Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506060059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MELISSA DeVAUGHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MERRIMAC LENGTH: Medium
William and Delia Proffitt learned a valuable lesson this week.
"From now on, we'll listen to our kids," said Delia Proffitt, who Thursday afternoon found out that the bus driver who has taken her children to and from school this year had been charged with driving a busload of children while under the influence.
"They come home a lot and say she's run off the road or she's run a stoplight, but we never took them seriously," Proffitt said. "We thought it was just kids talking, especially because this [Merrimac] road's so bad."
Bus drivers Patricia Hall Wilson of North Fork Road and Patricia Jean Songer were leaving Blacksburg Middle School about 3 p.m. Thursday to take middle and high school students home. When Songer stopped her bus to watch for traffic, Wilson kept going and rear-ended Songer's bus.
No one was injured, and damage totaled only $800.
Although the accident was minor, town police investigated because state vehicles were involved. Blacksburg Officer C.S. Jones says he smelled alcohol on Wilson's breath, and he gave her sobriety tests. He charged her at the scene, while the children in her bus watched from their windows.
Wilson, 39, took a Breathalyzer test at the Blacksburg police station. She has been charged with driving under the influence, transporting an alcoholic beverage on a school bus and possessing an alcoholic beverage on school grounds. Police said two unopened beers were found Thursday - one in Wilson's purse in the school building, and another on the bus.
Jones followed up on the probe Friday.
"The investigation showed the pocketbook started out in the bus and was taken out of the bus by another party, basically to get rid of the beer," Jones said. He said one student apparently was instructed to take the purse into the school and that the second beer was hidden in another student's backpack.
"When I looked at the officer's face after he talked to" Wilson, Blacksburg Middle School Principal Gary McCoy said, "I knew it wasn't good."
McCoy said about 25 to 30 students were on each bus, headed toward the Merrimac section of the county, near Montgomery Regional Hospital.
The Proffitts and other parents in Merrimac were not surprised by the incident.
"At least [Wilson] didn't get out on the road where someone could've really been hurt," Delia Proffitt said. "I have three children on that bus - that's my whole family."
"It ain't surprising, because the kids have complained that she's run off the road before," said Brenda Lang, whose son rode Wilson's bus No. 72. "Just the day before, my son told me she had almost hit a car in the butt. He complained about other things, but I just thought it was a 9-year-old exploding, so I never thought about it, really."
Laura Hall of Field Drive in Merrimac said she now drives her children to school "for that very reason. I suspected there was a problem, so I took them off that bus."
Becky Smith said her daughter Ashley complained about Wilson, but she, like the other parents, didn't think much of it.
"The kids would come home with stories of being cussed at, and it was hard to believe that it would've happened," Smith said. But Smith said parents in Holly Court Trailer Park were not happy with Wilson.
"I saw parents confront her at the bus stop about things,'' Smith said, ``but she usually shut the door of the bus and drove off." Smith said she did complain to the principal at Ashley's school once, but never heard anything about it.
However, school officials said they had not received complaints about Wilson, who has driven for Montgomery County for less than two years.
"We've had no complaints of which I'm aware," Assistant Superintendent John Martin said at a news conference Friday. "Parents should listen to their children if they come home with complaints. If there are incidents, we will check it out."
Martin said Wilson is on administrative suspension until Tuesday, when the School Board will discuss the incident.
Wilson has no record of DUI violations. According to state law, any driving infraction by a school bus driver must be reported to the driver's school system.
Wilson was released from Montgomery County Jail after posting a $3,000 bond Thursday night.
McCoy, the principal, said the students probably learned some lessons.
"I think there are a couple of messages to be learned," McCoy said. "First, the students learned to be compassionate and concerned for another human being when it was going on. But second, I think they learned that you've got to pay the price for your actions."
by CNB