Yes the kids today are softies. we were a lot healthier back then also. About 2 week ago we had sleet & freezing rain. Every school district within 50 miles or so closed except for the Bolivar School System. The new superintendent decided that it wasn't that bad so he did not close & their bus drivers were in 11 accidents. Some stranded kids for 3 hours because they were in ravines & no one could see the bus & the driver wouldn't let any of the kids walk to the nearest houses which were 3/4 to 1 & 1/2 miles away. The school board decided that it would furnish all drivers with cell phones but the problem with that is that 3/4 of them don't get a signal out in the boonies that the busses have to go. Marilyn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorothy Bowles" <dotjo1@suddenlink.net> To: <down-home-chatter@rootsweb.com>; <samgospel@yahoo.com> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 5:57 PM Subject: Re: [DOWN-HOME-CHATTER] GOOD MORNING > MARILYN, We live on a country road too. Ours is the last ones to be > worked > by the road crews. So at the first sign of a flurry NO SCHOOL some times > for a week. Now I don't believe in endangering our school kids BUT I > remember walking to the bus stop (no not up hill and it was only a short > distance) standing out in the snow and 0 % temperature for a half hour > waiting on the bus. Riding a bus on these Virginia mountain curvy roads > for > up to 25 miles. If the roads got so bad the bus couldn't go the driver > got > off the bus put on chains and on we went. It was up to the driver as to > wheather the road was too bad for him to make a run. If it was that run > was > not made and those children were not counted absent. If a parent decided > it > was too bad for their child to ride the bus he had the option of taking > him > to school or keeping him out if the latter happened the pupil was not > counted absent. > Are todays children that much better than we were? Seems to me that we are > be coming a very soft county of people. Dot Jo