Pro-life school bus firebombed in Rockford, local media ignore the incident

ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, June 18, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com)—A school bus covered in pro-life images that used to drive children to a local abortion clinic to pray was firebombed Friday night, report local advocates, who say the media have been negligent in covering the incident.
The bus, owned by Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Academy, suffered extensive damage after vandals threw more than one device through the vehicle’s windows. Photos show some of the seats reduced to little more than metal frame and ash. The driver’s area was also bombed, and appears to be unusable.
The bus is well known in the area for the images on its windows, which include several Catholic images, as well as pictures of unborn children.
Local leader Kevin Rilott told LifeSiteNews.com via telephone Monday that the pro-life community was “pretty upset” about the destruction. Rilott used to regularly protest at the notoriously anti-Christian Northern Illinois Women’s Center (NIWC) abortion mill in Rockford, famous for the mocking and blasphemous messages in its windows, which closed permanently this year following an investigation by health officials.
In a video of the incident posted on the local pro-life blog, Rilott complained that the Rockford Register Star at first declined to do a story - but chose to run a piece this weekend highlighting an attack on the now-closed abortion mill that occurred 12 years ago. It also ran a story about another vehicle that was firebombed at about the same time as the bus.
Rilott said his group “tried all weekend” to get a story from the Star. “We did hear finally today they started to make some inquiries,” he said, although he expressed concern that it would be given little prominence. The Star has previously declined to report NIWC’s history of harassing pro-life witnesses.