Dude,
Like, which car was it?
Cause they are like, totally grey and all…this is gonna take a long time and all.
Guess we should roll, like a big bomber…
Since Day # 1, I always have tried to compose my thoughts and write seriously about something that pertains to trains. I can’t do a lot of in depth arguments because I don’t have the knowledge needed and have never worked for a railroad. Only lived with one.
But then a whole team of out-of-work comedians always manage to carry my posts off in a totally different direction. A Quickie with Mookie was intended (many years ago) as a quick question with quick answers. It quickly dissolved into - well, I won’t go there and I was in tears over that. Tears of laughter!
Yellow Thingies and mirrors didn’t fare any better.
Now I will be known for drug transportation!
I will probably never get a good answer as to how this case will ever make it to a court room or to a settlement room, but by this time, who cares? At least the railroad sense of humor remains intact!
Thanx guys. We need a little more humor in our lives!
[(-D]
Wait a minuet, you mean refer madness has nothing to do with ARMN refers? How are we going to break this to Eric? [:D]
Yeah,
But in the end we did explain the yellow thingies, and why Wabash hogs the mirror…
As for the question about going on vacation, and someone putting pot, or anything else for that matter, in your car with out your knowledge…the law says its your car, you are responsible for the car, its contents and how it is used…you would be charged.
Depending on the quality of attorney you hired, the charges would likely be dropped at some point in time, but you would still be charged with smuggling at the border.
UP, on the other hand, is only picking up cars…or in this car, providing crews for a train assembled in Mexico…posession of the cars for the preceeding time is easy to prove…had UP transported the cars into Mexico, and retained posession the entire time the cars were there, with the UP being in charge of the cars, then anything that shows up in or on the cars is UP responsibility.
All this boils down to the Justice Department looking for some PR…nothing more.
Doubt it will ever see a courtroom, but it looks good on paper.
Sorry to disappoint, Johnny. This issue strikes a little too close to home for me–my sense of justice has been violated by the powers that be holding my railroad responsible, against all logic. The railroad has come up with valid methods of mitigating the problem of drugs coming across the river down there, but have been turned down by the Government–maybe they think we’re just Grande-standing.
Carl, there is an obvious lack of common sense on the part of the government people. However, they must find someone responsible, so they seem to leap to a conclusion that a railroad employee, representing the railroad corporation, is responsible–as though they have no understanding of what is required of the employees who are moving the train nor what is possible for the crew to do. We cannot expect the customs people to wink at the infraction, but they should exercise true judgement. As Wallyworld says, “nobody has more common sense than he thinks he needs.”
As to the UP’s attempt to mitigate the problem, could it be that the Government thanks that it has all the answers, and no (to them) criminal could possibly be interested in mitigated the problem?
Johnny
Note that this penalty is being imposed at the instigation of essentially the same clowns who let all 20 of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists across the border into the U.S. Whatever the legal merits, their credibility = 0 in such matters with me.
- Paul North.
Seriously now, wouldn’t that just inspire folks to take pot-shots at you.?
I’m slipping as well. Good one, Dennis.
Murphy, Murphy, Murphy…[X-)]
[:-,]
I always thought Pot Yard was near Washington DC. Would explain a lot of things…[:P] Must be a new Pot Yard going in…
I hadn’t read all replies that follow this one when I decided to respond, so if another member has addressed this similarly, please excuse…
I don’t know that I see it that way, Johnny. I wonder if the security folks and the immigration folks and the Mexican authorities, and of course UP, aren’t in on a scheme to make it seem like cross-border shipping is about to evolve in a way that meets the needs of both governments, and maybe evern the carrier in question. If they make it virtually impossible, on the face of it, for UP to do anything useful/effective about this “problem”, then things will have to change, and maybe public support will be important. Pose the problem in a marketable way, get buy-in (
Crandell: Had to read this several times, but are you thinking “conspiracy”?
Does the U. S. government put more faith in the Union Pacific than the Mexican Army to stop the smuggling?
I don’t generally favour that word any more, Mookie, but…it does enter my mind now and then. [:D]
The alternative is to believe that someone thinks they can actually prevail in a lawsuit of this nature for something well beyond any cross-border shipper’s abilty to control. (This, to my uneducated mind, seems foolish, highly improbable, or duplicitous…maybe all of them…maybe none…just inviting some dialog.)
-Crandell
Crandell - be careful - I was inviting dialog and it got me into trouble! [:I]
But this is why I started this. My Thinking was maybe someone knew something more about the lawsuit and would provide some insight into what looks to me to be a rather foolish move on the Justice Departments part.
Jen
Hang on to your hat, then, Jen. [8D]
Two tons in 5 years. There are BP stations on the Southern border that catch 2 tons in one 8 hour shift! Two tons in five years; amateurs!
I’m sorry I can’t offer any more info about this ridiculous case. But I can offer an opinion.
I think the govt uses civil court lawsuits when it knows there’s not enough evidence to prove guilt in criminal court. This type of action ought to be illegal. It should be that, if there’s a crime, go forward with a criminal case. If there is not a crime, then leave the person or company alone.
I can’t figure out why they would want to pick on the RR. And that’s what I consider this to be - picking on. Maybe there’s a disagreement between the UP and the govt in another area, and this is payback.
Ah, dude, no way! Bummer, dude!