
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 2, 1990                   TAG: 9004020042
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TENN.                                LENGTH: Medium

TRAILWAYS DRIVER SHOT, CRITICALLY INJURED

The driver of a Southeastern Trailways bus taking a Greyhound route was shot and critically wounded, prompting strike-plagued Greyhound on Sunday to rule out contract talks until a week has passed without gunfire.

"It's an open-and-shut case of terrorism," said Fred G. Currey, chairman and chief executive officer of strike-plagued Greyhound Lines Inc. "We will not negotiate with people who are involved in terrorism."

Representatives of striking Greyhound drivers denied responsibility, but Currey said he would not reopen talks until a week goes by without a shooting.

The bus belonged to Southeastern Trailways, an independent company, but operated on Greyhound routes with Greyhound passengers under a pooling arrangement that existed before the strike, said Greyhound spokesman George Gravley.

Southeastern Trailways was not affected by the merger of Greyhound and Trailways Lines Inc. in 1987.

Southeastern Trailways has been carrying more Greyhound passengers than usual in recent weeks because of the strike.

About 6,300 Greyhound drivers nationwide went on strike March 2, and the company has reported 29 shooting attacks on its buses, 70 bomb threats and more than 100 other incidents. A picket was killed March 3 in Redding, Calif., when he was crushed as a bus driven by a replacement driver was backing up.

A $100,000 reward that Greyhound offered last week for information on strike-related violence will be offered in the latest case, Gravley said.

The driver, David E. Bryant, 58, of Cincinnati underwent six hours of surgery Sunday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. None of the 46 passengers was injured in the attack late Saturday on the bus heading from Nashville to Louisville, Ky.

One of two men in a pickup truck that pulled up alongside the bus opened fire with a .44-caliber or .45-caliber handgun on Interstate 65 near White House, Tenn., about 30 miles north of Nashville, authorities said.

The bullet entered the bus through a front window and struck the driver, a member of the union striking Greyhound, state Trooper Randy Pack said.

by CNB