Local charter bus company gets shut down for violations
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PORTLAND, Ore. – Whether it's putting kids on a charter bus booked for a school field trip or adults bound for a resort, casino or sightseeing, a lot of faith is put in the stranger at the wheel and the strangers who own the company.
On Your Side Investigator Dan Tilkin looks at who's watching those doing the driving after a charter bus crash killed nine people Sunday in Eastern Oregon.
A local charter company that just got shut down is a good example. The company was trusted to take kids to the mountains for skiing, to take them for trips to the other end of the state and even across the country. That's until it was caught fudging its records.
In mid-August a group of Oregon student musicians returned triumphant from a national competition, but on the trip home one of their charter buses was stopped in Wyoming. Federal records say one of the drivers was cited for a "log violation," which shows how long they'd been driving.
The incident happened weeks after another driver, Robin Reed, had already quit the company because he had safety concerns.
"I was told that there might be occasion when I’m asked to drive longer than I should and that if I wanted the work and the hours, that's the way it went," he said.
Reed said he became a witness against Noah's Ark Charter Service, which is based in Woodland, Wash. in Cowlitz County.
The company is owned by Pat and Noah Wessinger, who also had the contract to drive students from the deaf and blind schools in Vancouver, Wash. on cross-state trips to their homes. And for a time, Noah's Ark also had the contract for the Portland Winterhawks hockey team.
But just weeks ago the company was put "under an out of service order" and was told it "may not operate" by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The feds accused Noah's Ark of "serious violations," including: "false reports of records" in regards to how long and often its drivers had been on the road.
Reed said Noah's Ark was caught through a random inspection. He was afraid to come forward on his own.
"There was a lot of people who knew that they were doing wrong, but they had kids to feed," Reed said.
KATU attempted in person and by phone to reach the Wessingers without success.
Reed said his bad experience at their company is the exception in the industry.
"The majority of the companies – safety does come first," he said.
Federal regulators won't comment on the case, including on whether Noah's Ark will be allowed to be in business again in the future.
The bus in Sunday's fatal wreck in Eastern Oregon is owned by Mi Joo travel, a British Columbia company. Authorities are still investigating what happened in that crash.
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Nothing was reported as to whether the driver was within his hour limit or not...perhaps he had a second logbook, many hours behind the wheel,(sleepy) Â and missed the indications that he should slow down or chain up...Investigation should determine that part of the story!
I was wondering why the charter Bus company had the driver take that route in the first place. I grew up in Prineville,OR and i went to college in Pendleton and La Grande.So I am familar with that pass. I think that the pass wich is known as (Cabbage Hill) should have been closed or had chains required!! And if they wer going to Canda why go that way? why not Portland and then Seattle?
 @Karla Glover Coming from Las Vegas, Many people, especially tour companies will go through Salt Lake, straight north on I 15 and then jump on 84. As a major interstate they will not shut it down unless it is absolutely necessary. I have traveled those roads and many times I will have to chain up. On that particular day the driver was doing something wrong, whether illegal or legal and his passengers paid the price.
It does not matter at this point about the company history unless the driver/drivers are impaired! It does matter about equipment condition and that could only be looked at if mant. logs are kept.Today's accident was maybe somewhat driver fault but as I said before (I said ODOT which was wrong according to dispersed responsibility), this hwy. is major and it is the biggest holiday of the yr. at a season known to offer travel complications do to weather conditions. SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE EITHER SHUT THAT ROAD DOWN, REQUIRED CHAINS OR AT LEAST BEEN THERE TO SLOW TRAFFIC DOWN WITH WARNINGS! If the driver was not impaired then he might have proceeded with more caution and not have killed 9 passengers!
please excuse typo's, I'm drinking a little. It's New Years and I'm not on any roads except the road to happiness! Happy New Year to all !!
That's why you "swim bad" - too much holiday cheer!
 @musiclover No harm done at my house, just great music, food and company. Life is what you make out of it, I made mine as good as I could and I can't complain. Now I can get more swimming lesson from all the teachers on the comment board and live happily ever after wearing custom made rose colored glasses, I might even get me a new shiny hat.