Allan; I am not exactly sure what your point is… The article was a ‘page filler’, a citizen done wrong by big railroad. The interesting part of the article is the comments section at the bottom. Most of the responses castigate the trespaser for being stupid enough to cross in the main body of an active rail yard, a potentially suicidal act.
Here is a cut and paste of just one response to the article:
#15 Charles Bailey says:
August 30th, 2006 @ 12:17pm
If Bender had been killed by a train what would you than have been saying about the nasty railroad?
The fine might be exorbitant, but you have failed to point out that Bender was being bloody stupid - at least he’ll have second thoughts before he does it again and some poor UP employee may have been saved from a lifetime of nightmares from recalling a really nasty incident.
It a railroad, not a public pathway. [My emphasis,SP]
Tony Bailey
Good Lord, talk about someone being criticized for just doing their job!
Let’s take another point of view - the Union Pacific officer was clearly wrong. What he should have done was take the trespasser out behind a shed, beaten the crap out of him, stole his bycicle, then thrown him in an empty boxcar on the next train leaving town. But no, he just wrote a citation in accordance with Oregon law. And now he gets crap for it.
The railroad officer did everything right. He protected the trespasser, his company’s property and the general public. And now he gets crap for it.
The Oregon Legislature writes the laws. The only powers the UP Police have is to enforce them.
I work in a highly regulated, dangerous, stressful environment. I am on call 24/7, and often get called out for “overtime.” I am under the constant supervision and scrutiny of a large number of people who make rules and regulations that I am expected to obey and enforce, and that change nearly on a daily basis. Do I work for a railroad? No. I should be paid so well.
I am a cop. I am also a railfan, your neighbor, a father, a husband, and a grandfather.
Over the past couple of years I have read, and responded to, most of the posts taking particular pride in pointing out that police officers are out to violate YOUR rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There have also been posted a number of helpful suggestions about what YOU can do to stick it to the cops. Frankly folks, I’m sick and tired of the sniping.
I’m particularly tired of the general trend of Americans to claim victim status for their stupidity. A trespasser on railroad property who gets told to move on is “hassled”. Teenagers playing in locomotive cabs and moving engines are “pranking”, because “boys will be boys.” The idiot who crosses tracks in front of a freight train becomes “the fatal victim of a poorly marked crossing.” I won’t even go into the lunacy of some who insist on building homes in flood zones or decide on vacations in combat zones… but that seems to be a peculiarly American form of victimization as well.
It’s my job to try and stop someone from getting hurt or killed… that’s the “protect” part of “protect and serve”.
Woe be unto the person who writes into these forums with criticism on mistakes made by noble hardworking railroad people. Let us bury posts discussing chemical spills from derailed cars, or neighborhoods levelled by trains that get out of control. Let us instead post allegations of misconduct by police officers. It would be horrible if we got a railroader fired f
The article cited is a standard blame the police type editorial. I notice the writer says that UP Police have issued 142 citations this year as opposed to 38 last year. The reporter didn’t bother to find out why this is, or worse, perhaps he knew and deliberately ignored the reasons. I’d guess that UP has either had a larger amount of trespassers or perhaps a few fatalities and are protecting the fools from themselves.
Being a former Police Officer and Private Investigator, I have seen hundreds of cases where people’s stupidity has caused their death, or perhaps worse, life without legs, eyes, walking ability and other lifetime injuries. I agree completely with Eric.
As to the reporter, he is nothing more than a drone, who has probably never had a job where he was responsible for anything. He is just a second guesser. All he can do is write, a thing we all learn in grade school.
Now I’ll close before I get any angrier.
In an attempt to defend the actions of your career, you diminish and ridicule mine?
Thanks. At least my mom was proud of me. [;)]
Jeez, now I know how Erik feels about cop-bashing. I guess for cops it’s open season on the media now, too? Feel good about “getting even?”
To amplify the point to Ishmael, a writer might say your overly-simplistic, pro-police, generalized indictment of journalism takes the tired, “always blame someone else” tack and your lumping of all writers into one category – irresponsible, second-guessing, unskilled drones – is no different from someone saying all police are stupid, power-hungry, insecure girlie men who carry a handgun only as compensation for their inadequacy as males.
But no decent writer would ever
I couldn’t imagine what it is like to have your profession constantly ridiculed . . .
Gabe, Esquire
OK Poppa_Zit, I apologise. I went overboard. By way of explanation, an acquaintance of mine was recently fired from his lifetime Police job on a brutality case that was tried in the newspapers. But that’s no excuse to condemn all writers. I should have been more specific.
As to writers, in my retirement I have become one myself. I work part time as writer for a quarterly magazine. My police experience has taught me to follow down all leads before writing anything, and I was particularly aggravated at that one particular writer because he didn’t take the time to find out a reason why the citations increased, an obvious omission.
But you’re right. Life is a case by case experience. And a writer is certainly a skilled profession, as I am learning daily.
No problem, Ishmael. I just like to see fairness applied equally, that’s all, and this one hit close to home. I knew you didn’t mean it the way it came out, and that’s part of the learning process of becoming a good writer.
For example of the opposite, check this out. It was written by someone at The Associated Press, which has a sterling reputation. Maybe it’s a “holiday” crew today:
http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/895788/ShowPost.aspx
So I join many others – cops, lawyers, media – who are tired of ignorant people who lump all members of one such group into a huge, undistinguishable pile.
Now as for politicians… well, don’t get me started there! [(-D]
GABE, [tup]WELL PLAYED, Counselor![tup]
What is even more aggravating is the writer’s proposition that being late for work somehow justified Wise’s trespassing.
All he was doing was breaking the law by crossing private property on the way to work…
Does this mean next time I am late, I can crank my Magnum Hemi up to the max through someone’s front yard, and it’s ok, because I am late?
Cool….not.
Wise was trespassing, he knew he was, because he pointed out the signs…short of being defaced, how can “No Trespassing, Private Property” be illegible?
I know how I would, and have reacted when people cut across my yard…I call the gumshoes asap…but it’s not that I don’t like fans.
In fact, I have given a few forum members the dime tour of the PTRA…and for some of our regular sideline engineers, I have been know to take their camera into the yard and snap a photo or two of odd or uncommon equipment for them.
I have even stopped a movement for them, and waited while they took all the photos they wanted, because you can never get to much “good” press, even if it is just for someone’s scrap book.
But if you don’t work for the railroad, and don’t have an invite or a escort, you don’t belong on property, much less crossing a busy yard with live tracks.
People ge
The UP police guys had every right to write him up. Why don’t people stay off private property!? Railroad yards can be very dangerous. I hope he gets the $6,000 fine.
Ed, before we give “Jacque” too much credit, know this:
- Willamette Week bills itself as “Portland, Oregon’s alternative weekly [that] covers news and culture with an independent and irreverent sensibility…”
So maybe we’re taking it too seriously. An “alternative” paper is “a type of weekly newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting local people and culture. Their news coverage is more local-centric than larger daily papers and they target younger audiences.”
Which means alternative papers do NOT strive for balance in their reporting.
- Jacque seems to specialize in “assassination journalism” – this story ran under the heading of “Rogue of the Week” – which should tell you something.
Wow…The last time I read the Oregonian it
Love your sense of humor…I think car salesman rate higher than lawyers…
Thanks for your insight and laugh!
BTW: What he did, the trespasser, was wrong. The penalty isn’t a match for the crime though!
Jimmy B.
What about those in the Real Estate business??
Was this posted cause you disaprove of what the UPRR police did?
I like this one…#5. I love those comments that you read that you want to both bang your head on your keyboard and laugh about…Somebody should tell him it’s the equivalent of building a bridge across a river, and that there are already two bridges in place…and that there’s no set schedule for freight trains. Especially in yards. I could go on and on about this one…
I bet that for many of the people that complain that the UP did that would call the police if I were to jump in a car and use their lawn as a shortcut to school when I’m running late…