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Editor, The Beacon:

I recently read Eli Witek’s article “Where have all the gopher tortoises gone?” 

It made me recall how many gopher tortoises were around when I was growing up in Orange City in the ’60s and ’70s.

I enjoyed the story and felt compelled to call Eli and relate a recent story to her. She encouraged me to write to The Beacon and tell it.

Last week, I was a passenger on Votran from DeLand to Orange City. The driver, “Whit,” suddenly stopped on Amelia Avenue in DeLand in a spot nowhere near a regular bus stop.

He proceeded to get off the bus, and I watched him from my window pick up a gopher tortoise trying to cross the road. He carried it to a drainage-retention pond away from the road. He most likely saved its life.

I clapped when he got back on the bus.

Whit, your act of kindness made my day!

Will Marshall

Orange City