WLIO – LIMA, OHIO – Friday will mark the fifth anniversary since the tragic Bluffton University bus crash. Seven people were killed including five Bluffton baseball players.

In the public’s eye, Scott Harmon is unfortunately known as one of the victims of the Bluffton bus crash, but to the Elida High School graduate’s mom he is the happy boy who she believes would now be a husband, a father, a teacher, and a coach.

“Scott is much more than a baseball player on the bus or a student at Bluffton University,” said Julie Harmon, Scott Harmon’s mother.

The Harmons have a memorial in their backyard dedicated to Scott. There’s a tree he received in elementary school. There’s another given to the family from his friends. Five years later, notes to Scott hang from the branches even though they’re no longer readable.

“Our lives have been changed forever,” said Julie Harmon.

She says happy and sad events have both happened in the past five years. But the thought that remains is what should have been… that Scott should be part of those memories.

But one thing that Julie believes should have changed in the last five years, is the safety of motorcoach buses.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown first proposed legislation to improve tour bus safety in late 2007. It’s still being debated.

The tour busy safety legislation is now part of the extensive senate transportation jobs bill. Brown believes that having the legislation as part of the much bigger bill will improve the chances of it being passed.

“We know how to do it,” said Brown on improving bus safety. “It’s time we do.”

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