School bus runs off road

[Willy]

The driver of the school bus that ran off Jebavy road this morning claims the cause was a deer that needed to be avoided. I'm not saying that isn't what happened but in my opinion anytime a school bus driver is involved in an accident or receives a ticket that driver should be given a blood test to see if alcohol or drugs were involved. As a matter of fact bus drivers should be tested regularly and at random times during the year. I can't think of a more valuable cargo anyone would ever carry. This community was very lucky that none of the kids were injured. This could have been very serious. The Mason county news and the LDN had two different versions of the accident. Mason County news made no mention of an accident and that a deer was involved or that the bus had driven off the road.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2014/01/report_mason_c...

http://www.shorelinemedia.net/ludington_daily_news/news/local/artic...

[XLFD]

On Facebook, the MCP submitted a reader picture of the event, and the Mason County Sheriff's Office had a blurb about it.  None mentioned the deer even in the comments.  That latter makes this kind of suspicious.  Let's not forget, deer were blamed for a (former) Scottville Mayor's ride into a much bigger ditch in much better weather.

 

[XLFD]

Some unverified comments say that the bus driver had been involved with another incident earlier.  That in itself would make me more interested in this story if my kid rode that bus-- mindful that it was very slick this morning and that deer might easily be in the area at the time.  Allegedly there were only a couple of kids aboard at the time.

[William berkly]

    Oh man! This could of been a nightmare! Good thing no one was hurt. 

[masonco]

The bus driver might have seen a "wooden deer" (wink wink) and swerved to avoid it.

I noticed that Ludington Daily news seems to be getting information from Sheriff office first and post those reports. Mason County Press continues to scout out news without being spoon fed what to rush onto Facebook timelines.

[XLFD]

Rob Always has a very good relationship with the MCSO and Sheriff Cole, so I doubt whether the COLDNews is getting special advanced warning on information.  I think what may be coming into play is that the Mason County Press has more limited resources and personnel to get the info out, and that the COLDNews has been gearing their manpower and coverage so as to get the scoop, as they have been scooped often by the MCP in the past.  Alway has also started working on a "Manistee County Press" which will further dilute his resources.

This has often come at the cost of quality news, as initial COLDNews reports (and even MCP reports) often have typos or grammatical errors, as well as factual errors.  It's great to have quick information, but this often comes at the cost of accurate and precise reporting.  In this case, it leads me to believe whether there is more to the story than just a mystery deer and an alert bus driver.