populations of Texas and Florida if his own family's bad behaviour sets the bar.

Peace be with you.

*Why have your record expunged decades after you were never charged with a crime?

[phyllis]

Laura was a girl of means then. I think its great that she and the AWOL coward are together or they may have messes up two other peoples lives. Onlt two like those or any bush could produce a bunch of kids like they have. And none have ever served in the military. Geo. is also a convicted a felon concerning dope.

[1Love]

Let's bring this back up again! I love it that there is a famous actor named Michael Douglas. That way Bitch ass Laura can have to hear that name over and over again when she tries to watch tv. Think she could bear to see any movies he was in? The two Michaels are of a similar age too.

How dare her go off and be okay with her husband running for office so she can show off her big dumb ugly fake face on tv! Poor family of Michael Douglas that she killed.

Coincidence? HAHAHAHAHAAHA. you bet she probably did it on purpose. According to reports it was an unobstructed view and she, not he, had a stop sign. She could have seen a car from a mile away - and apparently she didn't know the other driver died, or who it was.

It was in the middle of nowhere. They had no cell phones and her car couldn't drive. She must have had time to check on the driver of the other car while they waited for an ambulance!

I certainly hope she got out of the car to check on him! She wasn't hurt badly at all. And his father was in the car behind him. Did she not recognize her ex-boyfriend's father?

Reports also say that Michael had taken up with Laura's close friend before the accident. hmmmm. So drama. They deserve each other. Jenna Bush deserves better parents.

[Stephen Schaunt]

Statistics show that vehicular crashes are the leading causes of death of American teenagers. The reason for that maybe is that teenagers are care-free people who just want to have fun and enjoy their time doing things by themselves. In cases like these, parents turn to accident lawyer(s) (Oakland-based) for help. In my hometown in Bay Area, auto accident attorneys offer legal counseling for parents and their kids who are victims of car accidents ensuring that everything will be okay and problems will be solved.

[Alecia Longsworth]

It is unbelievable sad that nothing has yet been done to resolve this case. And Ms. Laura went on to be the nation's first lady! It's pretty surprising that our judiciary system seems to have forgotten this case..