Macon gas station manager criticized for not letting students in during storm
Macon parents were upset after a gas station manager prevented a group of students and their bus driver from coming into the store during a tornado warning Thursday.
Amethyst “Nomi” Jackson said she was on the phone with her ninth-grade son, who rode Westside High School bus #2023, when the driver pulled into the nearest place to take cover — a Marathon gas station at 6199 Thomaston Road in west Macon.
“That’s when I heard the bus driver, she was saying, ‘Everyone get off the bus! There’s a tornado!’ and I heard the kids running,” Jackson told The Telegraph. “I just heard the bus driver banging on the window pleading with the worker for about two to three minutes, ‘Please let us in! Please let us in!’”
Lim Insik, the gas station manager, said he was the only worker in the convenience store when a swarm of screaming kids ran to the store’s door.
“This is the very first time I had to protect by myself,” Insik told The Telegraph from behind the register. “(The bus driver) told me, ‘It’s OK, they are kids,’ and man, just one minute I think about it, and then I open the door and let everybody in.”
Insik said he was scared because it was “dark everywhere. I could not see anything. So many people coming in my store and screaming.”
Customers in line told him they were disappointed in how he handled the situation. Many learned what happened when Jackson and other parents posted their frustrations about the incident on Facebook.
Insik and Jackson said a handful of students stayed in the store for about 20 minutes, and others walked home.
“I just feel like they were unsafe, and it was morally wrong for him to not let them in,” Jackson said.
The bus driver eventually drove Jackson’s son and other remaining students back to their homes, according to Jackson.
“My son, he’s a little bit traumatized,” Jackson said. “I’m gonna prepare the driver a gift basket just for gratitude and for having the courage to advocate for the kids and trying to keep them safe.”
School responds
Stephanie Hartley, chief communications officer of the Bibb County School District, said the bus driver was following protocol.
“During a Tornado Warning, bus drivers are directed to find the nearest District-owned facility to seek shelter,” Hartley said. “In lieu of a nearby District facility, drivers are instructed to find the nearest safe place to shelter with passengers.”
The BCSD first learned about the incident via Facebook and was “investigating to determine its accuracy,” Hartley said.
By around 2:30 p.m., she corroborated a similar account to what parents and Insik said happened.
“The store employee opened the door when another District employee, who was recognized by the store employee, pulled up and identified that a bus driver and students were trying to shelter,” Hartley said. “The students and driver sheltered in place until the warning was cleared.”
Education reporter Myracle Lewis assisted with this story.
This story was originally published March 12, 2026 at 2:01 PM.
