News from June 23, 2005 issue

Greyhound no longer stopping
Greyhound Bus Line is no longer operating a bus top in Marion or 259 other places across the Southeast.
The company is discontinuing its U.S. 60 route, eliminating stops at Sturgis and Marion, and it is closing the terminal in Morganfield. Terminals in Mayfield and Hopkinsville also closed this week, as did the bus stop in Cadiz, according to a recorded message available on one of the company's phone numbers.
Attempts to contact Greyhound representatives by phone have been unsuccessful.

The bus line has picked up and dropped off passengers in Marion for years. The bus came through twice a day until Tuesday when the line stopped the route. An eastbound bus stopped daily at Jones' 88 Dip at 12:30 p.m., and a westbound bus stopped at McDonald's each night.

"We didn't sell tickets or anything here," said Betty Kirk at the 88 Dip. "Passengers always came in and asked us questions, but really we couldn't help them much. All we had was a toll-free number for them to call."

The phone number, 1-800-231-2222, reaches an automated system.

Kirk said few people were using the bus lines in recent years. She said some weeks there would be two passengers boarding or getting off and the next week there might not be any.

Some bus drivers were courteous, she said. They would stop and make sure passengers weren't inside waiting to board the bus, but sometimes the bus hardly slowed down out front if no one was waiting on the street.

"Amish still used the bus quite a bit," Kirk said.

The nearest Greyhound terminals are in Paducah and Evansville and there is a bus stop in Madisonville. Kentucky has several other terminals including ones in Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Frankfort, Louisville and Lexington. About 22 million people from about 2,100 cities ride Greyhound each year.


City enforcing crosswalk law
Motorists who don't yield the right-of-way to pedestrians crossing Main Street at Carlisle may soon get an unexpected trip to court.

City and state officials are putting up new signs, re-painting the crosswalk stripes and beefing up police enforcement at the intersection between the two banks in Marion.

Marion Police Chief Kenneth Winn says that violation of the pedestrian right-of-way at the crosswalk is a common complaint.

"I won't say it's the worst problem we have, but it's one of the most persistent," Winn said. "When a driver sees a pedestrian standing there ready to cross the street, the driver is supposed to stop."

Failure to comply with the law could lead to a fine of $20 to $100 plus court courts, the chief said.
By law, drivers must yield to pedestrians at crosswalks at intersections where there is no traffic light. The crossing does not have to be marked, Winn said, but this one is.

Sheriff looking for masked ATV driver
Local authorities are looking for a person who stole an ATV from the Nicholas Johnson home on Ky. 365 before 4 p.m., Friday and was seen speeding through various parts of the county last weekend on the black 4-wheeler while wearing a ski mask.

Crittenden County Sheriff Wayne Agent said his department received several calls from people reporting sightings near Irma on Ky. 723, around Tolu, Repton, the Dam 50 area and Ky. 120.

The sheriff's deputies were on the masked-man's trail all weekend, but now the scent has gone cold, even though the Honda 450R ATV was returned. It was found in a field Monday afternoon near where it was stolen. Agent said that one person who saw the masked ATV driver tried to follow the bike, but was eluded as the 4-wheeler left the highway and went through a field.