On Monday's “DaySide” you heard about Sarah Macias, the 5-year-old in Rialto, California who was kicked off the school bus because she was lost. Sarah accidentally got on the wrong bus home after her second day of school; when the bus reached its last stop, the driver made Sarah get off, even though she clearly was lost. She was left crying on a busy freeway.
Can someone please explain the driver's rationale? As a parent this makes me hit the ceiling. Was there no one the driver could communicate with by radio? Couldn't he at least take the girl back to school? Couldn't he check to see if she was carrying a parent's contact number and somehow get someone to pick her up?
A man in the studio audience suggested the driver ought to be charged with child endangerment. Do you agree?
On to another one of today's stories, the "Barbarian Wives Club" of the Idaho National Guard, who are frantically trying to raise money so their husbands can get one last trip home before shipping off to Iraq. I honestly don't understand how the Pentagon can grant these soldiers two weeks' leave before deployment, but then refuse to cover their travel expenses (approximately $350 per person). Many of these soldiers — who we know don't make millions serving in uniform — say they just can't afford this. After I aired the segment on these guardsmen and their wives, I got the following e-mail from a viewer in Texas:
"The story you had today about a family having to pay for their loved ones ticket home is the most disgusting and obscene thing that I have heard in a long time. What in the world are we doing to these wonderful people. Men fighting a stupid war and we punish them by not letting them come home if they don't have the money to pay for it. For many it will be the last time their family will see them..."
A.G. W.
Texas
Drop me a line if you'd like to comment on either of these stories, at dayside@foxnews.com
BTW, it's great to be back! A little summer vacation does wonders for the ol' noodle.
Linda
Watch "DaySide with Linda Vester" weekdays at 1 p.m. ET
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