Reply #6: I don't know, but she did kill her ex-boyfriend Michale Douglas & got away with it Scott free!

[sce56]

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3910b26e685a.htm

At about 7:30 p.m. on November 6, 1963, Laura Welch left her family home at 2500 Humble Ave. in Midland, Texas, after some sort of incident. She headed north on Lanham St. and, after four blocks, turned right and stopped to pick up her girlfriend, Judy Dykes, at 2409 Neely Ave.

A couple of blocks east, Laura headed north again on North Garfield St. and headed out of town in the direction of her boyfriend's house.

Michael Dutton Douglas, also 17 and also a senior at Lee High School, left his home before Laura got into the vicinity. He left with his dad close behind, perhaps in pursuit.

At the north edge of town, Laura turned her big new Chevrolet Impala left again, heading east on farm-to-market (FM) road FM 868.

Meanwhile, Michael was leaving his home on Solomon Drive, heading east toward the highway, state route 349, a couple hundred yards away. From here, he would turn right, south, on 349 toward the fateful meeting at FM 868.

If Laura or Judy was watching, they could see Michael's car, or at least its headlights, on his street, Solomon Dr., which paralleled FM 868 and was the first street to the north.

Later, Laura reported she didn't even see his headlights even as he, headed south, approached the intersection with FM 868. In the 1000 yards to the intersection, he had time to accelerate to the legal speed limit of 65 mph.

The police report said it was dark but that, otherwise, driving conditions were ideal. It is easy to overlook a car in daytime, but on a dark night, it is hard not to notice the headlights of an approaching car, about the only light around, except for what one's headlights illuminate.

That night, Laura didn't see the headlights of Michael's Corvair. As she approached the state highway doing 50-something miles per hour, according to the police report, she didn't see the stop sign either, she said.

Michaels little Corvair was no match for Laura's new land barge. The collision swung his car around fully three-quarters of a turn and set it skidding 50 feet to the east, in the same direction as Laura's car was heading. It was like a billiard ball approaching from your left, and you hit it and it goes more or less straight away from you.

Michael died of a broken neck, at the scene. His father, who was following him, arrived seconds after the wreck. Laura was unhurt and Judy had insignificant injuries.

The police report noted that Laura committed two violations of traffic laws that contributed to the wreck: "Disregard stop sign or signal" and ""

In the box labeled "Is investigation complete?", the police officer checked "No."

The officer went through all the proper motions: measured the skid marks, diagramed the wreck, went to the hospital to check on the dead (Michael) and others (Laura and Judy). He took statements from the survivors and photos of the wreckage. The next day, he filed his report.

He did not issue a citation to Laura Welch. The investigation apparently was never completed. No grand jury was convened.

Laura had killed the most popular boy at school, more popular than Tommy Franks, who later would become an Army general and lead US forces into the invasion of Iraq. She stayed home until about Christmas.

Outside of that, she has never missed a beat, certainly not a class reunion, where she still shows up and dances with all comers as First Lady of the United States.

Less than two years later, the heartbroken Douglas family - mother, father, and siste of Michael - moved out of town. It is not known whether they received any compensation for Michael's death. Certainly Laura's parents, Laura and Jenna H. Welch could afford to pay it, not to mention their insurance company. Welch built five of Midlands housing developments, which made him a wealthy man by small-town standards.

To this day residents of Midland talk of the wreck in hushed tones.

Laura Bush's mother has expressed thankfulness that it was not her daughter that was killed, since the Welches only had one child.

Laura Bush has never, never acknowledged what the police report noted: Her violation of law had contributed to a young man's death. Never.

Media reports have appeared in "Reader's Digest" and other places with incorrect facts that would seem to be ameliorating circumstances. For example: Michel Douglas was driving an open Jeep, from which he could easily be thrown. The wreck happened right after a thunderstorm, which would imply that the pavement was wet and slick.

The fact is, Michael was driving a closed sedan that was very small and no match for Laura's much larger car. The pavement was dry, as the officer check the box on the police report form. Laura never bothered to correct these and other misstatements, including the one that she was not Michael's girlfriend. She will not acknowledge the accident or even her relationship with the victim even to this day.

The true facts came out when the police report was released in 2000, 37 years after the fact, also after the Midland city attorney refused to release the report. The Texas attorney general compelled the release of the report after a newspaper in another Texas town, Odessa, filed a Freedom of Information Act request.