Then do your best John Carr. Full of a lot of hot air, aren't you?

Oooo, Internet fight. So Special, in an Olympic kinda way.

I am with you. However, we don't know that they didn't try, but failed to save the kids.

wyodrifter, how thoroughly christian of you to be such a bigot. I'm "injun" and like most of us Natives, I work, pay my bills, raise my family, and do the best I can with what I've got. In fact I teach school AND manage the family farm. I also donate blood (have a rare blood type), give to charity, and vote. Most of the men and more than a few women in my family are in the military or are veterans and willingly serve a country full of idiots like you who hate us because we're "injuns". And unlike a lot of white folks back in the 1970's, our people honored all the Vietnam veterans regardless of race.

Oh and that money you're talking about...that's the interest payments on the money paid to us by the US Government for the hundred million or so acres of land taken from us that you now refer to as America, so it's not "free"money any more than the interest payments that rich white folks get on their investments and bank accounts. Of course if you're so darned bothered by us getting paid for our land, feel free to give it back and go back to wherever it is your ancestors came from.

Well Allison...if you actually work and pay taxes then you are in the minority. The sorry truth is that way more "natives" are uneducated welfare recipients who have learned how to work the system so they don't have to work. Much easier to sit around home, smoking, drinking, huffing, etc.... You know I am telling the truth...BTW, I don't profess to be a "christian"! Your people lost the war and were basically outsmarted by the "rich white folks". Get over it, get educated, and quite blaming the white folks. None of us alive had anything to do with what happened. You didn't suffer and I got none of your land. You have every opportunity to make a better life for yourselves. Good for you for being educated and working hard but WAY too many are content to sit around and do nothing. The reservation system builds nothing but complacency. Get on board with the future or get left behind! No excuses anymore! Another thing, your ancestors came from Asia so maybe you should leave since you lost! I was born here so I am "native" too!

Wyodrifter,

Regardless of how you feel about an entire race of people, saying 'good riddence' when children die is disgusting. There are tons of white peope who recieve government money, is it good when they die also?

Since when does being an American mean being insensitive? Sounds a lot like supremecy to me, and we all know how well that worked out.

You sound like L. Frank Baum, the writer of The Wizard of Oz, who ten years before his masterpiece wrote in the Saturday Pioneer in response to the Wounded Knee Massacre of 29 December 1890, (122 years ago today) where some 300 women and children and unarmed sick and crippled old men were massacred. Baum wrote editorials calling for the total destruction of Native Americans. Eliminate the entire Indian race, Baum pleaded. And so, man shall never have peace on the earth as long as people like Baum and you inhabit it. And to speak such evil of children, your cold heart will stop one night in your sleep.

wyodrifter, you're quite the azz aren't you?

wyodrifter, not sure if you noted that I'm a school teacher but that means that I have a Bachelor of Science in Education...from Vanderbilt University, and no...the government did NOT pay for my education. I'll be paying off student loans for years to come.

Most Natives are NOT welfare bums if given the opportunity to work. And no, y'all didn't beat us because the white man was smarter. The white man were more ruthless and more numerous, but not smarter. Let's face it, had not 95% of the Native population been wiped out by the diseases your ancestors brought over here America would look very different because your people would have had to assimilate into ours. To my mind that would most likely have been an improvement, and especially in politics as the traditional punishment among Native peoples for liars and those who didn't keep their word was permanent banishment or death.

As for your attitude...my father is Scottish so I am rather light-complected and enough so that people don't peg me for being Indian at first. I'd been up in your part of the country some years back and saw how differently I was treated when white folks thought I was white and then after they realized that I'm Indian. I was still the same person but not to them. When they thought me white I was treated with respect and people were mighty friendly and man did the guys let me know they were interested. Once I advised them that I was Native, you would have thought I had slapped all of them upside the head with a poop-covered pole and grown horns, fangs, fur, and claws. I was insulted, disrespected, and threatened with physical violence, including gang-rape.

I suppose you consider that kind of behavior evidence of white folks being superior to us Natives? Or maybe that being Indian makes me deserving of being treated with such hatred and contempt? And keep in mind that my family is very traditional and also very Southern so I was raised to treat everyone with respect, to be honest in all things, and to be modest and lady-like. I was also raised to be very well-educated and well-read. I can only surmise that nothing I did other than being Native was the cause for the 180-degree change in attitude by the white folks up there in Laramie. If that's the case, then you and those who share your such racist, hateful attitude are going to be unpleasantly surprised come Judgment Day.

Allison, First off anyone who is blaming the race or heritage of these people on why it happened is an idiot! As a native American yourself I feel you may be reacting with some bias. I too have native American heritage, however, something about this whole incident just don't add up. You stated that its a strong possibility that slick roads and lack of visibility may have caused the accident. You're wrong because if you read the article it specifically says that weather DID NOT play a role. FACT! It rained on previous days causing the creek to swell ( they were just explaining that the creek was deeper than normal). The day the accident happened it had not rained at all so the visibility was not affected, and the roads were fine. Despite all that im not even going to say that the accident was purposeful because I don't have enough facts to back that up, but its what happened after they went into the creek that matters. Are you a mother? Because I am and I would have died trying to save my children! Maybe the father was unable to but the mother and the family friend were fine and one of them had to be in the back seat of the car with the children. If they had attempted to save them then their bodies would not have been in the car still! Also the only panic I would have would be for my children who were still alive and drowning! I don't know a single parent who could swim to safety knowing their 5 children were still alive and drowning in the car and they themselves were perfectly fine! Its just not realistic.

Dawn, I AM a mother with 4 children and 2 grandchildren. I'm also a strong swimmer with enough experience to know that rain-swollen creeks can easily overwhelm people, and it could be that the adults who escaped were not good swimmers. Not to mention the fear factor which in an emergency is often a lot stronger than most people give credit for as it can paralyze folks. No matter how much you might love someone, if you're paralyzed by fear you might fail to act either effectively or in a timely manner to save them. That's not being selfish...it's being a very fallible human.

The wreck occured about midnight on a very dark stretch of road. If the driver was tired or distracted, it wouldn't have taken much to go off the road. And let's face it, statistically, most accidents occur within a few miles of home because people begin to relax and let their guard down. I won't argue that driver error was probably the main cause of the accident but I am also considering that there are probably other contributing factors. If alcohol was one of them, then the driver ought to be charged with vehicular homicide. If he or she was driving while overly tired or distracted - both of which are also against the law - then there could be charges pressed there. There were too many people in the vehicle, which is a misdemeanor offense in most states, and therefor there were some passengers not wearing seatbelts, also usually a misdemeanor. I see people driving in all manner of unsafe ways right here in Nashville, and stupidity and disregard for the law or common sense has no color barriers.

And in answer to your question, I HAVE put myself between my kids and danger. Once when I ran out to distract a bull who was going after one of my sons and on another when I put myself between one of my daughters and a stray dog who tried to attack her. Had to get her out of the way before I could shoot it and if I hadn't had a loose heavy work shirt on it would have bitten me in the process. And back when my oldest girl was about 5 I had to dive in at Lake Tahoe to get her when a wave dragged her off the shore (which she had just been told not to get close to). You try fighting a strong current with an undertow while hanging onto a frightened, struggling child and then tell me its easy. I've also had to climb up trees to get my children down because they got scared by the height and crawled in to pull my kids out of a small sinkhole.

As for bias, I grew up mixed-blood in the South in the Sixties during the tail-end of the Civil Rights Era. Being female and among the smallest in my class, I got bullied. I learned to get tough and fight back. I lived out West for 18 years and had to deal with the fact that being Indian made me the target of some very nasty attitudes, slurs, and actions. At age 19, I was abducted on my way home from work by 2 white men, church elders and regular customers at the cafe I worked at, who had found out I was Indian. They took me to a remote place and beat, raped, spit and urinated on me and left me for dead. I crawled on my hands and knees to the highway and thankfully someone saw me, stopped, and took me to the hospital. The police refused to press charges because, as one cop put it, "No white man is going to go to jail for raping a squaw." He even offered to help them if they wanted to rape me again and would see to it that the job was finished up right...meaning he'd kill me.

As they saw it, I deserved what happened. To this day I have had no justice and won't get it in this life. Did that color my attitude towards white folks? You bet it did. And don't give me some sanctimonious speech about forgive and forget. I've tried to forgive but I will never forget and only someone who has been there can even begin to understand the rage and shame and feelings of betrayal that I have had to deal with since that day. These days they lie sleeping most of the time but they are still there. I can't guarantee that if I ran across these men, even 33 years after the fact, that I wouldn't try to kill them for what they did to me.

Oh @!$%# I am screwed. Being native I guess I will be on welfare and the government tit. Oh wait a minute, I own my own company and employ 12 people. Oh and wait another minute, my 3 kids all have degrees and make good money in their chosen professions. Oh and wait a third minute, come up to Cherokee NC and see how we native people sucker the white man out of his money at the casino. LMAO some people are total idiots.

Now getting back to the subject, this is a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of these people.

1 of the adults died and how do you know that the other adults didn't try to save the children? Were you there in that deep, rain-swollen creek with cold swift water and in the middle of the night? No? Then who are you to make such a judgement?

if you are unconcious how do you save someone elses life....

WEll, another news article says they did not wear seat belts, so not sure what you are trying to say.

he saying is seat belts kill you can find how many people died not wearing them for every year but you can not find how many people die wearing them (WHY) i believe they had them on is why they did not get out and they tell us that they did not so we cant say that's why the kids died there is no other reason to even put it in the story and if don't think they would lie then your not very smart

Try going back to read the article before you comment so judgmentally.

Because America isn't in an uproar about this like they are guns.

If you want to blame someone for gun control, why don't you blame the people who yelled and screamed for it?

America isn't in an uproar about guns, only libtards are. Hyperbole is the chief method of the chronic liar.

Matt Dillahunty for President of the U.S.A.

Since we believe in the Creator of the Universe, Khalifa, we deal with it just like anyone else. We grieve deeply, we pray for the dead and those of us left behind, and we love each other through it. And no, not for one moment do I believe that the Almighty entertains Himself by killing anyone, let alone children. What He allows is for human beings to kill one another or to die as a result of our own action/inaction, or to get caught in disasters both natual and man-made. But as you must know, what He allows is not the same as what He has ordained in His laws and what we do in this life to our fellow man will come back on us come the day we stand before Him in judgment.

......and your point is? yeah, it's a sad fact of life but no one welcomes it including you!

We don't need to legislate the elimination of stupid. We need to legislate the elimination of the anti-stupid laws ( seat belts, wet floor signs in stores, etc etc) so that the stupid dies a natural death and the rest of us can get on with improving the gene pool.

TWO of the adults escaped. One of the adults died along with the children. It was totally dark outside, freezing cold, and the current of the creek was frigid and swift. There is no mention of any alcohol impairment, so please don't go there. This is going to be hard enough on the families as it is without all of the armchair quarterbacking.

There was little anyone except a trained rescuer could have done and even then only within a few minutes' time frame. Life is not the movies where Superman or some hero comes along to save the day for everyone and tragedy so often strikes those least deserving of it. What we can do is offer comfort to the survivors and families and otherwise keep our mouths closed so as not to add to their grief.

The fact that they weren't wearing seat belts is pertinent to the accident in that it shows neglect of the kids, they were probably tossed around in the vehicle while it went off the road before going into the water, maybe knocked unconscious, ended up in a disoriented position in what would likely have been a vehicle in total darkness. What they should have reported is the depth of the water and whether or not the vehicle was upside down, on its side, or on its wheels. If the windows were rolled up the vehicle may have floated for a while. All of these things would have happened rapidly and people don't think clearly when they are in panic.

Hey I live here in philadelphia ms neshoba county. If Mr Tommy said they didn't have seat belts on they didn't.

One other possibility is that all of or some of the kids had their seatbelts on and removed them but drowned before they could get out of the vehicle. Also, they were very young and probably not experienced in holding their breath for very long.