Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 12, 1990                   TAG: 9003123015
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE, FLA.                                 LENGTH: Medium

UNION DENIES ROLE IN SHOOTING AT GREYHOUND BUS

The shot, fired apparently from an Interstate 95 overpass, showered passengers on the Jacksonville-to-Daytona Beach run with glass and other debris Sunday night, said sheriff's spokesman Steve Weintraub. No arrests were made.

"Everybody was hollering, `I'm hit, I'm hit,' " said Ronald Hill, a passenger.

Seven of the 41 passengers were injured, but none of the injuries appeared life-threatening, authorities said. All seven were taken to hospitals, and two people underwent surgery for shrapnel wounds.

The shooting came on the eve of a meeting called in Washington by federal mediators with officials of the striking Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions in a bid to end the strike.

The union, which represents 6,300 drivers and more than 3,000 office and maintenance workers, went on strike March 2. There have been scattered violent incidents since, including a striker crushed to death by a bus operated by a replacement driver in Redding, Calif., and shots fired at a bus in Chicago.

Asked if Sunday night's shooting was strike-related, Weintraub said, "I think it is."

But Bill Nicholson, an executive board member of the Jacksonville local of the Amalgamated Council of Greyhound Local Unions, said, "As far as I'm concerned it wasn't one of our strikers. They've been like choirboys."

In Dallas, union spokesman Jeffrey Nelson echoed that view. "We believe it's important for the public to understand that this is a strike against the company, not against the traveling public," Nelson said.

The bus was on a highway about 10 miles south of downtown Jacksonville when it was hit, Weintraub said. A newly hired replacement driver was at the wheel, Greyhound said.

The unidentified bus driver pulled the bus in safely at a convenience store about two miles away. The store's night manager, Roger Ennis, said passengers covered in blood ran in and told him to call 911.

Earlier Sunday, Greyhound announced it has restored bus service to an additional 120 communities that lost regular runs when the strike began.

A company spokeswoman said Greyhound added routes Sunday in parts of the Southeast and Southwest after a new class of drivers graduated from training courses. The company is running one-third the number of buses it did a year ago and carrying about 38 percent of the number of passengers.