Road hazards

It used to be that the road out to Mascareñas was a hazard just because of the rocks, holes, and washes. Now with the new pavement a lot more riff raff are using it. I was warned about using one of the new sections by a young man who says there have been car jackings and that smuggles use it at night because if runs right along the boarder in spots. So, I quit using it at night. They say that at night I should not stop for anyone except the police or military. I guess some park a car along side the road, open the hood, and have a girl standing there asking for help. Then out from behind the bushes come the bad guys. This Sunday I thought this was going to happen to me. Sure enough, just like they said, a car on the side of the road with the hood open and a girl standing there waving for help. So I decided to take heed to the warnings and drive on by. But Alfonso, my fellow worker, said to me, "you can't do that, leaving a girl all alone by herself with her car broken." So, I turned around and we went back to help. As I pulled beside her car, we notice beer cans. I said to Alfonso, "oh, oh, looks like they've been drinking." He says, no, they're girls. But as I walked around the front of the car, I saw she had a beer down low in her hand. She said they ran out of gas and the battery ran out. There I saw another girl slouched in the front, and another passed out in the back seat. Man, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I said, "aw, no hose to siphon, and no cables for a jump." And we were out of there. Poor Alfonso couldn't believe that three girls were drunk as skunks on that road. Later that evening we saw them in Mascareñas, so they made it at least that far ok.

Slain missionary feared Mexico violence, relative says

PHARR, Texas — A Texas couple who were attacked at an illegal roadblock in one of Mexico's most violent areas had been delivering babies and doing missionary work in the country for three decades, and they had come to expect such confrontations, the couple's son said Thursday.

Nancy Davis, 59, was shot in the head Wednesday while her husband, Sam, was trying to speed away from suspected drug cartel gunmen who may have wanted to steal their pickup truck, authorities said. Sam Davis frantically raced to the Pharr International Bridge border checkpoint with his wife bleeding beside him, but she was declared dead at a McAllen hospital.

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