A perfect example of a bad example

[BaltACD]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Doggy

As I've said ALL crossing don't care if they have one train a day THEY ALL NEED GATES WITH LIGHTS so beancounter excutives SPEND YOUR LOOT

In 99.9% of all road crossings....THE RAILROAD WAS THERE FIRST...The railroads granted easments to local authorities and private individuals for them to cross the railroads PRIVATE PROPERTY.. The hindsight of 175 years of railroad experience indicates that these easments should never have been granted and should have been fought at nearly all costs. Since the Federal, State, Local authorities and Private Individuals are the ones who have sought to impinge upon the private property rights of the railroads....THEY SHOULD BEAR THE EXPENSE of protecting their populations that use the crossings

Doggy - It is time for you to cough up your TAX dollars to have your local authorities either protect all the crossings in your area or CLOSE THE CROSSINGS. Protection takes more forms than flashing lights and/or gates....the prefered methods are to either close the crossing or grade separate the crossing....Come on Doggy - SPEND YOUR LOOT!

[Anonymous]

People calling the police to make their kids behave???? OMG!

I suppose I was just about the last generation of kids to get spanked, I was born early 80s. Getting a spanking wasn't fun, but it did teach that for every action there will be a reaction. It taught me that I have to think about what I am going to do before I do it.

Corporal punishment should also be brought back in schools, all I remember from high school was that kids generally didn't care (certainly more from the generations below me) and they had little respect for other people. -- not everyone of course, but it seems to be becoming more and more present.

I don't know, I grew up getting spanked, have no scars or physical damage (no pain that lasted for more than a few minutes - and that was just on my ***), and I think I've turned out to be a pretty nice guy.

Corporal punishment makes sense, because, (it taught me anyhow) that there is a very clear line between right and wrong. You do this, you get this.

Nowadays it just doesn't seem to be the same, even in the past 10 years or so everything has come down to talking it out, or making the kid sit in a corner - so much as laying a finger on your child is wrong.

...I guess I could go on forever on this subject, but most of you can see where I stand.

[Anonymous]

Discipline problems probably almost always go back to the parents, or whoever is raising the kids (seems like Grandma keeps doing it more and more). Problem is, by the time kids get into school, their behavior, good or bad is probably pretty well established. So getting them to be disciplined is hard because they've been brought up otherwise.

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

You know - this seems to be a good place to insert something that just blows my mind - and I hear it fairly often.

My police scanner - call for a police person to go to someone's house because their 3 year old is out of control! That was the youngest one. The rest range in age from 5-17.

I understand you can't beat the daylights out of your kids, but when did discipline of any kind become extinct? Maybe like Coalminer3 said - it began in the 60's - when hippies and drugs and flowers ruled. (But - I raised a daughter pretty much alone from 1965 on and she turned out great!).

Think I am getting a new wrinkle over this....

Try, just try, to swat your misbehaving toddler on his diapered butt in public. I wouldn't be the least surprised if you left in 'cuffs and the kid went to child protective services while they sort out your case (figure six months).

I had an co-worker who had repeatedly asked for help from DSS with a problem child (ended up being food allergies). Dad lost his temper when the kid acted out one night and injured his sister - resulting in a slap to the face. It was hard enough to be visible a couple of hours later at school (they were just getting in from a long, medically-related road trip). House was a mess because the house watcher did a lousy job (dog tore up a potting soil bag), and no food in house because they'd been gone for a week. No matter - kids taken away, parents all but in jail. A year later they got the kids back and the kid was finally getting the care he needed. Nobody apologized for the misunderstanding, though.

I, too, have heard the police calls for misbehaving youngsters. Ridiculous. My two learned early that misbehavior held the very real possibility of a swat on the butt. Rarely had to use it. Both are now adults, and upstanding members of their communities. One is defending our country.

Sheesh!

[Anonymous]

Don't get me started...I'm a junior high art teacher, and things happen now in junior high that are pretty unbelieveable. We would have never shown disrespect of any kind to a teacher. I've been told f you three times in my life, and all three were in the last two years by junior high school kids.
A couple of seventh graders in my class last year were telling me about all the times they'd been in jail. One of my student's big brother has been in jail many times, and she told another teacher that her brother said being in jail was "fun."
You finally get to a point where trying to stop all the misbehavior isn't worth the time, trouble, grief, for sure paper work, and a sort of "theft" of your energy, spirit and soul.
But I do love it! Every now and then something will happen, even to one of "those" kids that make it all worth while.

[Mookie]

You know - this seems to be a good place to insert something that just blows my mind - and I hear it fairly often.

My police scanner - call for a police person to go to someone's house because their 3 year old is out of control! That was the youngest one. The rest range in age from 5-17.

I understand you can't beat the daylights out of your kids, but when did discipline of any kind become extinct? Maybe like Coalminer3 said - it began in the 60's - when hippies and drugs and flowers ruled. (But - I raised a daughter pretty much alone from 1965 on and she turned out great!).

Think I am getting a new wrinkle over this....

[Anonymous]

That sounds like the makings of a good nightmare.

QUOTE: Originally posted by kevinstheRRman

Well, unless it's the movie "wrongfully accused" with Leslie Nielson, then Trains jump off the tracks and follow people throuhg the woods

[coalminer3]

Years ago there was an old AAR (I think) slogan that said, "cross crossings cautiously" (try saying that fast after a few cold ones...); it applies today. Also, locomotives are a lot quiter than they were; amazing how they can appear so quietly and suddenly.

IMHO -all for me attitude started in the 1960s.

Here ends the rant for today.

work safe

[Anonymous]

Well, unless it's the movie "wrongfully accused" with Leslie Nielson, then Trains jump off the tracks and follow people throuhg the woods

[Anonymous]

Trains don't jump out from behind cars on main street. They only place they drive is down those two tracks. It doesn't take much to use that little bit of common sense to keep yourself alive.

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edblysard


Where did the "all for me" attitude come from, the concept that everyone else but you are responsible for your actions, and why have we, as this generations parents, allowed it to grow to this size?

Ed

Hmmmm - Talk about taking responsibility for one's actions (our generation, not Ed). I could have written what Ed wrote, having grown up at about the same time. We learned our limits, tested them (some more than others), and generally learned to respect our elders and those around us. In return we garnered a lot of trust, and more often than not, we deserved it. What we may have missed while raising our kids was some of the early stuff, the groundwork, if you will, on which that trust and respect was built. Some blame can probably be laid on the "experts" of the day, whose opinions still seem to carry a lot of weight. When the paddle and the discipline it represented went out the door, so did a lot of the authority of the teachers. The wild children could no longer be controlled, and control of the rest of the class went, too.

So now, you can be late for class. The teacher can't do anything to you, and your parents will likely figure the teacher is singling you out. Your misdeed has no consequences. Another lesson learned.

Consider, too, the age of the video game. When we played sandlot baseball or a game of Monopoly, somebody won and somebody lost. We were disappointed if we lost (maybe really disappointed if it was a big game or to our sister), but life went on. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose. If it was an "official" game (ie, school or Little League) your accomplishment (or lack of it) was hung out for all to see. On a recent visit to my old High School, I found that my name had only recently been superceded on a school record in track. Some of my teammates are still on the record board. On the other hand, if you play video games, your losses are buried in your XBox, if you consider them losses at all. Only your successes are celebrated, if you choose to share them ("Man, I got to Level 1756 today!" - the missing factor being that he failed to reach level 1757)

The relative maturity of people today might enter into the equation, too. Perhaps that inimitable aura of teenage invincibility is lasting well beyond the teenage years.

What does this fix? Nothing. Can we fix the problem? If the last casualty (I won't call her a victim) in the Chicago area is any indication, it'll take a while. (She had apparently been repeatedly warned by her friends not to cross the tracks there.) All we can do is continue to get the word out to everyone, including the politicians, that there is a problem. As I noted earlier, there are undoubtedly problem crossings, just as there are problem road intersections. Those we can attempt to fix. As for the rest of them, well.....

[Willy2]

I agree with Ed and Mookie and Kevin. The driver was responsible for her getting herself killed, not the railroad. Instead of looking at the back of the retreating train she should have been looking both ways for another train! I don't know if she was just a bad reckless driver in general or if she was just in too big a hurry to look both ways, but it was her fault. I have learned my lesson about railroad crossings from the bad experiences of others and I will always keep that lesson in mind.

Willy

[Anonymous]

Well, I kind of learned the smae things as Ed

But when i was two or three or four My parents always took me to the CP and CN displays about Crushed Cars, and all about the Railroads, gruesome Videos

If you didn't learn that way, you would enevr learn what you needed to know.

I can rememebr when i was as young as three, hearing: Don't cross the tracks unless you can fully Cross.
Always look both ways on the Tracks..
Just because there are two tracks, does not mean the two trains are going in opposite directions.

I learnt all this when I was 3 or 4 or 5

No one expects you to run into the Road without looking both ways, But Wouldn't any of you rather be hit by a car then a Train?

I figure it's better to trun into the middle of the road without looking, then it is to corss the tracks without looking.

[edblysard]

Funny,
My parents taught me not to run out into the street, and to look both ways before crossing.
They taught me to stop, and look both ways at railroad crossings.
They even managed to teach me that if I screw up, to take responsibility for my mistake, and to stick around, and try to correct it.

I was supposed to open doors for ladys, and ladys went first.
You stood up whan a woman entered the room, and you didnt use curse words in front of ladys.

You didnt hit girls, and you stood up for those who couldnt stand up for themselves.
You didnt pick on the handicapped, and telling a lie was a major sin.
Stealing anything, no matter how small or inexpensive, wasnt tolerated.

Any adult could chastise a kid, you didnt talk tra***o grown ups.
You carried the groceries in for the lady next door, because she told you too, and your parents expected you to help her.
Teachers were the most respected people around, and most of them had paddels, and knew how to use them.
Getting a swat on your backside for being late to class was normal, and it meant you also got a whipping when you got home, for being late to class, and for getting swats.

My parents lets us grow our hair long, (but it had to be clean) we wore big bell jeans, and really wild shirts, listened to "our" music, and grooved on John and Pauls reveloution, Alice Cooper told us about school being out, and Grand Funk made "Smokin' in the Boys Room" seem almost funny.

And we still, for the most part, managed to grow up with out going to jail, or killing someone.

So, exactlly where did my parents go wrong?
Was teaching by example so wrong?
Was it so odd that a certain level of behaviour was expected from us?
And when we didnt live up to that, we were punished?
We knew all about guns, but we didnt take them to school with us.

Is it really that hard to teach children to be somewhat self reliant, and to be responsible for their actions?

Where did the "all for me" attitude come from, the concept that everyone else but you are responsible for your actions, and why have we, as this generations parents, allowed it to grow to this size?

Ed

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Doggy

As I've said ALL crossing don't care if they have one train a day THEY ALL NEED GATES WITH LIGHTS so beancounter excutives SPEND YOUR LOOT

I disagree - a little more responsibility on the part of the drivers is needed. You can put up anything you want - it won't stop a good share of them. They have to be taught from infancy to be more responsible. We have gates and lights here and they go around them as if they are a nuisence and non-existant! So don't put the blame on the railroads - put it right where it belongs - right square on the nut behind the wheel!

[Anonymous]

Chances are the RR crossing sign had a "2 Tracks" sign below the crosses.

I know this is always something like I look out for, and then pay particular attention both ways when at the crossing.

The driver was clearly at fault, and though it's too bad she died it's still her fault for not paying proper attention.

Driving is a Privilege, not a right, and when you take to the road you have to respect the chances that something may go wrong, be it your fault or someone else's.

Some people just have to learn the hard way.

[Anonymous]

As I've said ALL crossing don't care if they have one train a day THEY ALL NEED GATES WITH LIGHTS so beancounter excutives SPEND YOUR LOOT

[Willy2]

It took me awhile to finally post this because I was trying to find more information. Unfortunately, I could find nothing more than what I heard on the news.

About a week ago in Grand Island a lady was waiting at a crossing for a train to pass. Just as the last car of the first train cleared the crossing, another train on the other track going the same way entered the crossing. The lady was still watching the retreating train and pulled onto the crossing in front of the other train. She was killed and I offer my prayers to the crew of the train and to her family. The crossing had only crossbucks, no lights or gates.

My point is that this lady did not follow the phrase: Expect a train on any track, at any time, going any direction. I don't know if I got the three parts to that in order, but it still means the same thing. I think that everyone needs to follow that phrase very carefully. If you agree say yes and if you have any similar stories please post them.

Willy