The Times

Saturday, September 25, 1976, page 1 (of 26)

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Times Guide

Serving The City Beautiful Since 1926 | 4627 Ponce de Leon Boulevard Coral Gables Florida 33146 | Florida's Best Suburban Newspaper Phone 665-7981

Remember to vote Tuesday, Sept. 28

28 Pages Vol. 50 No. 78 September 25/26, 1976 ★ ★ 10 Cents Weekend Edition

School bus drivers travel a rough road

By ELIZABETH OWEN Staff Writer | Driving a Dade Conunty school bus can be a dangerous, harrowing experience, and the people who make a living at a it — the majority of whom are women — are up in arms. Some 30 drivers who work for southwest area shcools met Thursday, Sept. 23, at the home of driver Addie Hicks in South Dade to air their grievances. They said discipline problems on the buses are often uncontrollable and drivers rarely receive needed support from school officials. Junior high school students are by far the worst, the drivers complained. The kids scream at the top of their lungs, jump from seat to seat and often hang out the windows — all while the driver is trying to negotiate stops, starts and turns in heavy traffic. But the root of the problem lies with the parents. According to the drivers, parents are ignorant of the situation, and when they are told about it, they ignore it or refuse to believe that their children are capable of misbehaving. Drivers do agree on one thing: only a handful of children cause all the trouble all the time. The majority of students who ride buses are well-behaved, and must endure the pranks and commotion created by the bad eggs. Mrs. Hicks, who has been driving school buses in South Dade for 11 years, drives this year for McMillian Junior, Southwest Senior and Snapper Creek Elementary. She said her worst experience occurred in 1969, when she drove for Riviera Junior High. "I was carrying an evening load out and some kids started misbehaving, so I turned around to take them back to school," she recalled. "At my first stop, I got a rock larger than a baseball thrown through the back window." Ms. Hicks said she was forced to call the police, and the police sergeant had to threaten to put the whole load of kids in jail before they would straighten up. "The students were covered with glass . . . they're just lucky it didn't get in their eyes," Mrs. Hicks said. "Most of them didn't get home until 8 p.m., and I got all the flack from their parents." A veteran driver of 18 years, Maxine Ehle See BUS, Page 11 | Photo by ELIZABETH OWEN | SW area drivers say job is a tough one

Our winner

A professional manicurist who professes to know absolutely nothing about football is The Times-Guide's weekly Football Contest winner. Emma Schnier, 41, who lives with her husband Sanford and 16-year-old daughter Marilyn in Westchester, won $25 for her brilliant guesswork. She intends to take her husband out for a fancy dinner and a night on the town with the money. It is the second contest Mrs. Schnier has won. In 1970, she won a baseball contest, and was awarded a check from the Gillette company. The last football game she attended was the Miami-Florida game six years ago. Mrs. Schnier is a manicurist at Burdine's in Dadeland.

Bogus band members ply businessmen

By ANA MARIA ALVAREZ Staff Writer | Don't be fooled if a group of youngsters — impersonating members of the Coral Gables High School Band — come around asking for donations. The real students in the band have been busy marching, not collecting money. They don't need new uniforms, and they aren't planning to take a good-will trip to Mexico anytime soon, as the bogus band members are telling prospective contributors. "We just want the merchants around here to know that if they think they are contributing to the Coral Gables Band, they are not. We are not collecting for anything," said William Ledue, Gables' band director. For the last couple of weeks, concerned merchants have called the school inquiring about the so-called money drive. Ledue said businessmen who have called noted something suspicious about the youngsters. "About three weeks ago, the Florida Department of Commerce called us to say that a group of students had been canvassing an office building collecting money. The merchants were told they were from Gables and were collecting money so the band could go to Mexico" Ledue said. "Last Monday, a lady from a nearby flower shop called and said a group of black youngsters had been in her store Saturday collecting money for new uniforms," the band director said. The flower shop owner said when she asked the youngsters for identification, the students pulled out cards with their pictures on them, and quickly flashed them. She didn't have time to see their names. "We have been asking merchants who are approached by these students to call the police and report them," said Ledue. "If they get their names, we will at least be able to track them down at school and put an end to this," he added. The Coral Gables High School Band got new uniforms about two years ago, Ledue said.

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