Officials should enforce Kadyn’s Law

To the editor:

In Linn County a first-time offender of Kadyn's Law (running school bus stop sign) can plea down to reckless driving to avoid a 30-day suspension of their driver's license. Was this the intent of the law? As a school bus driver for eight years in Linn County, I am passionate about the safety of our kids.

I recently went to the Linn County Courthouse to testify on two separate cases of violators that drove through my extended, flashing stop sign. One case involved the delivery of two mentally, physically impaired girls to an after school day care center. The other case involved the uploading of a wheelchair from a lift bus on a two-lane street. Both violators sped by the bus without any hesitation or consideration for the safety of those kids. In both cases, I did not get to testify nor did the assistant district attorney ask me details. She applied her own discretion and offered the plea without the consideration of the true intent of Kadyn's Law.

Many schools are spending thousands of dollars to equip buses with video cameras. Other Linn County schools inform me that even with this preponderance of evidence, the assistant district attorney will plea down the violations if she feels the driver's license suspension for 30 days would be a burden on the individual. Are you kidding me? What's a child's life worth?

Our judicial system has let our kids down.

Lynn DeDecker

Marion