Ramblings of the Mad Cow

Still not enough in my book. This never should have happened.

HERNANDO — Randall Wade Owen, who earlier this month pleaded guilty to killing two-year-old Ethan Bayless in a drunk driving accident, received the maximum sentence of 25 years in jail at a hearing Wednesday before Circuit Court Judge Bobby Chamberlin.

In an emotional four-hour hearing, the family of Ethan gave tearful testimony about how the tragedy had affected their lives since the accident occurred on Dec. 1, 2004.
“He was my only son, my baby,” said his mother Ginger Bayless. “He was a loving, caring child. He loved everyone he knew.”
Ginger Bayless was driving her Ford Marquis on Goodman Road in Horn Lake and had stopped because her lane was blocked due to construction. Owen, 35, rammed the Bayless car with his pick-up truck and then fled the scene.
The impact of the crash drove the front seat of the car into the child restraint seat in which Ethan was seated, causing massive head injuries.
Horn Lake Police arrested Owen at a supermarket at Goodman and Highway 51 shortly after the accident.
Owen registered a .33 percent blood alcohol level at the Horn Lake Police Station. A level of .08 is the legal definition of inebriation in Mississippi.
Ginger Bayless and her husband Jason donated Ethan’s organs for transplant the day after the accident when doctors at LeBonheur Children’s Hospital declared him brain dead.

Read the rest at the Desoto Times

“The biggest myth about Southern women is that we are frail types… fainting on our sofas. Nobody where I grew up ever acted like that. We were about as fragile as coal trucks.”

–Lee Smith

Two more weeks. Til I get to walk in that cold arena, smell the ice, feel the excitement. I can’t wait. Oct. 14th my throat is going to be so sore.

The What Should I Read Next? website suggests books you might like reading based on real readers’ recommendations.
These
were the results:

10. Are you cold?

9. Can I put a smiley face on it?

8. May be if we water it, it will grow.

7. But it still works, right?

6. Don’t worry. I always judge people on personality.

5. When you said you have nothing to hide, you weren’t kidding.

4. Wow. And your feet are so big!

3. Maybe it looks better in natural light.

2. Well, I have heard that smoking can stunt growth.

1. I guess that makes me “the early bird.”