Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Two weeks after calling a community services group for help, the Montgomery County school bus driver was charged with drunken driving after her bus collided with another at Blacksburg Middle School.
"I found out about two months before the accident that I couldn't stop [drinking], and I knew then that I was in trouble," Wilson testified Wednesday in General District Court.
She tearfully apologized to her family, co-workers and children.
Many of the parents were nice to her, she said, "and I let them down."
The June 1 accident caused minor damage, and no one was injured.
A week after Wilson was arrested, the Montgomery County School Board fired her. The 39-year-old Elliston woman had been a county school bus driver for several years.
Wilson told Judge Thomas D. Frith that she started drinking regularly about three years ago.
Two weeks before the accident, she met with a mental health services worker.
But she kept drinking.
Wilson guessed she drank seven beers the day of the accident. Officer C.S. Jones testified that she told him she had drunk heavily the night before.
She testified she never went to her supervisors to tell them she had a problem, and that June 1 was the first time she drove the bus after drinking.
Frith asked whether she ever considered not driving the bus that day.
"Yes, it did occur to me, but they were short on sub drivers," Wilson said. "Sir, I can't explain what I was thinking, because I wasn't in my right mind."
Three school bus drivers who attended the hearing to support Wilson praised her previous work and driving record. They backed up her statements about a shortage of substitute drivers.
"She knows she's made a mistake, and she's already paid" and will be paying for the rest of her life, Sue Sisson said.
The accident occurred about 3 p.m. when bus driver Patricia Jean Songer stopped in traffic and Wilson's bus hit hers, according to testimony. Both drivers had just picked up their loads of middle-school students.
A Breathalyzer test showed Wilson had a blood-alcohol content of 0.13, more than three times the level at which commercial drivers are presumed drunk, and 0.05 points above the 0.08 blood-alcohol limit for other drivers.
"You've got all those kids. I can't imagine what you're thinking about," Frith told Wilson.
While he was impressed that Wilson had completed a 21-day stay at an alcohol treatment center and that she is regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, the judge said he had to consider the seriousness of the charges.
Wilson was fined $1,000, with $500 suspended, and sentenced to 30 days in jail, suspended after serving eight days.
Her operator's license was suspended for 12 months, but she can have a 10-month restricted license if she enrolls in the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program.
"Even if you go to VASAP, you're going to walk for two months," Frith said.
Wilson also was fined $150 for having alcohol on school property. A can of beer was found in her purse, which she asked a student to take into the school after the wreck. The student turned the purse over to school officials, who found the beer as they looked for her driver's license.
A third charge of transporting alcohol on a school bus - entered because another beer was found hidden in a student's backpack - was dropped because the statute applies to commercial vehicles for hire, not school buses.
Peggy Frank, assistant commonwealth's attorney, was pleased with the judge's sentence, saying it was fair given the circumstances. Wilson received more of a fine and jail time than other first-time DUI offenders, which was appropriate because she was driving a school bus full of children.
But Nora Woolwine, a parent who had children on the school bus, thought the punishment was not severe enough.
"I think it was light. I think she could have got more time," Woolwine said after court. "I know she's remorseful; still ... she did it, and it can't be changed."
by CNB