Thread: TN: 2,400 drivers unable to prove residency get license anyw

http://dnj.midsouthnews.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 80307/1002

2,400 drivers unable to prove residency get license anyway
By LISA MARCHESONI
marchesoni@dnj.com


Almost 2,400 drivers who could not prove they were legal U.S. residents received driving certificates in 2005 from the Murfreesboro driver's license testing center on Samsonite Boulevard, a spokeswoman said.

The one-year driving certificates were issued to drivers who presented documents showing they passed written and road driving tests.

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Those drivers accounted for 29 percent of the 5,868 regular driver's licenses issued at the center last year, reported Safety spokeswoman Melissa McDonald.

"Those figures do not include duplicates or renewals," McDonald said.

Driver's license examiner Bruce Conklin of Murfreesboro and five people associated with Winchester Driver Training, which contracted with the state to help immigrants receive training for the certificates and licenses, were charged Wednesday on federal bribery and conspiracy indictments as part of Operation Crooked Highway.

Immigrants are required to understand enough English to communicate with the driver's license examiner for the road test.

"The lack of English-language skills among the applicants from Winchester Driving School (two doors down from the center) is what aroused the suspicions of our employees in the first place," McDonald reported. "Those suspicions led to the Operation Crooked Highway investigation."

McDonald said there was no way to know if the school's students caused the Murfreesboro center to be crowded.

State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, received numerous complaints from constituents about the overcrowded conditions at the center. He said immigrants from other states with tougher license requirements obtain licenses in Murfreesboro and return to their states.

"If we were identified as the place in the country to come and get your license, that doesn't surprise me," Ketron said of the 2,394 certificates issued. "I didn't know it would be that high but it doesn't surprise me."

A Virginia state representative told Ketron more than 20 fatalities near Norfolk, Va., involved people with Tennessee license plates.

Ketron sponsored a 2003 bill with state Rep. Donna Rowland, R-Murfreesboro, to require driver's license applicants to have a Social Security number or documentation from Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorizing the applicant to be in the United States.

The bill should be on the Senate calendar this session. Since the arrests Wednesday, several senators have asked to sign on to the bill.

Driving certificate tests are given in four languages, the senator said. He proposes the tests be given only in English because road signs are only written in English.

"If they can't read English, how safe is that?" Ketron asked.

Originally published January 28, 2006

Wonder why these guys don't know they can just pile in vans and come to NC for licenses. Those who are destroying NC will be more than happy to help them out.

I've been trying to tell you that the reason so many go to NC and VA are for those licenses. Many show up in other parts of the country with NC and VA licenses. Be thankful they don't all stay there.

And, by the way, many people in NM put their actual license plates inside their cars because the license plates get stolen so often. If you see NM license plates in your state, and you see hispanic drivers, be suspicious. Not all of them are bogus, obviously. But those people don't protect themselves by putting their license plates in their back windows for no reason.


Also, we take a couple trips across country each year. Many times, we see cars on the interstate without plates. If the cars happen to be stopped and the driver near them, I point out that they have a plate missing. Some didn't know it--they took off from a hotel that morning and started driving. I wonder who stole their plates and why.

“One of the suspects was asked by investigators 'Why North Carolina?’ The response was 'it is the easiest state on the East Coast to obtain a driver’s license,’ � he said. “That was his response. It’s not something we made up.�

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-43961.html#43961

What's with all those funny characters btw?