Area bus drivers answer the call in time of need

Most times their biggest concern is getting their student cargo to school on time.

Last month, however, four Opelika City School bus drivers were on the road to help folks get out of harm’s way.

Aug. 30, bus drivers Bernice Benton, Glenn Clowers, David Toxey and Lesia Walton traveled to Mobile just as Hurricane Gustav was making landfall.

The four drivers had previously volunteered for an emergency “on call” list.

“The State Department of Education sends out the request each year for school bus drivers to sign up who wish to volunteer as drivers should an emergency arise,” said Opelika City Schools Transportation Director Jeff Foster. “Even though they knew it could have been potentially dangerous, our drivers were committed from the get go.”

The drivers got the word that they’d be driving hurricane evacuees from the Alabama Gulf Coast and traveled together in a bus for the Mobile Civic Center. When they arrived, they checked in with FEMA officials and were placed on stand-by.

The call to pick up any FEMA evacuees never came, and the four drivers eventually returned home, but not before they were able to offer assistance to someone in need. On the journey home, they were able to assist a family whose car had broken down, giving them a ride to Montgomery and helping them locate a shelter.

“At least we helped someone and that made the trip worthwhile,” Benton said in a statement.

Clowers agreed.

“When I was asked, I just wanted to go and help as many people as I could,” said Clowers, who has been a bus driver for Opelika City Schools for nearly a decade. “And if they asked me to do it again, I would.”