Crash affects local travelers

The Youngstown Greyhound terminal stopped selling tickets at 8:20 a.m.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Barbara Scott was already a little nervous about taking a bus to Maryland to visit relatives.
When she heard reports of an out-of-state assault and crash that prompted Greyhound to curtail service this morning, she decided to unpack her bag and stay home.
Scott, of Cortland, and her daughters Karrie Clark of Cortland and Linda Goldberg of Bristol Township were the first Greyhound passengers at the Youngstown Greyhound terminal to hear about the attack.
Short trip: A ticket agent advised her that her bus would go no farther than Pittsburgh, where it would be held indefinitely.
"You're not going. We'll just go to breakfast and take you home," Clark told her mother after the three overheard a television news report that a passenger slit a driver's throat in Tennessee, causing a crash that killed six.
For Scott it was the second cancellation of plans to visit family in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. area.
She had bought plane tickets the day before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks but decided she was too afraid to fly, especially since she was heading to the D.C. area. She canceled the flight, even though she was unable to get a refund on the tickets.
"I don't know what I'm going to do now," Scott said. "I guess I'll just go home and unpack."
Stopping buses: James Daniel, Youngstown terminal manager, said his office was ordered to stop selling tickets about 8:20 a.m. Buses already en route were being stopped at the closest terminal.
He said the local terminal is a stopping point for routes between New York and Chicago, Detroit and Washington, and Cleveland and Pittsburgh. He said terminal employees were not told how long the cancellation would last.
In New Castle, Pa., where Greyhound has a ticket purchase and pickup stop at a pharmacy on East Washington Street, employees were told only that the company was not running buses today.
Traveler's fears: Felix Emmanuel, a German man who was in the Mahoning Valley visiting a girlfriend, was frightened and worried when he was advised that he couldn't buy a bus ticket this morning. He planned to visit an aunt in Maryland, staying there until Friday when he has a flight scheduled out of New York to return home.
"I'm scared about the way things are going," Emmanuel said.
"I feel afraid to ride on a bus now, with all the things that are happening. But I want to get back home. What if I can't get a bus ticket? What if I run out of money? And how will I get home?"
Emmanuel said he bought his tickets to the United States before the terrorist attacks and decided to come, despite his feelings of anxiety, because he was unable to get a refund if he canceled. "The agent kept telling me it was safe. He said that America is still very safe," he said.