MARIJUANA FOUND IN BUS DRIVER'S SYSTEM AFTER CRASH, OFFICIAL SAYS

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA -- A federal investigator confirmed Thursday that the
driver of a charter bus that crashed Sunday morning, killing 22 people,
tested positive for marijuana when he was hospitalized after the bus veered
off a highway and plunged into an embankment.

Authorities also revealed that Frank Bedell, 46, had been fired from bus
companies in 1996 and 1989 after testing positive for marijuana four times.

It was unclear how long before the crash Bedell might have smoked marijuana
or whether the presence of the drug in his system contributed to the
accident, said Ken Suydam, a National Transportation Safety Board
investigator. "It's another piece of the puzzle we have to put together," he
said.

The cause of the crash has yet to be determined. Bedell remains in a
hospital and is unavailable for comment.

Investigators are looking into reports that a car may have cut in front of
the bus just before it crashed.

Sometime after being hired as a municipal bus driver in New Orleans in 1976,
Bedell was given a drug test because he had been absent from work for eight
days, Suydam said. Bedell tested positive for marijuana and spent several
months attending classes in an employee assistance program. He later tested
positive again for the drug and was fired in March 1989, Suydam said.

In 1992, Bedell was hired as a driver for suburban buses. He failed a
marijuana drug test the next year, Suydam said, and spent time in a rehab
program. He tested positive again in 1996 and was fired.

Authorities said Bedell passed at least three drug tests while working for
Custom Bus Charters, which provided the bus for the Mother's Day gambling
excursion to a Mississippi casino.