Troopers save Christmas

To the editor:

Thanks to the Alaska State Trooper dispatchers, Christmas presents were returned just in the nick of time.

On Christmas Day I was driving a school bus donated by First Student. I was returning festive people back home from the Christmas dinner at the Wasilla sports complex.

We noticed a large cardboard box in the middle of southbound lane of the Parks Highway near Vine Street. Cars were driving on the shoulder of the road to dodge the box.

One of my passengers, Raymond Golden, volunteered to remove the box out of the road. So I stopped on the opposite shoulder going the other way. Suddenly a car driven by a cell phone talker plowed dead center into the box.

The box exploded so hard with such force, it unwrapped the Christmas presents as they scattered across the highway. Raymond gathered up the presents and shreds of paper and boxes. Later, I called the troopers and reported the name “Bailey” on the cardboard box. The dispatchers started calling around.

Several hours later an elated Bailey family found me to get their presents that had blown out of the back of their pickup.

Thanks to Raymond and the trooper dispatchers the Bailey family had a Merry Christmas.

Tom Roberson

Palmer