Nolan Clay of NewsOK wrote an interesting article earlier this month on Billy O’Neal, the volunteer school bus driver who was killed in the May 31 EF5 tornado that struck El Reno, just west of Oklahoma City.
Our sources told us O’Neal, 67, was driving when the tornado caught him and flipped his car multiple times. But Clay’s June 7 report brought to life in harrowing detail just what O’Neal and his passenger encountered when they were sucked up by the twister.
Instead of hunkering down in a neighbor’s shelter because he felt too claustrophobic from the time he spent fighting in bunkers during the Vietnam War, O’Neal decided to try and drive around the tornado, as he had always done.
He told his soon to be grandson-in-law, Jose Bonilla, that the shelter was “going to be tight,” so the two decided to drive to a nearby town, get something to eat and wait things out. But on the drive, the 2.5-mile-wide tornado, the widest on record, caught up. But Bonilla said O’Neal might have been able to drive out of harm’s way but for his gentlemanly manners.
“There was a line of cars coming. We could have gone, but he just sat there and he let people go before us. By the time we turned, he was the last car in the line … heading east. There was—I don’t know—10, 15 other cars in front of us. … Now, it’s right behind us,” Bonilla recalled.
O’Neal turned south behind a pickup truck, but by then it was too late. Bonilla went on to describe in vivid detail the falling telephone poles, the wind, the hail, the cracking windows, the spray of antifreeze and the rolling as the tornado tossed their vehicle. It read like something out of the screenplay for “Twister.”
Clay further reported that the medical examiner said O’Neal died of multiple blunt-force trauma that is common to tornado victims.
It has been one year since the video of teenagers taunting school bus monitor Karen Klein went viral and reignited the national discussion on bullying. Klein retired from the Greek School District in New York soon after and used hundreds of thousands of dollars in online donations from supporters to set up an anti-bullying foundation.
This week, she told 13WHAM News: “I’m not sorry it happened. It did start people talking: talking to their children. I’m hoping it made a change in some kids’ lives.”
Now, Klein said she stays busy devoting herself to her family and her foundation. When children and adults ask her what they can do to stop bullying, she tells them to seek help immediately.
“I just want everybody to know you don’t have to stand for it. … Don’t just let it happen—get help.”
NSTA reported the sad news that Paul Schmitter, husband of association President Magda Dimmendaal, passed away Wednesday morning from complications of ALS. He was 78. See his obituary for information on his life and his July 13 memorial service.
This month, STN Managing Editor Sylvia Arroyo reports on what the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. “Obamacare”) could mean to school districts once the law is fully implemented on Jan. 1.
The law essentially requires all organizations that employ 50 or more employees to offer healthcare benefits to those working full time—which means at least 30 hours a week for more than 120 days per year, according to ACA Watch.
Certainly, school bus drivers could be considered full-time, so Arroyo writes in her Special Report that many school districts are looking to pare back hours and classify school bus drivers as well as other employees to part-time status to avoid fines.
Since we went to press in May, the STN editors, as well as our readers, have counted numerous local and national reports to describe what cities across the nation are doing in response. One such report was filed just this week by Investor’s Business Daily.
Joining the social media revolution recently was NASDPTS, as its President Max Christensen, the state director of student transportation for the Iowa Department of Transportation, reminded members and their followers last week of the official Facebook page. Christensen said Bob Riley, NASDPTS’ executive director, “was instrumental in getting the page up and running” and will also be the official moderator of the page.
Stertil-Koni was featured in a June 14 episode of Jay Leno’s Garage, as the comedian, who is the host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and an automotive aficionado, shared with readers Stertil-Koni’s ST1082 Wireless Mobile Column Lifts.
Carl Boyer, Stertil-Koni’s sales manager, showed Leno and viewers just how easy it is for one person to move the lifts to erect Leno’s 30,000-pound vintage fire truck. No external power source is required to operate, no interconnecting cables are necessary and hence no risk of tripping—all with minimal setup time and maximum access to the vehicle, says Boyer.
A set of four wireless mobile lifts can lift up to 72,000 pounds.
“They’re the second greatest invention. First, of course, is the wheel. But how do you lift up the wheel?” Leno asked during the episode. “This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.”
