The sentencing

A judge today sentenced Olga Marina Franco Del Cid to 12 1/2 years in prison for the accident that killed four students aboard a bus near Cottonwood in February.

The accident has been a lightning rod from the start, not only for the tragedy, but for the fact that the woman, who still denies being the driver of a vehicle that hit the bus, was in the United State illegally.

Now, the sentence itself is part of the controversy.

“That’s IT! This is insane!,” one commenter on the West Central Tribune Web site said after the sentence was announced.

“She should get the death penalty for killing those kids. Then we wouldn’t have to waste more resources on illegals. Maybe that would send a signal. If you are here illegally and get caught, you hang,” said another.

Things aren’t any quieter on the Marshall Independent’s bulletin board.

Typical online commentary, or does it speak to the emotion of the immigration issue in an area of the state where it is more acute?