Witnesses saw man at scene of bus crash

A witness testified Thursday that Olga Marina Franco wasn't alone in the van that struck a school bus near Cottonwood, Minn., killing four students.

[steve baker]

Another great job of "reporting" by Minnesota's cadre of Journalism School graduates. It's just three months after the fact.

[Jan from Minneapolis]

It’s a tragic for everyone involved that this had to happen, especially for the children killed by an illegal alien. Unfortunately this is not an uncommon occurrence in our country, given the position of many in the greedy business world, the political correct news media and the lax local law enforcement that allows illegal aliens to enter and live in our country. The local news media has chosen to ignore the illegal immigration problem in our state in deference to the corporate and political wishes. The only time the local news media addresses the issue is when a tragic even like this happens and then of course the illegal alien is also portrayed as a victim. A good clearinghouse for illegal immigration news is http://www.idexer.com/ .

[DizzyOne]

So her boyfriend was there, so what? She was illegally driving a van that killed 4 innocent kids. If she hadn't come here illegally those kids would still be alive.
Throw the book at her, and when she finishes her long sentence send her back to where she came from.

[Pete Wendell]

DizzyOne wrote:

So her boyfriend was there, so what? She was illegally driving a van that killed 4 innocent kids. If she hadn't come here illegally those kids would still be alive.
Throw the book at her, and when she finishes her long sentence send her back to where she came from.

Oh no, don't forget that Franco is blaming the disappearing boyfriend for wedging her into the driver's seat after the accident.

Does make we wonder...what's the immigration status of these "witnesses"? And are any of them people actually involved in the crash, like some of the kids on the bus?

[Red Ryder]

maybe he's in Worthington?

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S446413.shtml...

I'm sure it's just coincidence that so many people have the same first,middle and last name and same birthday in the same town .

[WandaMae]

They said one of the witnesses was a child on the bus, but he said he saw a boy in the passenger seat. So that would mean that she was still driving. I saw the KSTP report on the duplicate ID's in Wothington. Time to start going after the companies who hire these illegals.

[Tess of St Paul]

The status of the driver's immigration has nothing to do with the accident. To say the accident wouldn't have happened if there wasn't an illegal immigrant can never be proved to be true -- there could have been a worse accident, no accident, an accident at a different location.

The choices any of us make at any given moment directly affect the results in multiple ways.

On August 1, 2007, I decided to take Washington Ave over to University Ave to 280 to Hwy 35 rather than get on the construction on I35W at 6:00 pm. When I got to my destination, I learned that the bridge had collapsed. If I had taken 35W to 36, I probably would have been on the bridge when it collapsed. My presence might have caused someone else to not be on the bridge, be in a different spot.

If and buts don't make Merry Christmases.

[real information]

Tess of St Paul wrote:

The status of the driver's immigration has nothing to do with the accident. To say the accident wouldn't have happened if there wasn't an illegal immigrant can never be proved to be true -- there could have been a worse accident, no accident, an accident at a different location.

Her illegal status has everything to do with the accident. I don't believe she left Minneota intending to do harm, but ...
She did not know how to drive, and she couldn't learn how to without risking deportation. Maybe it is common/accepted in Guatemala to drive unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured and without proper training; but we do not tolerate it here.
You do understand that this was not a case of someone in a hurry 'blowing' a stop sign, right? Have you seen this intersection?
If you had been on the bridge, you would stand a chance of getting a payment from the state to offset your suffering. Neither the car nor the driver at fault in the bus accident was insured, there will be no repairation for the families of the deceased or living victims.
This is totally different.

[Pete Wendell]

Tess of St Paul wrote:

The status of the driver's immigration has nothing to do with the accident. To say the accident wouldn't have happened if there wasn't an illegal immigrant can never be proved to be true -- there could have been a worse accident, no accident, an accident at a different location.
The choices any of us make at any given moment directly affect the results in multiple ways.
On August 1, 2007, I decided to take Washington Ave over to University Ave to 280 to Hwy 35 rather than get on the construction on I35W at 6:00 pm. When I got to my destination, I learned that the bridge had collapsed. If I had taken 35W to 36, I probably would have been on the bridge when it collapsed. My presence might have caused someone else to not be on the bridge, be in a different spot.
If and buts don't make Merry Christmases.

It's not 100% guaranteed, but IF the cop that stopped her for driving all over the neighborhood a few years back had bothered to check her immigration status, she might have been deported and not have made it back to MN to kill children.

[JTY]

WandaMae wrote:

They said one of the witnesses was a child on the bus, but he said he saw a boy in the passenger seat. So that would mean that she was still driving. I saw the KSTP report on the duplicate ID's in Wothington. Time to start going after the companies who hire these illegals.

I saw a few people say this, but I can not find it any where.

[Red Ryder]

JTY wrote:

<quoted text>
I saw a few people say this, but I can not find it any where.

Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)and happy feet Larry Craig are attempting to attach an amnesty amendment for illegal farm workers to the Iraq supplemental appropriations spending bill.

Details are still coming in, but we do know the bill would provide legal status to 1.35 million illegal aliens working in agriculture by granting them five-year visas.

Tentatively called the "Emergency Agriculture Relief Act of 2008", this is a slight-of-hand, scaled-down version of Feinstein's
AgJobs amnesty bill that she had previously introduced.

Her amendment could be voted
on as soon as today (Friday, May 16)!

[the price youpay]

real information wrote:

<quoted text>
Her illegal status has everything to do with the accident. I don't believe she left Minneota intending to do harm, but ...
She did not know how to drive, and she couldn't learn how to without risking deportation. Maybe it is common/accepted in Guatemala to drive unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured and without proper training; but we do not tolerate it here.
You do understand that this was not a case of someone in a hurry 'blowing' a stop sign, right? Have you seen this intersection?
If you had been on the bridge, you would stand a chance of getting a payment from the state to offset your suffering. Neither the car nor the driver at fault in the bus accident was insured, there will be no repairation for the families of the deceased or living victims.
This is totally different.

I drive pass the accident every day , and if she drove the road to work from Minneota to Cottonwwod everyday she would have know that there was a stop sign there ! The marks are still on the road , she shouldnt have been here, she broke so many laws, I only hope pays the price for what happened not only to the familys but to the all the people in Cottonwood and surronding towns that have givin them support!LET HER DO HER TIME AND SHIP HER THE HELL BACK

[TNR]

So they saw him running from the scene but did anyone see him putting her sorry *** in the drivers seat and then pinning her in?

So he was at the scene that still doesn't provide reasonable doubt that she was driving.

He was at the scene vs. a fireman pulled her out of the drivers seat. Yep I still think she was driving.

[Geronimo]

Get ready for it folks.
The court is likely to let her go on this. I can see it coming here. They'll rationalize that she going to get deported anyway, why pile on? she's a poor immigrant - a victim of racist America. Lets just agree with her lawyers and not fight it. Then ICE will eventually deport her, maybe. OR maybe they'll release her on bail or something and she simply absconds. Even if deported she could find her way back into the US. Evidently it's not very hard to do.

I fear this is what's coming folks. Prepare yourselves.

[Doug]

The liberal news here always tries to give credence to the defense side even though it is the defense's job to lie and make up any plausible fiction to get their client off. I could maybe understand this if it was in a city setting but how can one not see a school bus on a country road?? Was the person high on a substance maybe?
Also maybe it is time to blame the employers of illegals. They bus people up here to get them working at their plants or contracting construction companies and exploit them because of their illegal status.

[Josh S]

Forget the immigration issue. Who is this "witness" who it seems drove someone away from the scene of a fatal accident? If the person actually admits to doing that, as the story suggests, lock THAT person up until this "boyfriend" is found.

[down town]

Josh S wrote:

Forget the immigration issue. Who is this "witness" who it seems drove someone away from the scene of a fatal accident? If the person actually admits to doing that, as the story suggests, lock THAT person up until this "boyfriend" is found.

Sorry, the "witness" has also left the state. I say lock up the defense lawer who's imagination has complicated this case.

[Tybalt]

i hope the people of Cottonwood are prepared for this. The court is going to let Franco get away with this. The press will provide them cover. I hate to say it, but that is what's shaping up here.

[Had Enough]

Alainiss Morales was indeed questioned without being read her rights, so they should throw out what Alainiss Morales said.

The authorities who interviewed Olga Marina Franco could not read be the rights to Olga Marina Franco because they did not know any “Olga Marina Franco”. Olga Marina Franco’s statements to the authorities should be admissible in court because of this woman’s deceit.

[A Proud American]

real information wrote:

<quoted text>
Her illegal status has everything to do with the accident. I don't believe she left Minneota intending to do harm, but ...
She did not know how to drive, and she couldn't learn how to without risking deportation. Maybe it is common/accepted in Guatemala to drive unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured and without proper training; but we do not tolerate it here.
You do understand that this was not a case of someone in a hurry 'blowing' a stop sign, right? Have you seen this intersection?
If you had been on the bridge, you would stand a chance of getting a payment from the state to offset your suffering. Neither the car nor the driver at fault in the bus accident was insured, there will be no repairation for the families of the deceased or living victims.
This is totally different.

Her illegal status has nothing to do with the deaths of those children. If I ran a stop sign and killed someone, would it be because I'm an American, or a careless driver? The same applies to her, and now I guess she wasn't even driving.

I doubt it is common or accepted in her homeland to drive unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured and whatever. People everywhere take risks, even Minnesotans. I've heard stories from friends and co-workers that leave me shaking my head. And neither Guatemala nor us will do anything about it until something happens. So, I guess we do tolerate it here, too.

How do you know she didn't know how to drive? You've never done something stupid while driving? Which I would find hard to believe. A lot of people run stop signs. I've read about it so many times.