(Update) The Girl Driving The Bus (Minneapolis, Minnesota disaster)

Don Taylor

Former Member (by the member's request)
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A Dear friend of mine answered an email today and I would like to ask for your prayers and thoughts for a girl who saved the lives of a great many children but didn't quite escape being harmed herself.

DT

Hi Dear...

Yes, I'm safe and sound and so is my whole family. Unfortunately, Jeff's daughter-in-law was driving that bus full of kids that was on the bridge, with her own two kids on the bus. The kids are ok with a lot of bumps and bruises, but his daughter-in-law has a broken back, some shoulder & knee problems that haven't been totally determined yet. She isn't paralyzed, so that's good. She'll have a long recovery but should be fine. This whole thing is so devastating and sad. Thankfully, I don't have to drive that route very often....maybe once a week at most.

Thank god for email when the phones are tied up.

DT
 
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All the best to your friend (and all the others involved or impacted). If it's any reassurance to your friend, I'm walking proof that broken backs can heal. It's a chore, but it's doable. (The "isn't paralyzed" part is the best news, of course. It's a great feeling of relief in the Emergency Room to be able to wiggle your toes.)
 
I'll keep her and everyone else involved and their families in my thoughts and prayers.

Like Vaughn, I survived a broken back. I'm 8mm shorter than I used to be and some days I don't feel as well as I'd like...but I'm able to work a job and play in my UNFINISHED shop.

Tradgedies like this bridge event and dealing with a broken back and praying you won't be a paralyzed will give you a whole new look on life. Somethings are important .....some things aren't. Most things aren't...
 
Don, Hope your friend does well and eventually has a full recovery.

I was watching the so called "news" on the tube this morning and they were interviewing the young 'Hero' on the bus who "saved all the kids", but they never did mention the driver. I kinda though that was odd. Believe me, I'm not in any way downplaying what the young man did, but I wonder why the driver's condition was never mentioned.

Makes you wonder what really happened out there?

Respectfully, Tony.
 
Don, Hope your friend does well and eventually has a full recovery.

I was watching the so called "news" on the tube this morning and they were interviewing the young 'Hero' on the bus who "saved all the kids", but they never did mention the driver. I kinda though that was odd. Believe me, I'm not in any way downplaying what the young man did, but I wonder why the driver’s condition was never mentioned.

Makes you wonder what really happened out there?

Respectfully, Tony.

It's not the first time I have seen, heard, read about one of these bus drivers male and female who transport our children every day. Most of them would give their lives to save that of their charges. We take them for granted sometimes because seeing them every day makes them kind of invisible if you know what I mean. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get to know these bus drivers and let them know we appreciate them.

DT
 
Don good thoughts and prayers sent her way, after seeing my Mom comeback so strong, I'm now a firm believer in the power of collective good thoughts and prayers! :thumb:
 
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Good interview!

(My statement)
Yes, I guess they hounded her until she had no choice.


(A thank you from my friend)
DT...

Everyone's thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

Good news on Jeff's daughter-in-law the bus driver...she has been released from the hospital in one of those fiberglass back braces. Obviously her mobility is impaired, but at least she can get up and move around in a limited fashion if she wants to.

I think the reason people don't hear much about her is twofold. One is that at first she was knocked unconscious and then she couldn't move so she couldn't help any of the kids. Thank God for the people who were there to help them since she couldn't. Rescuers moved her out of the bus and laid her on the concrete until the medics could get to her.

The second reason is that they tried hard to keep her identity hidden. There were news reporters camped outside the hospital and everywhere trying to get to talk with her. They had really tight security at the hospital so that no one could get to her. The reporters found out who her husband (Jeff's son) was and then camped outside their house. They were doing everything to try to find out more about her. The city finally took down the street sign at the end of the block so it wouldn't be as easy to find their house! All the major networks want to talk with her.... Katie Couric, Charles Gibson, etc. It will be interesting to see what they decide to do. Stay tuned!!!

(Below is my comment DT)

I think they should declare open season on these media types. They have no scruples at all.
After the stalking and digging in personal and public records, when they do find you and while you are suffering the worse grief of your life, they build a circus outside your home. Complete with coffee, cigarettes doughnuts and whatever else is they will need to camp out for weeks if necessary. No one can come or go to be with you during your time of need with out being attacked by the sensationalist with the cameras and microphones.

Does the public really have the right to know: "Mam, how did it make you feel when the truck ran over your two year old and turned her into a greasy spot?"

These people have absolutely no feeling when it comes to exploiting other people’s tragedies to make the almighty dollar.
If it ever does occur to one of mine, a few in that circus are going to end up hurt. Right there on the 6 o'clock news.

Please excuse my rant. This has always been a very sore spot with me.

DT
 
I am with you Don

Not only do these media people think they own the planet and intrude on anything, but they also report the "news" the way they want you to hear it. Where are the days of factual reporting without a hidden agenda?:dunno:
 
...
Good news on Jeff's daughter-in-law the bus driver...she has been released from the hospital in one of those fiberglass back braces. Obviously her mobility is impaired, but at least she can get up and move around in a limited fashion if she wants to.
Wow, that was a quick hospital stay. Glad to see it looks like she's already on the road to recovery. I was in the hospital two weeks when I broke mine...one prior to the surgery and one after. I was in the body brace (UHMW plastic, not fiberglass) for 18 months after that.

I'm also with you Don on the media. :rolleyes:
 
Not only do these media people think they own the planet and intrude on anything, but they also report the "news" the way they want you to hear it. Where are the days of factual reporting without a hidden agenda?:dunno:

Notice the difference in what my friend said about what happened and what the media says. And she KNOWS this person. :huh:

DT
 
Don, I'm glad to here she is on the mend!

I can't stand the media either, had a personal experience with them once and that was enough. Nieces husband was a Virginia Beach police officer. He was involved in serious motorcycle accident some years back. It wasn't long the vultures where circulating at the hospital. They never got near my niece, not at the hospital or at her house. his fellow officers kept them at bay. They went so far as to block off the cul de sac they lived on and escorted her to and from the hospital. it took them two weeks to give up. I was down there at the time, they where just a royal pain in the rear.
 
Glad to hear that she is recovering.

I always assume that any fact in a news story is "soft" except for the writers by-line. Whenever I have prior knowledge, real knowledge, of facts which appear in a news report they are reported incorrectly. Ages of participants, time in jobs, money values of transactions etc have all been wrong in the few stories that I have been involved with. On the basis that they can't get somebodies age correct I assume that anything more complex has no chance. I cannot remember the last time I purchased a newspaper and no longer watch the news. I figure that anything really important will come and get me if it needs me.
 
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In defense of the media, remember that freedom of the press is one of our most important freedoms. And when you give a lot of freedom, you get all kinds of voices and all different levels of quality of reporting.

And then, there are reporters and then there are reporters. I know several reporters who try their absolute best to get things right. Large organizations, like the New York Times and the Washington Post, have people who are fact checkers - people whose job it is to read a story before it's published and check all the facts in the story - and still they make mistakes and get things wrong.

Finally, we share some of the responsibility for the aggressiveness of reporters. We want to know about "the girl on the bus". The reporters are just doing what we want them to do - to get the story. It's kind of like making sausage. If you had to look at how it's made, you wouldn't eat it.

Mike
 
...We want to know about "the girl on the bus"....
Mike
Maybe that's where my apathy comes from. In truth I don't really want to know about "the girl on the bus". Certainly not beyond the fact that she was on the bus and maybe extending to the point of whether she was injured and maybe how seriously. I really don't feel the need to know where she lives, who she is or is not married to, where she went to school. This is not, by the way, intended as any criticism of Don's posting of this thread. He has a personal connection at some level to an event that we all shared in to at least a tiny extent and chose to share it. As far as I know he didn't doorstep anybody or get in the way of normal people going about their business.

I completely agree with the importance of freedom of speech and by extension freedom of the press. But there is a difference in my head between salacious nonsense, factual information, hype and investigative journalism. Some have real value within my world view and some have no real value. You pick which you think is which.
 
My problem with the media is the sensationalism and their insistence, scheming and the unethical procedures they employ to talk to someone who does not want to talk to them and be misquoted all over the world.

DT
 
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