Anti-Heroes

Noticeably absent from the festivities at the Roadrunner was Kia-peddler Rusty Childress, who once was known as the "cofounder" of the American Freedom Riders but who has been ostracized by his own organization and has since split off to form a much-smaller bike club called Riders U.S.A. , which boasts a skull-head logo very similar to that of the AFR.

Childress, who recently suffered serious injuries in a motorcycle accident, did not return repeated calls for comment. AFR chief Danny Smith remained mum on the obvious rift. However, AFR member David Heppler did confirm the split and asserted that many American Freedom Riders feel resentment toward Childress for wearing their colors even though he's no longer with them.

How did this biker brouhaha begin?

"There were some issues that came up with Rusty Childress on the possible hiring of [illegals] or one of his vendors having illegals working on his property," squawked Heppler, who stated that late last year some AFR members supposedly spotted non-English-speaking laborers on Childress' lot. Childress was confronted about it, and the car salesman told fellow bikers that the laborers were not his responsibility because they were the employees of vendors contracted to wash Childress' cars and perform janitorial services.

Heppler claimed this confrontation was common knowledge within the core AFR membership. Indeed, several present at the Ramos event had heard the allegations, including Michelle Dallacroce.

The Bird has obtained a curious e-mail, dated December 19, 2006, that's been circulating in nativist circles and is purportedly from Childress to the leaders of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. In the e-mail, Childress tells the group that he has not made a good-faith effort to assure that his janitorial or car-wash vendors are using authorized labor. He wonders if he might be guilty in the public eye if this was uncovered and asks FAIR leaders for a CYA strategy.

This incredulous egret found the e-mail hard to believe. Could Childress, the head of United for a Sovereign America, a persistent antagonist of those who employ illegals and a regular host of Thursday-night prejudice parties at his Kia dealership, be a huge-ass hypocrite?

Two of the addressees, Susan Tully of FAIR and Michael Hethmon of the closely affiliated Immigration Reform Law Institute, did not recall the specific e-mail, but they both admitted they knew Childress because he is a member of the voluntary FAIR Approved program, in which businesspeople pledge not to use suspect workers.

The subject of this e-mail is, according to AFR members, the primary reason for the Childress-AFR divorce.

"I think what the majority of guys just wanted was an explanation of were they illegal, were they not," peeped Heppler. But those answers were not forthcoming, and AFR-members seethed at what's been perceived by some as Rusty's betrayal of the anti-illegal movement.

Also, more than one nativist activist has bristled at Childress' new policy of doing background checks on attendees of the Thursday-night powwows at Childress Kia, a policy perhaps inspired by The Bird's previous infiltrations. In fact, Dallacroce, one of the most recognizable faces of the anti-illegal crusade, was recently kicked out of one of the Kia meet-ups because she refused to agree to a vetting.

"I was dismissed from the group by Anna Gaines [of the organization You Don’t Speak for Me]," screeched Dallacroce. "She said it was because I wouldn't fill out a form saying that I wasn't an insurgent or a spy. Even though I've been on national news. Because I won't fill out the paperwork, I was no longer welcome to speak at the Childress dealership anymore and no longer welcome to attend."

The incensed Dallacroce also dished on Childress' alleged illegal-worker problem.

"I can tell you I personally do not hire illegal aliens," she asserted. "People who come into my home [to do contract work] will get their photographs taken by me and I will look at their driver's licenses. I will not have illegal aliens working for me. And I would hope that people like Rusty Childress would do the same."

TOWN WITHOUT PITY

Many of the same anti-immigration wackos who shed rivers of tears for Ramos and Compean have zero sympathy for the plight of Virginia Gutierrez, whose sad saga was first reported in The Bird ("No, Virginia," August 30) and has since been updated regularly by this nest-builder's blogging bro, Feathered Bastard.