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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 30, 1990                   TAG: 9005300560
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

10 PUPILS HURT SLIGHTLY AS BUS, AUTO COLLIDE

One of those pupils was 6-year-old Ashlee Harris, who attends kindergarten at Christiansburg Primary School.

In the waiting room of Montgomery Regional Hospital, she said she was "pretty scared" when she saw a car cut in front of her bus, which jumped a curb and slammed into a telephone pole in an attempt to avoid the car.

Linda Harris, Ashlee's mother, and other parents were notified by school officials and met their children in the waiting room.

"It gave us a bit of a scare. She had a bruise on her head, but she's OK," Linda Harris said.

Hospital officials said none of the children was seriously injured. Most had minor cuts and bruises. They ranged in age from 5 to 12 years old and were on their way to either the primary school or Christiansburg Elementary School.

The driver of the car, Trinna Fogg, 20, of Cheverly Road in Christiansburg, was in stable condition with fractures and a concussion.

Police at the scene of the 8 a.m. wreck said it appeared Fogg was turning left off Roanoke Street onto Depot Street and cut into the path of the bus, which was traveling the opposite direction on Roanoke Street.

The bus driver, Anna McCrickard, tried swerving to avoid the car but slammed into its left side, police said. The bus ran over a curb on the right side of the road and hit a telephone pole, breaking it into three pieces.

Police had not yet placed any charges against either driver.

Montgomery County Schools Superintendent Harold Dodge said shortly after the wreck that McCrickard should be commended for doing her best to avoid the wreck.

McCrickard was not injured but was "very shook up," Dodge said. "She's just upset about the children."

In the waiting room, a teary-eyed McCrickard received hugs from some of the pupils whom she has been driving to school for two years.

McCrickard also received thanks from some worried parents and school officials.

Dodge told her: "A lot of these parents think you did something real special by protecting their kids. And they're real appreciative."

The scene at the hospital was like a zoo, with parents looking for their children and Dodge and other school officials mingling among them to make sure everyone was all right.

Sally Bohland, a counselor at Christiansburg High School, was called out to talk with and comfort the bus driver and some of the students.

"They all seem fine, as you can see," Bohland said, pointing to a few of the pupils running around the waiting room and climbing over chairs.

Elizabeth Dotson, director of the Tiny Tots Day Care Center, said pupils are dropped off at the center each morning by their parents and then driven by McCrickard to their respective schools.

"The children were real concerned about her [McCrickard]. They all asked about her," Dotson said at the hospital.