Held hostage by the BMV

Today I went to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to renew my driver’s license — a little bit late; it was supposed to be done on my birthday. Because of the late fee it turned out I was $10 short of money to pay for the renewal, and I wasn’t allowed to drive away and get more money because I would be driving on an expired license (which they’d already taken away in any case) and it would be illegal. I was forced to call Michael’s father and hang around until he arrived with the ransom money.

Why does this always happen to me?

Also, as documented by my trusty cell phone camera, a funny thing happened on the way to the library.

Another research tool

The Washington MP database kicked me out — said I had run through my search limit for today — so I started looking at Florida’s instead. I got the idea to take the MPs in the Florida MP database that were eligible for posting on the Charley Project but didn’t have any photos, and run them through the Florida Department of Corrections database to see if I could find photos there. Well, the first few score of names stubbornly refused to have criminal records, but I finally hit paydirt. Two names right after another, both with photos in the DOC database. And maybe more to come. These people will be appearing on Charley soon.

Hmmm…

I decided to look through the Washington MP database and then try Googling the names so I might be able to find associated pictures (since the database has practically none) and post them on Charley. Anyway, I found something very interesting: Regina Arias-Ibal, missing since November 26, 2001.

What’s interesting is that Regina is the sister-in-law of Guadalupe Castro and aunt to Guadalupe’s daughter, Aqueda Arias, who have also been missing since November 26, 2001. This board post, a copy of a now-defunct (and badly written, apparently) article, notes the following:

Agueda Elizabeth “Lizzie” Arias (Longview) a 7-year-old female and Guadalupe Barajas Castro (Arias), Agueda’s 23-year-old mother were last scene on November 11, 2002 in the company of 21-year-old Gregorio Arias-Ibala and Gregorio’s 20-year-old sister Regina Arias-Ibal, both Mexican Nationals. Gregorio is Guadalupe’s estranged husband and father of Lizzie who was on an impromptu visit from San Jacinto, CA. The group were last seen leaving Longview, WA to go cloths shopping for Lizzie in Portland, OR in a borrowed 1995 Jeep Cherokee. On 11-27-02, the vehicle was found abandoned in Kerman, CA. and no one has seen or heard from Guadalupe or Lizzie since. Confirmed information is that Gregorio had a hand gun with him during this visit and was upset over the possibility that Guadalupe had been involved with another man while they were separated.

I have NEVER heard anything before about Regina having disappeared as well. An awfully strange omission. What gives?