APPLE CREEK, Ohio — Mark Stewart lives across the street from the Waynedale Local Schools building along State Route 250. For months, he has watched cars speed past his granddaughter's school bus as she gets on and off.
"We have people passing the school bus while she's getting on and getting off," he said. "This bus has all of its lights activated. They don't have an external camera on this bus to record these incidents."
According to Stewart, local law enforcement has not been in the area.
"They are not here during the active school zone times," he said. "What is it going to take? Is someone going to have to get hurt?"
Stewart has taken his concerns to just about everyone in Wayne County. He told News 5's Caitlin Hunt he even reached out to State Representative Meredith Craig.
No one was able to get him any answers, but Hunt did get some from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
In a phone call with Hunt, the Wayne County Sheriff said deputies have completed 128 traffic patrols since school started in August. 62 of those were in school zones. He said deputies have been along Stewart's stretch of Route 250, but they hadn't been in the area since February. The sheriff said he would like to do more patrols, but staffing is always an issue.
The response from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office is why Stewart feels like he has to take matters into his own hands.
Stewart has exchanged the factory horn on his truck for a more powerful one to honk at speeders passing by his home. He's also purchased school zone and speed limit signs to place in his yard.
All those purchases totaled about $300.
Stewart has had to remove those signs from his yard, but he said he will continue to fight for his grandchild's safety.
"Would they like it if someone was speeding through a school zone that their kid or grandkid was getting on the bus?" he said.
