WayOT death markers

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 )

"Larry L" wrote



forced the image of the five neat crosses


forced the image ( into my mind )

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.)

On Feb 1, 1:56 pm, "Larry L" wrote:
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?

I don't think there's much mystery about them. One person puts one
up, others see it & think it's a good remembrance. A few more go up.
The more visibility, the wider the phenomenon spreads.

I liked the comedian who offered that Jews must be much better drivers
than Christians, because you never see a Star of David by the road.

Joe F.

"rb608" wrote

I liked the comedian who offered that Jews must be much better drivers
than Christians, because you never see a Star of David by the road.



g

On Feb 1, 10:56*am, "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 )

I first saw them while working in Mexico in the early 80s. After that
I started seeing them in areas wherr there were lots of Mexicans.
Pretty tacky IMO. What's next? Little heart shapped markers on canal
levee where you fist scored.

"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.

On Feb 1, 3:00 pm, rb608 wrote:



I don't think there's much mystery about them. One person puts one
up, others see it & think it's a good remembrance. A few more go up.
The more visibility, the wider the phenomenon spreads.


Beyond being a good remembrance, it also can be a good alert that
certain sections of road are dangerous.

"rb608" wrote in message
...
On Feb 1, 1:56 pm, "Larry L" wrote:
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?

I don't think there's much mystery about them. One person puts one
up, others see it & think it's a good remembrance. A few more go up.
The more visibility, the wider the phenomenon spreads.

I liked the comedian who offered that Jews must be much better drivers
than Christians, because you never see a Star of David by the road.

On the other hand, it might just mean they're better dodgers.

Wolfgang

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've become quite common here in New England over the past 10/15
years. The first one I remember seeing was a cross erected on a state
highway in honor of a state trooper who was killed on that spot, hit
by a drunk driver, while giving roadsise assistance to a motorist. I
think it was put there by his family.

All this reminds me of an old song by a homeboy, Dick Curless of
Barre, MA., who had something of a carrer in Nashville thirty odd
years ago, and wrote a song lamenting the dangers of driving logging
trucks in the Haynesville Woods area of Maine. IIRC, the refrain was:
"There's a stretch of road up north in Maine. that's never, ever, ever
seen a smile." "If they buried all the truckers lost in those woods,
Theyr'ed be a tombstone every mile"