Cross Country biker, Jim Gafney, killed by drunk driver
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/22/bn22gafne...
Chula Vista man killed on cross-country bicycle trek
By Debbi Baker, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
8:26 a.m. June 22, 2009
SAN DIEGO — A Chula Vista man on a cross country bike tour to protest government bailouts was killed Sunday in Illinois by a suspected drunk driver who left the scene of the crash.
Jim Gafney, 65, was on U.S. Route 50 about 60 miles east of St Louis just before 1 a.m. when he was struck from behind by a 1997 Nissan Altima driven by a 27-year-old man, Illinois State Police officials said.
The driver said he was coming over a hill and saw Gafney but was not able to stop or take evasive action in time to avoid hitting him, police Master Sgt. Chris Trame said.
The roadway in that area is just two lanes with no shoulder, Trame said. He described it as “pretty isolated” and “not well lit.”
Gafney was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver was later arrested. He faces charges that include aggravated driving under the influence and leaving the scene of the accident, Trame said.
Gafney left Chula Vista April 27, according to a video he posted on the Web site YouTube.
He called his journey the “Mad As Hell Bike Ride Across U.S.” He was collecting signatures on a petition asking, among other things, that representatives end bailouts for banks, decrease the salaries of elected officials and end the use of earmarks. He planned to ride to Washington D.C. to deliver the signatures to Congress.
Extremely sad
I hope his spirit soars now. I for one am learning about him because of this tragedy and I hope this word spreads far and wide. Hope to have an email go viral about this. I hope he is a Christian who is now in a better place and won't have to face all that we will be facing here in the next few years. Hopefully he never knew what hit him and he was doing what was in his heart and now won't have to face an intolerable "old age." In my spirit I will pick up his tracks and continue to ride. I hope those thousand riders end up getting together to finish his ride. I hope to hear of bikers flooding into DC. Thank you, Jim, for giving the ultimate to save our country. God bless your family and help them through this. They have a hero to pattern their lives after. He actually has more influence from where he is now than he did inside his body.
Freedom Rider
I met Jim in May 2009, in Pagosa Springs Colorado, while on his journey across the U.S. I publish a freedom magazine here in Colorado, so I tracked him down to get his story. It took me all day to find him.When I did We became instant friends and like brothers from the beginning. Jim ended up staying for three days at my house. AKA Mad Max, was on a mission for We The People. I cant explain the heart break I have for this tragic loss to America, of a true American Patriot. He will always be a hero to me, and I will never forget the ultimate sacrifice he made for us. Now I am on a mission to complete his mission. Jim told me while he was here, he had a dream to have more riders join him, and to have as many as 1,000 or more follow him into D.C. and hand deliver to our Reps in D.C all the signed petitions he gathered on his 3,000 plus mile journey across the country. Jim was a man that had no need really to leave his family and nice life in California. I truly believe he was called out to do this. We The People must step up and give honor to what his message and mission were all about. How many people have spilled there blood to give us our freedom? Are we going to read the news about his tragic death and sacrifice, just so we can feel pain for a moment and go back to our daily sitcoms in front of the T.V.? Lets rally behind his movement, Use his sacrifice to rally the people together. I for one, will deliver his signed petitions to our Representatives in D.C. and tell them about him. I will let them know had they been listening in the first place he would not have been on the road at 1AM in Illinois, and Leon would not have hit him. This is truly about Government Servants not listening us. I hope Jim's ultimate sacrifice will WAKE AMERICA UP! We should all be doing something for freedom as it is not FREE ( Jim has proven this with his life) Please log on to our web site below and down load his petition and fax it to the number listed on the web site or mail it to Po box 2923 Pagosa Springs Colorado 81147. You have our promise they will be hand delivered. Thanks Jim Gafney...www.southwestfreepress.com
www.southwestfreepress.com
that is so sad..
Why do all the hero's leave us so quickly. This sucks..
My condolences to his family.
'Peace is a powerful message.' Ron Paul
HOLY SHIT
Wow. Hopefully a fund will be setup.
God damn it
Wow...Just wow.....I am speechless...I am sadden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBBYymRQrfU
I'm tearing up....SOn of a b*TCH
the protest form
Jim Gafney is my best friends Grandpa. We are going to finish his mission for him. If you would like to help us by signing his petition you can download one from " http://southwestfreepress.com/ " scroll down and click on the download link.
Please fax the signed protest to 951-302-1159 or you can send it in the mail to Southwest Free Press, P.O. Box 2923, Pagosa Springs, CO 81147.
Thank you so much for your sympathy, this was truly an amazing American.
I am so sad for the loss of this wonderful,
inspiring man. You are very fortunate to have known him well.
Please post how we can send sympathy cards
to the family. They should know that what he did and stood for was not in vain.
goddamn...
wft?!
cant a guy ride a bike in peace without getting ran over anymore?
so drunkie will get a few years in prison, but a sound patriot is lost forever. ohhh i get it. the world is f***ed
This is saddening...very much so...
My condolences to his family and loved ones...
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
– Patrick Henry, speech to the Virginia Convention
“The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had." - Eric Schmidt
Anything good ever come out
Anything good ever come out of Illinois? I mean We have Lincoln, Obama, & now this worthless drunk. What is this world coming too.
very sad
May his soul illuminate the righteous issues he was raising.
_________________________________
Freedom - Peace - Prosperity
how sad.
may he now be on to greater adventures.
Wow. That really sucks. I
Wow. That really sucks.
I was just reading about this guy last week.
How horrible.
May he watch over us all
This story does not set well with me at all. The driver left the scene, and a scapegoat was later found and bribed into confessing...? Maybe it is what they say it is, but I have been lied to so often now that I just assume I am being lied to again.
Truth exists, and it deserves to be cherished.
My deepest sympathies to his
My deepest sympathies to his family. He may be gone, but the ideals of freedom and liberty are immortal.
Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson
Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietam servitutem. ("I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude"). Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 30 January 1787.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oxwluBspnE
If voting could really change things,
it would be illegal. Here is hoping for change!
This is horrible
my thoughts are with his family
Tragic.
Tragic story. What time of day did this occur?
http://theconstitutionalists1.blogspot.com
Article says "just before 1 AM...
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Damn it. One true patriot down..but not out.
The movement lives on because of men like Jim Gafney....
loyaltothecrazyuncle
do you know if some one else, has picked up the bike ride where he left off? I truly hope so.
Don't know, henri...but, anytime one of ours....
meets with such disaster, it really bothers me. I hope someone can can help carry the torch.