Last week a situation occurred which could have resulted in serious injury or even death of an eightyear old special needs child, had it not been for the watchfulness and caring of his neighbor, Helen.

Taylor Stewart rides a bus to and from Delphi Community Elementary School each day. He has been diagnosed with a mild form of cerebral palsy. His days revolve around routine and his most successful days are when that established routine is adhered to. When the routine is broken, Taylor sometimes has a hard time coping.

School was dismissed early last Wednesday due to deteriorating weather conditions - certainly not the routine for Taylor. He boarded the bus early and was taken home. Unfortunately, Taylor's parents were not aware school had been dismissed and they were not in the area. They were not notified by cell phone because Taylor's dad lost his job at Wabash National and they cannot afford a cell phone anymore.

Taylor's bus stopped in front of his house and he departed as usual. The bus then left. And Taylor was left outside in the cold and snow. He was not wearing a hat or gloves. He could not get into the house. He tried the front door, the windows and the back door (we know this because his steps could be seen just barely in the blowing snow).

Taylor was home alone. And this was not part of his routine. He was scared and he began to cry. After about 10 minutes, neighbor Helen happened to look out her window and noticed Taylor was wandering in the snow. She called him to her house, took him in, warmed him up and waited for his parents to arrive home, which they did an hour later when the bus normally would have dropped their child off at the house.

We could have been writing a different story about this boy had it not been for Helen and her acceptance of the responsibility for this little boy at a time he needed it most.

We could point fingers at different entities for letting this little boy down that day. There does not seem to be a clear-cut answer to the question, "Who was responsible for this child from the time he stepped off the bus that day?"

We are assuming the school board, the principal, the special education specialists, the bus transportation department head and the bus driver are all looking at this situation and changing the way they do business to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. Taylor's parents should be part of that dialog as well.

And we hope all parents encourage their school board members to make sure this situation is not repeated in the future. No one can say most of this happened right for Taylor - except for the part about Helen the neighbor.

We hope somewhere in all of this, time is taken to recognize that neighbor for the act that turned a potential tragedy into a happy ending.

Thank goodness for responsible and caring neighbors… where would we be without them? We suspect where Taylor would be and we do not like that picture.