STAN FREBERG HERE...Get Your Kicks On Route 666? Forget It!
Stan Freberg here. There's a questionable highway running through New Mexico--Highway 666! Whoa, too satanic a number for me! Also for the Navajos, who say too many accidents and even murders have occured on this highway. I wouldn't doubt it. More, after this. [:60 SPOT BREAK]
Freberg again. I was telling you about this ill-numbered highway that runs through New Mexico. Jim Carlton, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, reports that the highway is notorious for its numerous accidents involving drunken drivers, deaths of pedestrians, dumped bodies, and even a mad trucker whom police say runs people over on purpose. Of course--the highway's named "666"!
It's also trouble for the Navajos, because in their traditional belief, the number "6," or any combination of it, is evil. Hey, as a preacher's kid, I'm not going anywhere near a highway named "666"!
Christians believe that "666" symbolizes the "mark of the beast," an anti-Christ, prophesised in the Biblical book of Revelation. Authorities in London have dropped "666" from license plates, after motorists complained it contributed to accidents. And former President Reagan and his wife Nancy changed the address of their new home from "666" to "668."
The Navajos have petitioned the state to renumber the highway. In the meantime, a New Mexico road engineer may have the answer. "Just turn all the signs upside-down," he says. "Then we'll have '999'."
Stan Freberg here.
Copyright (C)1996, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.