"Steve" wrote in message
ews.com...
On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 11:15:21 -0800 (PST), redietz
wrote:

On Feb 1, 1:56 pm, "Larry L" wrote:
A headline today in my local paper about the guy who got drunk and
stoned
and managed to kill five guys on their way to work a few months ago
....
forced the image of the five neat crosses erected by someone ( family I
assume ) next to the country road where the "accident" happened, about a
mile from here.

It seems such crosses are everywhere now ( in the West, at least ) ...
try
the drive from West Yellowstone to Bozeman ... but I don't remember them
from many years back. Any guesses ( real information OK, too :-) as
to
why they have increased in usage?

Larry L ( who wants any memorial that might be erected for me to be in a
place I loved, not the one where I suffered the last time )

They're here now in the east, as well. You're right, they didn't used
to be everyplace. My impression is that they're an Hispanic import,
but this feeling may just be because the first place I remember seeing
them was in a largely Spanish speaking village in New Mexico. (Not
that those particular Spanish speakers were imports, the village is
centuries old.)

Believe it or not there are state's laws (is that close to correct,
Wolfgang?)

Maybe. Depends. What in hell are you talking about?

governing why and where a marker can be located.
They are a point of contention in a number of states, even the ACLU is
in the fight.
My guess is that where you have traveled allows them, or perhaps _now_
allows them.

I've seen them here in Curdistan for about as long as I can remember.
They've never been common, but they may have increased slightly in number in
recent years. As for Hispanic influence, this is possible, but I've seen
nothing that has led me to believe so.

Why would they become more common? Well, if there is anything to the theory
of Hispanic influence, there are certainly more Hispanic people dispersed
about Wisconsin these days than there were 30 or 40 years ago. But, again,
I've seen nothing that suggests that influence. My guess is that, like so
many other inexplicable fads, it's just something that has caught on among a
certain segment of the population. Maybe folks think that some sort of
public tribute to lost loved ones is more meaningful than simply living with
the loss in private.

Wolfgang
who figures the place, style, or anything else to do with any memorial
erected to him.....or not.....is somebody else's problem.