Bus Drivers Spurn NAC After Warning from FBI

Drivers for the Michaud Bus Company in Salem-after a visit from the FBI yesterday morning-refused to drive six buses which were to have taken November Action Committee demonstrators to New Haven today.

Michael Kazin '70. an organizer of the bus trip, said yesterday that Alexander Michaud had called him in the afternoon to cancel the buses after the FBI warned Michaud's drivers that the demonstrators were bringing guns.

Michaud could not be reached throughout the afternoon, and the FBI issued a firm "no comment" on the incident.

However, Michaud's son and business partner Jay Michaud was available at the end of the day. "I heard that we got a call from the FBI," he said. "Somebody said there were going to be firearms on the coaches."

The younger Michaud explained that the bus line has had previous trouble with drivers over demonstration assignments. "Our steward is a local president or past president of the VFW and we almost had a strike over the last group we took to Washington," he said.

Kazin said the elder Michaud had told him over the phone. "We'd like to take you but we can't afford a strike." When Kazin offered to have each demonstrator searched, Michaud reportedly replied, "My drivers won't believe that."

NAC had sold 120 seats for the trip before the buses were canceled, and Kazin had expected to fill the remaining 156 spots this morning in Freedom Square.

SDS's six buses are still scheduled to leave at 8 a. m. this morning. but as of last night there were less than 50 openings for the displaced NAC protesters. NAC asked SDS to charter more buses from its company-which is going through with the trip-but SDS refused.

SDS spokesmen said they were having trouble holding onto the buses they already had and that they did not want to risk losing them by trying to get more. Pete Bohmer of NAC, however, said that "they [SDS] were really pigs" for not cooperating.