martin van ruin
By Brandon Adamson

Found this cool site that shows the history of Van Buren St.
http://www.brazilbrazil.com/vanburen.html

I never knew that the “Miranda rights” originated from this seedy street, which has apparently always possessed varying degrees of seediness:

In the early 1960s an 18-year-old woman was walking down Van Buren, returning from work to her home near 7th street, when she was abducted, kidnapped, raped and robbed by a certain Ernesto Pablo Montoya Miranda. Well, Miranda was criminal scum, but he was scum with good legal advice. His case was (in my opinion) one of the three most famous (or influential) cases ever to come before the US Supreme court (The others were the Dred Scott decision about slavery and the Brown vs. the Board of Eduation ruling, about integration and civil rights). In 1966 the Court ruled that Miranda had been denied his constitutional rights and thus was born the famous “Miranda” warning used by police today: You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you at no cost. During any questioning, you may decide at any time to exercise these rights, not answer any questions or make any statements. If Van Buren Street had been a better place, this would not have happened, or not to the young lady. Oh yes, Miranda was later killed in a bar fight and his attacker was arrested and read his Miranda Warning rights. He then declined to give a statement, and so he was released and then fled to Mexico. Is that irony or justice or what?

The last time I made a trip down VB was when I was looking to purchase a used car last year. Van Buren is home to some of the tackiest car dealerships in town….Bunny Auto Sales and Jalopy Jungle just to name a couple. I went to almost every single place(there are at least 40 used car lots on van buren.) It was sketchy even during the day, and I could not find a single car in long term drivable condition. When I looked under the hood of one sort promising vehicle…the coolant fluid was black! I said no thanks….

Filed under: Uncategorized - @ March 4, 2010 8:01 am

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