If you read the assorted opinions in this week's Standard Blade and Fort Lupton Press regarding the imminent relocation of a intermodal rail yard to this area, it's not hard to reach a conclusion of doom and gloom. Of course, the respective letter writers don't hurt this argument with threats of carcinogens, runaway trains and hazardous waste spills. True, the property owners and surrounding residents have reason to be concerned about this rail yard. Heck, I only work here and I have reason to be concerned – the thought of increased truck traffic alone makes me shudder. So you can imagine how people who will have this in their backyard feel. And they're desperate. So like the folks sending up all the fireworks in a flurry as the rain approaches, they're throwing everything out there. If you read those letters this week, you'll find that you're probably better off sucking on the tailpipe of your running car than to be within a 1,000 miles of a train. And their opinions take my focus off the rail yard and make me wonder – if trains are this bad then shouldn't we have taken up this fight a long time ago. I mean, honestly, if train engineers are really stealing first-born babies in the dark of night, if people have a 500 percent increased risk of cancer if they even hear a train whistle and if these trains are a veritable demolition derby then why are we worrying about where they're going to park. I say, we as a community, strap ourselves down to the train track and stop these cancer-carrying wagons now.But you might be surprised at who I blame for the hyperbole growing from the opposition – Union Pacific. Because, you see, we fear what we don't know. UP is comfortable to sit back, let rumors run wild, throw out a scant detail here and there and, essentially, let people panic. So residents, like an attention-starved 2-year-old who knows negative attention is better than no attention at all – are throwing out a bevy of facts. Some very well could be true, some of them – God help us – I hope they're not.
