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Law and Order: Mother accused of not being at home when children were dropped off by school bus

By Howard B. Owens

Susan Marie Norway, 29, of Cockram Road, Byron, is charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Norway was allegedly not at home when her children were dropped off after school by a school bus. The children went to a neighbor's house, where they stayed while the neighbor contacted the Sheriff's Office.

Melissa Marie Morton, 27, of West Middlebury Road, Bethany, is charged with petit larceny and criminal contempt. Morton was arrested on warrants from Stafford Town Court for alleged failure to appear on the charges. She was jailed on $200 bail.

Kelly Hansen

I am interested in learning the mother's point of view in the endangerment story. I remember times when I would get a call from a friend or relative asking me to go to their house to meet children getting off the bus because the single mom was tied up in traffic, stuck waiting an extraordinary amount of time in a doctor's office, another child had a medical emergency, car problems, etc. Most bus companies/school districts have a policy to not let the children off the bus if an adult is not there to greet them. If this was such a dangerous situation, perhaps the bus driver bears some of the responsibility. And with neighbors like that, whose first instinct (per the report) is to call the Sheriff's Department instead of breaking out the cookies and juice, I think I would consider moving.

Mar 6, 2013, 11:13am Permalink
Eric [Rick] von kramer

Not enough information, how old were the kids? It's sad to see how far we have gone. Same old story,,, when we got off the bus, usually no one was home [age 10 and up] we Played out side or watched tv. I was kind of proud that my parents knew we would be fine and could take care of ourselves when necessary. Child endangerment????

Mar 6, 2013, 9:10am Permalink
Howard B. Owens

For clarification point: Items posted in law and order are taken directly from press releases from local law enforcement agencies. We publish what is in the press release, nothing more, nothing less. This is all there is.

Mar 6, 2013, 9:25am Permalink
Kyle Couchman

Hell all I needed was to get into the garage so I could get my fishing pole, canal was righ across the street and the edges of small cabbagefield had plenty of bait. Life was golden :)

Mar 6, 2013, 12:06pm Permalink
Debra Nanni

I agree! I grew up in the country, and it was not unusual for my mom not to be right there at the moment I got off the bus. Sometimes , she had run to the store, or was at a neighbors down the road. I knew to grab a snack and play outside or in my room. We should not judge this situation until we know the facts. (Toddlers being dropped off while mom or dad are at happy hour may be a different situation.) These are such different times I know, but I just think that the Sherriffs department being called was pretty harsh. I would not want this neighbor either, there had to be a better way to handle it, maybe a warning even?

Many people seem to feel that there are so many terrible things happening today that didn't before. I disagree. There were always terrible people doing awful things, but quite often we did not hear about them. Communication when I was a kid was limited newspaper , tv and US mail. It was RARE to hear about an incident that happened such as a murder or assault from another state. NOW... with technology as it is, you hear about a shooting that happened across the country INSTANTANEOUSLY! It SEEMS that there is more evil, because we hear about it so fast and often.

I am glad these kids are safe, and hope the situation was really as simple and innocent as it sounds like it was.

Mar 6, 2013, 12:18pm Permalink
Mark Brudz

This is just an initial arrest report, none of us here apparently know the entire scope of the incident.

We may never hear the outcome, because (1) Charges may be dropped altogether (2) There may be other Family court issues we are not privy too (3) This may be an on going problem

It might be a good Idea to wait and see what happens when all the facts ar out.

And Cheryl and Debbie, the other woman did not get off, her sentence is merely delayed

"Her sentence will be determined by her conduct over the next 11 months."

Mar 6, 2013, 6:56pm Permalink
Tara Pariso

If you look into school district standards you'd see that, no bus drivers do not have to see a parent or adult above certain grade levels. Some schools in this county that is as young as 2nd grade. Once the child is 15ft away from the bus the school and driver are no longer responsible. Why is the school system expected to act as child care and supervision? Without knowing the children's ages and circumstances of the situation, i'd point the finger at the trigger hAppy neighbor before the bus driver! Were the parents called by the neighbor or did they just automatically call police??

Mar 6, 2013, 9:12pm Permalink
Mike Piazza

Cheryl and Debra, I agree with your assessments'.......And yes, the young lady with 2 DWI incidents with children in the car did get off easy....behave, go to counseling, pay a fine and you're off what amounts to a conditional discharge. Kind of like a parent telling a child if you do this one more time your grounded and nothing happens and then something else happens and the parent tells the child if you do this one more time your grounded and then once again..........kind of like daring someone to behave but they know the parent won't do anything. Just my opinion. So her sentencing is already in place and it just depends on her behavior in the coming 11 mos. Sometimes police and judges make judgements in error......they're human like the rest of us. But you know the old saying "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me". In my opinion, the judge severely erred in his ruling.

Mar 6, 2013, 9:46pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Without knowing all the specifics, maybe it was a good thing the neighbor was there, and just maybe the
NEIGHBOR is sick of babysitting someones children without being asked or compensated.

Mar 10, 2013, 9:53am Permalink

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