Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004080011
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Medium
None of the 25 passengers or two drivers on the bus was injured in the incident at 10 p.m. Friday on Interstate 74 at Fairland, about 20 miles east of Indianapolis.
Greyhound Lines Inc. claims there have been 26 incidents of shooting at buses, not counting Friday's incident, since 6,300 drivers and 3,000 maintenance workers went on strike against Greyhound and its affiliates on March 1.
Greyhound spokesman Steve Scarpino said the Southeastern Trailways bus had no connection to Greyhound. "Greyhound did not have a driver on that bus, it was not our bus and it was not our [route]," he said.
Though Indianapolis-based Southeastern Trailways is a separate company from Greyhound, some of its buses travel Greyhound routes under a cooperative arrangement. Unlike Friday's incident, the two other attacks reported on Southeastern Trailways buses since the strike began, including one March 31 in which a driver was seriously wounded, occurred while those buses were going on Greyhound routes.
State police Sgt. Robert Cooley said Friday's incident was being investigated as a possible shooting. But the bus company said a senior driver on the bus, who was training the man at the wheel, thought there was no sign of shooting.
"The impact would appear to be from rocks, ball bearings or some other similar objects," said dispatcher Norma Largent.
Largent said the windshield and destination sign glass on the bus were broken in 11 places, all the size of a silver dollar.
Greyhound has offered $100,000 rewards leading to the arrests of people who fire on its buses. Scarpino said the company had not yet decided whether to offer the reward in the case of Friday's incident.
Greyhound has demanded one week of non-violence before its bargainers will agree to resume negotiations.
Jeff Nelson, a spokesman for the Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions, said the incident was unfortunate, but he criticized Greyhound's stance that negotiations will not resume until violence has stopped.
"We believe that that's a shame that the company is allowing a few crackpots around the country to determine whether or not they will finally come to the negotiating table," he said.
The bus drivers' union has disavowed any involvement in the violence and cites incidents in which drivers have been injured. A picket in Redding, Calif., was killed when he was crushed by a bus driven by a replacement driver. Authorities ruled it an accident.
by CNB