Political Quotes

“Children are forced to crawl over or under very long parked trains that block their path to school. ProPublica and InvestigateTV witnessed dozens of students in Hammond climbing over, squeezing between, and crawling under the train cars just to make their way to and from school. Railroads of America, wake up. In my district in northwest Ohio, I have also witnessed situations with students in extremely dangerous and deadly situations. In December of 2009 along that same mainline rail crossing at McCord Road in Lucas County, Ohio, a train hit two students on foot in my district, killing one of them and putting the other in critical condition at Toledo Hospital where she underwent surgery. Cody L. Brown, a 15-year-old freshman, was pronounced dead at the scene. Brianna Mullinger was taken in critical condition to Toledo Hospital. The students, both band members, were walking to school when that westbound Amtrak train struck them. In the wake of this tragedy, our community constructed an underpass below the Norfolk Southern rail line at McCord Road to try to avoid future tragedies at this same rail crossing. There are numerous such places across this corridor. Our effort protects students, pedestrians, and drivers without interrupting traffic or flow of trains, pedestrians, or cars that pass through this intersection. These stories are emblematic of some of the longstanding and unaddressed real issues America continues to face to this day.…”