OCR Text |
Show 4C lakeside Review, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1981 Hppiir&g Trains Dei ngeraus, Seays Esailraeadl makes little difference now. Hes dead. He died brutally. He was one of thousands of victims of illegally hopping a freight train and riding the rails. The youth had boarded a Union way Administration, 566 trespassers were killed in all railroad-relateincidents during 1980, up from 516 in 1979. Of the victims, 197 were children under 14 while 136 were aged 14 to 21. Hundreds of others were injured 728 in 1980, down from 805 in headed west. The boy, however, wasnt the only train rider that day. His fellow passengers were hardened criminals who spotted him as an easy mark. First they sexually assaulted him. Then they beat him up. Finally they threw him off the train. Railroad workers found him lying dead along the right of way. Its just one of many horror stories which could be told about illegally riding the rails, said C.W. Shaffer, UP general director of security and special service. Shaffer and other security officials noted that hopping freights is sometimes depicted as a romantic, even glamourous, way to see America. Fatality statistics and accident reports tell a different story. According to the Federal Rail Accident reports from a UP security notebook tell part of the story. Subject attempted to board train when he slipped and fell and was dragged about 100 feet. Severe injury resulted in the loss of both his legs. Subject had evidently been sleeping under boxcar. Sustained three partially severed fingers on left hand, compound fracture right leg and head wounds. Subject had boarded train and was standing on couple shank of car when slack action caused both of her feet to be caught between horn of coupler and buffer casting .' . . apparent serious injuries. One who lived to tell his story is Reginald George, a farm laborer from Pendleton, Oregon. In 1978, George was hitchhiking from La Grande, Oregon to his home. It was late evening. There was hardly any traffic. The boy was a runaway, only 14 years old. Where he was from d Pacific Railroad freight train 1979. A UP train rolled slowly along why the train was moving so slowthe nearby tracks. George decided ly. That was the last thing he ever to catch a ride. He jumped aboard saw. an open car filled with sawdust. The car was pushed suddenly by When the train reached Pendlea switch engine. The heavy boxcar ton at about 3 a.m., George spotted door slammed shut like a guila good departure point, the lawn of lotine. It smashed the mans head a hospital. He climbed down the and locked him inside. His friend tried frantically to atcars steps and jumped off. I felt an extreme pain in my tract attention to the wounded man ankels, he said. When I sat up, by pounding on the unyielding door. He was unsuccessful. Hours my ankles were all out of whack. George sat in the dark for 15 or 20 passed before they were found. The minutes whistling to attract' the injured man died. The other was so attention of hospital workers. Both shaken he could not even give his ankles had been badly broken. name. George had surgery and spent can think of half a dozen serimost of 1978 in casts. Hes still ous I cases of injury, death, sexual partially diabled. assault and theft, said Ed R. director of operations for I still do some farm labor but I cant do it well because you have to Union Pacific security and special be on your feet most of the day, he service. said. The whole crime scene is up, He offered advice to prospective said Jack Buckingham of Washingtrain riders: If youre desperate ton, D.C., director of safety and for a ride, stay desperate until a security for the Association of safer ride comes along. There are American Railroads. Not all are as lucky as George, more people out of work and many some end up like two migrants who moving from town to town. thought they had arrived safely in Shaffer said that todays transOmaha via UP boxcar. ient rail riders are quite different One young man walked to the from the traditional hobos of open car door and looked out to see American folklore. Brit-tenha- Social Security rnsveir Changes Unacfed By LYNDIA GRAHAM Roviow Conospondont urity benefits to workers at 62 and for dependents of retired and dis- Several important changes have been made in Social Security benefits by a recently enacted law, Robert C. Van Sickle, Social Security district manager in Ogden, said recently. These changes include: Mothers and fathers benefits. Benefits to mothers and fathers who receive benefits because they care for an entitled child will end when the youngest child reaches abled workers only for months in which conditions of eligibility are met for the entire month. Generally, this means that benefits would be first paid for the month after the month a person reaches 62. Under the old law, a benefit could be paid for the month a person reached 62, even if he or she reached 62 near the end of the month. 16. Under the old law, benefits ended when the youngest child reached 18. For parents entitled to benefits Disability benefits. The change in the law concerns total in August 1981 or before, the income available to a disabled change will become effective Sep- worker. Under the old law, a distember 1983. The change is effec- abled worker under 62 who also tive immediately for parents be- receives workers compensation coming entitled after August 1981. could not receive combined Social The change does not apply to Security and workers compensamothers or fathers taking care of a tion payments totaling more than disabled child who requires person- 80 percent of his or her al services. Their benefits will conearnings. tinue. The new law makes three Lump-sudeath payment. Ef- changes in this provision. First, the fective for deaths after August offset will also apply to disabled 1981, the lump-sudeath payment workers can be made only where an eligible Second, the offset will apply to husband or wife survive or there is certain other disability benefits a child entitled to benefits. Under provided under Federal, State, and the old law, the lump sum could be local programs. Third, the offset will apply the paid to the. funeral home or the person who paid the funeral ex- first month the worker receives penses if there was no eligible sur- both Social Security and the other viving husband or wife. public disability benefit. Annual earnings test. The new More information about these law delays the reduction in the and the other changes made in annual earnings test exempt age Social Security is available at the from 72 to 70 until January 1983, Ogden Social Security office. The instead of 1982 under the old law. office is located at Street Month benefits begin. The new and the telephone number is law allows payment of Social Sec- ty m 62-6- 4. m 324-25t- h 626-322- 3. Choral Students Set Clearfield Concert The hobos of legend were traveling workers who knew how railroads worked and seldom caused any problems, he said. The coal burning trains of their era had to make frequent stops for fuel and water. They got on and off during those stops. Both trains and transients have changed, he said. Now were getting transients who arent doing this as a total way of life, he said. Many are not familiar with railroads and trains. Many are alcoholics or have drug problems. Some are escaped convicts or parole violators. Trains are dieselfueled and can go longer distances without stopping. A rider risks getting locked in a boxcar with very dangerious companions. Trains travel vast distance through varying climates. Frostbite and burning heat are amoung the hazards a rider faces. The load of a partially filled car can shift, crushing the rider, especially if it is humped, that is, rolled automatically downhill in a modern switchyard. Buckingham said the freight hopping is more severe in the Sunbelt but the problem becomes nation-wid- e during warmer months. It decreases in places where it is too cold to stand waiting for a freight train. Buckingham said that railroads are growing increasingly concerned about the problem and are seeking solutions. Theres a constantly increasing atmosphere of cooperation bet- - ween railroad police and local police, he said. Many have where railroad radio frequencies are available to local police. In addition, more railroads are using dogs trained to sniff out in-truders, he said. Once you have a dog, you get all kinds of cooperation, he said. Buckingham said that railroads also are stepping up public educational efforts to warn of the dangers of freight train riding and loitering around rail yards. Prog- rams are especially aimed at junior high students. Buckingham said that in 1980, 412,000 trespassers were removed n from railroad property. Five were removed in sixty-si- x hun-dre- hearses. iraremmg wvers ixewFi If youve got someLAYTON thing good, give it away and it will come back, and come back. Marge Tingey gives away love, the unconditional kind, the kind that youngsters in trouble need. She is president of the Davis County Association of Foster Parents and over the past 15 years has opened her home to 168 youths through the foster placement program of the Davis County Division of Family Services. In Davis County at the present time there are 40 licensed foster homes which give a stable home situation to many Davis County youths. The Division of Family Services in Davis County is under the direction of Steve Clark and is located in Layton at 312 West Gentile. The agency has been in the Layton office for three years this month. Our major responsibility, mandated by law, is to protect children under 18, protect them from abuse, neglect, and from being alone, said Clark. In working with families, we do whatever we can to assist and support the family and try to help it to stay together, he said. Unfortunately that isnt always, enough and each year many local youths are involved with Clark and his department and are placed in homes either as protection or in an effort to work out problems and adjust their lives so they can function again in the family setting. ' There are two types of foster homes, shelter homes where a child is placed for a very short time until the situation is analyzed and a plan for future action is determined, and a foster home where the child is placed for longer stays, occasionally until he is 18 and legally on his own. All of the Davis County homes are licensed to be both types of homes and all must agree to accept lems with parents that cannot be needs of their teen-ag- e child, he quickly resolved within the home said. He added that occasionally situation. the parent thinks that the problems Ninety-fiv- e percent of the teens with the teen will cause problems placed come from a home where at with the new spouse and they want least one natural parent is missing, the child out of the home. Clark said a typical case that he according to Clark. It might be a single parent home, a stepparent might handle would involve a youth situation or possibly the child has about 14 years old, having probbeen previously adopted. lems in school, possibly shifting A large number of our troubled school, experimenting with alcohol s are from a divorced and cigarettes, sometimes with situation said Clark. It is quite pot, and possibly sexually active. often very difficult for a teen to get There is a 0 chance that he is along with a stepparent. already known to the juvenile court. Emotionally, the spouse can divorce a mate and get involved with Any child who is in the foster a new marriage and a new spouse program for more than placement but a child is in a different situa45 days must appear in juvenile tion. court. Here, their cases are reThey often fantasize that if they plan is can push the new spouse out that viewed by a judge and aDivision somehow the natural parents will given to the judge by the of Family Services outlining what magically get back together, they hope to accomplish to rectify Clark said. the problem. A teen is basically in a very selfish stage of life and doesnt Each case is reviewed at least realize that a parent has needs, every six months, more often if too, he said. major changes occur, and often the Sometimes, the natural parent is foster parents are asked to appear so imvolved in his or her own readin the court to offer their views and justment that they do not see the observations about the child. The teen-ager- 40-5- foster parents are also often in touch with the natural parents. The judge has the responsibility of the final decision regarding the child and his problems. to be foster said Clark. They find themselves in a situation where they must be parents and at the same time peers, a parent to set the rules and a peer to be a friend and a counselor. They need to be available for emotional support around the clock for the foster child, and must be able to cope with the problems that come up in their own families and with their own property. In return they receive the equivalent of about 27 cents per hour from the state and a lot of satisfaction when they see that what they have done has helped a child to learn and grow. Those interested in learning, more about the program can contact the Division of Family Services. Helping a child might be as near as your phone. Its a real challenge parents, ChiIdrein's Festi val Saturday A childrens BOUNTIFUL Christmas festival will be sponsored by the BountifulDavis Art Center, 2175 South Main, Bountiful, on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. Children of all ages are invited. The festival will center around Christmas activities for children. North Davis Junior Students to Perform The main event will be the decoration of a community Christmas tree donated by a nursery ih Bountiful. Each child is asked to bring an ornament to put on the tree. The afternoon will be filled with Childrens events such as Christmas story telling, elf face painting, hat making, Christmas tree chain and bow making, and Christmas CLEARFIELD In conjunction with a PTSA meeting to be held Thursday at Clearfield High School 7 the North Davis Junior The large majority of youths in at p.m., School band will present a High s the program are and the majority of those teens are not in program. The meeting will be under the foster homes because of abuse or direction of Mrs. Arronia Jones, s neglect, although that is the case. Most have prob PTSA president. card making. Light refreshments will be served to the children. Saturdays activities will allow parents to drop off their children while they shop in Bountiful. Pa- rents are welcome to participate in the activities if they wish. Admission to the childrens Christmas festival will be $1 per child which will include all activities. teen-ager- s. the Sophomore mens and ladies choir combining to do Do You Hear What I Hear. The Junior choir will sing Did Mary Know and the a capella choir will sing LeRoi Andersons Sleigh Ride. On Thursday the Concert Choir will sing at the State Capitol at 1 : 30 p.m. and at the ZCMI Center at 2 p.m. The Madres group will sing at the McKay-De- e Hospital on Sunday at 3 p.m., and on Dec. 23, the Concert Choir will sing at North Davis Jr. High School. There is no charge for the program on Monday and the public is cordially invited. The choral deCLEARFIELD partment of Clearfield High School will combine talents to present a Christmas program on Monday, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m. in the auditorium. Under the direction of Les Davis both traditional and avante guard renditions of well know pieces will be performed. Among the songs to be presented will be Still, Still, Still, by the combined choirs; a rendition of Its That Christmas with chimes by the Sophomore mens choir; Bring A Torch For Isabella by the concert choir, which was recorded for KSL. Miss Holly Kirkbride will sing a solo in Calypso Christmas, with ftfodeols. teen-ager- Buy Beauty and Security For Christmas some-time- Imumedlmte Delivery FINAL CHECK THESE BEAUTIFUL STYLES LIQUIDATION AUCTION $200,000 WORTH OF INVENTORY ALLEGRO HUNDREDS OF ITEMS Soloctod Christmas Items to Recliners End Tables Bookcases Lamps Odd Dining Chairs Bedroom Sets Wall Hangings Mirrors Mattresses Dressers TVs Stereos Video Recorders Freezers Refrigerators Microwaves Washers Dryers Ranges Vacuums and more! MERCHANDISE SUBJECT TO PRIOR SALE! SATURDAY, DEC. 19th 10 A.M. MERCHANDISE SUBJECT TO INSPECTION UNTIL AUCTION m MONDAY - SATURDAY 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Auction by: 25th ST. AUCTION CO. Leyton Hills Mali Layton, Utah 376-312- 9 Oakwood Village 5464 South 900 East Murray, Utah 262-526- 3 0-- SPANISH FLOWER PLANTATION PATIO DOORS TMNIRMilSMMn nMMunauua n mu manat CLIMBING TWIN OAKS OAK VISIT OUR SHOWROOM FOR MANY MORE DESIGNS IK WBIWfflSIES Ph. 1 Foothill Village 1304 Foothill Drive Salt Lake City, Utah HOME FURNISHINGS 22 South Main. Cleartlald 0 v 825-162- BIRO OP PARADISE WE SPECIALIZE IN DOUBLE STORM DOORS AND ODD SIZE DOORS 490 South 500 West, Bountiful. Utah of laa's 14 582-038- II Sofas Rockers Coffee Tables off Boys and Girls Fashions Size and Pre - teens ALLEGRO 6 292-40S- 0 a.m. -- A 9 or 29S-208- 9 p.m. or Altar I A p.m. I Ml III ftMia I .V ill V Read The Classified For Best Results A 1 - |