2 youths showed courage

From the minute they boarded the school bus Monday morning, a group of Monticello-area students had a feeling something was amiss with bus driver Rodney Munson.

Munson didn't finish his route as scheduled, and he was driving too fast. As the bus left the rural road to get onto U-491, it ran a stop sign and hit a pickup. Munson reportedly told the 12 students on board that they were going "some place special" and drove the bus five miles into Monticello, where he stopped at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' temple.

At one point, Munson ordered eighth-graders Kyrie Walker and Ronnie Gobble off the bus, but they refused to leave 10 younger children behind.

When the bus came to a stop at the temple, Walker and Gobble seized the opportunity to escort the younger children off the bus and walk them to their school as Munson, who had exited the bus, reportedly rattled the temple gates and screamed, "I'm confused."

Munson later turned himself in to police. He was arrested on charges of aggravated assault and traffic offenses, police said. Kidnapping charges also may be considered.

Walker and Gobble demonstrated exceptional courage and maturity by refusing to leave the bus when ordered to by Munson. It is impossible to predict what might have happened if the younger children had been left to fend for themselves, but given Munson's bizarre behavior Monday morning, the outcome could have been vastly different. As it turned out, no one was seriously injured in the incident, including the driver of the pickup struck by the school bus.

The incident was eerily reminiscent of a Jan. 24, 2002, incident in Birdsboro, Pa., when a school bus driver, armed with a rifle and 93 rounds of ammunition, kidnapped 13 children and took them on a trip to suburban Washington, D.C. The driver was recently sentenced to four years in prison and five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to federal kidnapping charges.

The six-hour ordeal ended without incident in Landover Hills, Md., when the driver surrendered to police. None of the 13 children was harmed.

Obviously, these incidents are aberrations considering that many thousands of children are safely driven to and from school by bus drivers across the country each school day. But these events are instructive because cool-headed students helped carry the day by taking responsibility for younger children with whom they were traveling. They attempted to calm the obviously troubled bus driver, exhibiting leadership abilities far beyond their years. Walker and Gobble are to be commended for their bravery and grace under pressure.