Following article appeared in the Courier-News on 8-18-08.
Manville business owners join in plan to make railroad tracks safer
By PAMELA SROKA-HOLZMANN
STAFF WRITER
Borough business owners are joining an effort with borough police, educators and authorities from the Norfolk-Southern and CSX railroad lines to keep trespassers off the railroad tracks.
During the Monday, Aug. 4 Manville Business Professional Association meeting, Oscar Gonzalez, co-owner of Discount Mattress and Furniture and member of the board of directors of the association, said at least 24 business owners at the meeting were on board to help prevent tragedies from occurring on the railroad tracks.
"Manville safety on the railroad tracks is the biggest thing in town right now," Gonzalez said. "The problem has been ongoing for a lot of years."
Gonzalez said association members are waiting to receive informational pamphlets to be mailed from Norfolk Southern to begin spreading information to customers on the dangers of crossing over the railroad tracks.
"With a roster of 60 members, the MBPA can be a conduit of information, distribution, easily reaching and accessible to everyone in the borough of Manville," Gonzalez said. "The MBPA is committed in helping and joining the great efforts of the Manville Police Department, the Manville school system and the families of the borough. Together, becoming an effective vehicle for safety."
Rudy Husband, a spokesman for Norfolk-Southern said Tuesday, Aug. 12, "We're grateful for any support we can get. We appreciate any support to keep people off the tracks."
Recent deaths
The move comes in the wake of recent fatalities on the railroad tracks in a town crossed by two busy freight railroad lines. National statistics show this borough is one of the leading municipalities in the nation in per-capita deaths on rail lines and police have estimated that about 20 people have died in train accidents or near the tracks in the borough's 80-year history.
Manville High School senior Kevin Seit, 19, was struck by a train on May 8 while walking along the Conrail tracks near Huff Avenue. In March, a man's body was found along the south bank of the river, east of the CSX railroad bridge and near Huff Avenue. The body was wedged between a fallen tree and some brush along the bank. In October 2007, 19-year-old borough resident Cassie Brown who was struck and killed by a Norfolk Southern freight train.
More recently, in Hillsborough, 18-year-old Hillsborough High School student Jason Walton was fatally struck by a freight train on the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks near Beekman Lane on July 22.
Gonzalez said many people in town knew the victims, noting, "It's a small town and everyone knows one another."
Anthony D'Aniello, owner of Manville Pizza, said Brown was a regular at his establishment and he had seen her less than an hour before she died. He said, "You see these people (victims) everyday and it's such a dangerous situation. You get to know these people as customers."
Dr. Maria Auletta, whose practice is on South Main Street, said, "We are wondering what we can do to work on the issue. It's effected so many people."
Spreading awareness
On Tuesday, Councilman Steve Szabo pointed out holes cut in a fence running parallel to the railroad tracks behind South Main Street businesses.
He said trespassers — including small children with bicycles — cross over the tracks and travel through the holes to get to the other side. If the borough and Norfolk Southern officials discussed putting up additional fencing, Szabo thinks trespassers would continue to cut through the fencing, he said. Also, the fencing would have to be constructed on either side until it meets the borough's border with Hillsborough and would have to be open to railroad crossings, he noted.
During the Borough Council meeting on Monday, Aug. 11, Councilman Ken Otrimski, a retired Franklin Township (Somerset) police officer, said, "Parents have to police their children on crossing the road safely and nowhere in between. Because the police now are going to be out in force."
Mayor Lillian Zuza also encouraged parents to educate their children on the dangers of crossing over the tracks. She said her own children were taught at a young age never to go near a railroad track.
"My kids were never on the tracks," the mayor said.
Nick Gonzalez, 15, Oscar's son and a Hillsborough High School student, said he has seen his peers cross the railroad tracks mainly as short cuts to get to and from local businesses.
Peers think "it's a lot quicker," he said. "It saves three minutes."
Manville Police Chief Mark A. Peltack had said police frequently are patrolling the area of the railroad tracks and that rail police are expected to be on watch for trespassers on both the Norfolk-Southern and CSX rail lines.
In addition, the Borough Council plans to launch an education program in September to raise awareness about railroad safety.