|
1/26/01
Ingesting balloons
of drugs at border
yields big trouble
By RACHEL CLARK, Staff
Writer
CHAMPLAIN — A man was in serious condition at CVPH Medical
Center Thursday after swallowing dozens of balloons filled with the drug
Ecstasy.
U.S. Customs Press Officer Janet Rappaport said Marcelino
Wilson of the Netherlands was pulled off an inbound Greyhound bus at the
Champlain Port of Entry at the U.S.-Canada border about 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Rappaport said Customs inspectors found
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine pills, also known as Ecstasy, in Wilson’s shoes.
They discovered he had swallowed 20 to 30 balloons filled with the drug.
Wilson was taken to CVPH Medical Center.
Rappaport did not have further information about the
smuggling attempt or how Wilson came to be in critical condition because of the
drug.
"The investigation is ongoing," she said.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration Web site,
Ecstasy was originally created as an appetite suppressant but is used illegally
to produce euphoria.
The drug’s adverse effects include hallucinations, nausea,
tremors and blurred vision.
Rachel Clark can be reached by e-mail:
rclark@pressrepublican.com
November 4, 2000 --
SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- Bus crashes after
passenger grabs steering wheel -- A Greyhound bus carrying 38 people
veered into a ditch Friday after a passenger grabbed the steering wheel, police
said. Officials said all 38 people on board were injured. At least 18
people were taken to local hospitals by ambulance and helicopter, though none of
the injuries were believed to be life-threatening. The Portland-Los
Angeles bus was traveling just north of Sacramento on Interstate 5 around 1:50
p.m. when police said a male passenger, who was sitting two rows behind the
driver, suddenly got up and grabbed the steering wheel. He jerked it to the
right, and the bus veered across two lanes of the highway before slamming into a
ditch. No other cars were hit, police said. California Highway
Patrol Officer Max Hartley said the man jumped off the bus and ran into a field,
where he was found later with the aid of a helicopter and dogs. He was arrested,
and Hartley said the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office will charge the man with
37 counts of attempted murder. The man has not told officers
why he grabbed the wheel, but Hartley said a female passenger sitting next to
the man said he had earlier shouted that someone was trying to kill him. The
man, who had a ticket to be on the bus, embarked in Redding, California, Hartley
said.
|
|
Victims of the Greyhound bus crash near Sacramento,
California, await emergency medical treatment on Friday
|
|
Friday,
January 26, 2001
International bus station is dedicated in McAllen
Transit companies on both sides of the border will gather passengers for trips
in U.S., Mexico
By Megan K. Stack
Associated Press
McALLEN - The lettering over the gleaming ticket booths speak of a tiny scrap of
border history: Greyhound and Turimex; Valley Transit and Autobuses Adame.
In another instance of a dissolving U.S.-Mexican border, bus
companies from both countries now share a single station. The $4.9 million
Central Station opened in McAllen on Thursday.
The first buses will rumble to life this morning, bound for points
all over North America.
Until now, riding from the interior United States to the southern
cities of Mexico was a tricky endeavor.
Tourists and laborers sometimes had to hitch rides from one station
to the next, or hop three buses - a Greyhound to the U.S. border, a local
shuttle across the international bridge and a third ride to the Mexican
interior.
The 22,000 square-foot, brick and stone terminal took three years
to build, but politicians and would-be passengers said it was worth the wait.
"I can't believe how much more convenient this is," said
Mercedes Fuentes, 66, poring over route maps during Thursday's ribbon-cutting
ceremony.
"We've always come and gone to Mexico, but now it's going to
be so much easier."
The buses are likely to see heavy use: More than a million
passengers are expected to pass through the McAllen station each year.
"I'm not sure we even understand the gravity of that many
people coming and going," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday. "The
border is not our backyard - it is the front door."
Buses remain the backbone of transportation along the border, a
region of scant money and constant migration.
"Most people here don't even think about an airplane - that's
just not an option," said Teclo Garcia, a spokesman for the city of
McAllen. "If you're a migrant worker, this is probably the easiest way to
get to the farms in the rest of the country."
Splashes of color
Using splashes of primary colors, the architect melded influence
from both nations in the station's design.
"The border's always been seamless to me," said David
Negrete, a native of Edinburg and the son of Mexican immigrants. "We need
our national identity, but the border doesn't have to be such a harsh
thing."
Signed in 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement unleashed a
storm of international trade, most of which passes through Texas.
Cross-border relationships
American plants are proliferating on the southern bank of the Rio
Grande. Politicians from both countries are hastily fostering friendships on the
other side of the border.
Cross-border relationships are nothing new on the Rio Grande.
"Down here we have family in Mexico," said Secretary of
State Henry Cuellar, a Laredo native. "For people who live here, the
border's been breaking down for years."
|
Greyhound |
|
|
The passengers on Greyhound Bus #1888 write:
Accounting of events taking place Sunday July 16th-July 17th bus #1888 Memphis
TN to Chicago IL. Departure time given us on our ticket to leave Memphis: 6:45
P.M., arrive Chicago 4:45 A.M.
Sunday July 16th 2000 we had a two-hour wait because there was no driver, also
driver's supervisor did not answer her pages. Her name is Bertha. Finally we get
a bus driver around 9:00 P.M. with a very nasty attitude. Her very first words
were "Everyone get out your tickets now and let me see them or you will be
put off this bus." When she was asked her name she wouldn't give it to us.
There was a young girl who had cut her feet before she got to the bus station
but blood had seeped through the bandage on her foot.
The bus driver said she had to be taken to customer service where -- lo and
behold -- no one was there, the driver let them back on the bus and her parents
tried to stop the bleeding. Maintenance mopped up the blood and we were finally
on our way after all tickets checked out and ground rules were laid out.
Little did we know that this was a maniac bus driver. Rest stop #1 calls for a
15-minute break. She doesn't do a count of passengers, we leave rest stop on
time. Stop #2 we did get a head count and supposedly a 30 minute break which
turns out to be approximately another 2 hours because -- guess what? -- your
maniac bus driver went into a broken down bus and went to sleep while all the
other Greyhound bus drivers and some of the passengers who were on our bus were
out looking for her because everyone thought she had fallen dead or something
had happened to her.
The nice bus driver from bus #1907 had started to put some of the passengers who
had to go to work on his bus but she finally showed up. I must say all of the
Greyhound bus drivers in the area showed concern but they had to be on their
way.
When this maniac bus driver we had was questioned by the other bus driver from
#1907 she snapped at him. She also refused to let a white man with a guitar ride
on our bus. She told him you are not getting on this bus.
Now in spite of being late she was in hurry to get on the bus. A lady passenger
kept pressing the horn over and over until she got on the bus. A male passenger
tells he firmly don't make anymore stops go straight to Chicago. Your maniac
driver turns on the heat for about 10 or 15 minutes, leaving one asthmatic
passenger to use her spray pump to help her breathe, there were others with
respiratory problems also a young baby was on the bus. It was getting had to
breathe.
Now one of the passengers started blinking the lights overhead to signal to
someone on the outside there is a nut driving our bus, she said it very loud and
your maniac bus driver finally turns on the air with gas fumes coming into the
bus. But, after this the same passenger tells anyone with a cell phone please
call 911, break out the windows if gas keeps coming in because the nut acted as
if she wanted to die and take us with her, but finally the gas fumes go away.
Now your maniac bus driver was sleepy, she was driving close to the edge of the
road, thank goodness the bus did not turn over. When we finally arrived to
Chicago which was about 7:15 A.M. the driver let some of the passengers off on
95th and the Dan Ryan. Note, those who had to be at work were late. My grandson
in law was late and could not work that day because if you are late you don't
work.
Now, someone at Greyhound Customer Service say they never promise prompt
departure and arrival time but that's a bunch of bull. Also you will be hearing
more from us through Consumer Affairs and Target 5 news media. If action on this
matter is not taken possibly a lawsuit may be considered.
There were 16 passengers from one family coming from a family reunion. We want
compensation for the terror and inconvenience we suffered at the hands of a
maniac bus driver. I know you didn't know that she was a nut but nevertheless we
are not to blame. We will not accept vouchers, we have phoned your complaint
line and entered this complaint and we find your service courteous but
unsatisfactory. We will expect to hear from you and we will enter complaints
against you if we do not get immediate action.
|
|
|
Back
To News letter #2
|
| Greyhound
comes to town
By
Jon Alverson
|
|
| At
2:50 p.m. Tuesday, for the first time in 18 years a Greyhound bus rolled through
Andalusia on its way to New York City.
The red, white and blue bus
circled the parking lot in the Andalusia Shopping Center on South Three Notch
Street and pulled to a stop.
The hydraulic shocks hissed as the
front of the bus slowly lowered to the pavement beside the new Greyhound Bus
Station in the shopping center.
The bus driver, Festus Lloyd,
stepped from the bus and talked to James Richardson.
Richardson, a local Greyhound
agent, asked Lloyd about his trip before Lloyd mounted the steps and drove on
down the road toward New York City.
The bus was about half full, which
according to Richardson, is enough passengers to make a route profitable.
Today marked the beginning of a
daily stop on a bus route between New York City and Dallas, Texas.
Two buses — one heading
northeast and one heading southwest — will pass through Andalusia between 2
p.m. and 3 p.m. every day.
The bus stop in Andalusia was
brought about by a community effort, according to Richardson.
In recent months, a group of young
children circulated a petition throughout Andalusia, asking Greyhound to pass a
bus route through Andalusia.
“It’s because of the petition
that we are here today,” Richardson said.
Other than providing a means of
nationwide transportation, the Greyhound Bus Stop will also help the Rev. Graham
Tucker with his ministry.
Tucker is the chaplain for the
Andalusia Police Department.
As part of his duties as chaplain
he often has to find transportation for transient people who need a way out of
Andalusia.
“Sometimes people are left here
and need a way to get home,” Tucker said.
Previously, a deputy from the
Covington County Sheriff’s Department or an Andalusia Police officer would
have to drive the person to Evergreen, the nearest bus terminal.
The bus stop is located at 415
South Three Notch St. in Andalusia. For bus fares, schedules and information
call 427-8194 or 1-800-231-2222.
|
|