The Journal Star reports that K’s Merchandise is going out of business — the whole chain. Liquidation sale starts Thursday.
K’s is practically right next to the Kellar Branch. Wouldn’t it be nice if a rail-served business (light industry, warehouse) moved into that property? Oh, wait, we can’t try to attract that kind of business because we want to take the rail line out and put in a bike path. Oh well. Maybe the car dealership next door will buy it.
Clare Jellick reports in the Journal Star today:
District 150 Superintendent Ken Hinton won’t continue buying properties near Glen Oak Park until he has time to talk to neighborhood groups and City Council members, he said Monday.
Hinton told the School Board Monday that he had originally intended to bring forth a recommendation at that meeting, but “for now that’s not going to take place.”
“I just want to talk to (people) and let them know where we are and what we’re thinking,” Hinton said after Monday’s meeting.
The implication is that Hinton is still trying to work out a compromise with the city and East Bluff neighbors. But if the last two counterproposals he offered the city are any indication, it’s likely this will simply be another attempt to pursuade everyone that putting the school next to a park is the best idea in education since the Dewey Decimal System.
But I’ll try to suppress my suspicion until I hear “where [they] are and what [they’re] thinking.” Maybe he’ll surprise us all.
Central Illinois Railroad Company (CIRY) employee Thomas Stowers has filed suit against CIRY for injuries sustained in that incident. The suit was filed July 31 of this year in St. Clair County Circuit Court, but I only learned of it last night. The suit claims:
That on or about August 27, 2005, while working in Peoria, Illinois, plaintiff was operating a track mobile which failed injuries [sic] to plaintiff’s head, ribs, left elbow, left rotator cuff, and left shoulder, including the muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, nerves, blood vessels, bones, and joints of these body parts.
Plaintiff states that his injuries and damages resulted in whole or in part from the negligent acts or omissions of the defendant….
This case is interesting because the police report from the night of the incident records that Stowers refused medical treatment. According to incident report PA 05-00026073, Officer Timothy Wong wrote (emphasis mine):
I [Wong] FOLLOWED [Allen] BROWN UNTIL WE CAME TO THE TRAIN CAR AND STOWERS WHO HAD JUMPED OFF OF THE TRAIN DURING IT’S TRAVEL FROM THE AREA OF PARK ST TO THE FOOT OF CAROLINE. STOWERS HAD ABRASIONS TO ALL AREA’S OF HIS BODY, HOWEVER RELATED THAT HE WAS FINE. STOWERS RELATED THAT HE WAS TRYING TO KEEP THE TRAIN UNDER CONTROL AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, HOWEVER HE COULD NOT STOP THE TRAIN CAR AND JUMPED FROM IT, BEFORE IT STRUCK ANOTHER TRAIN CAR. A CODE 2 AMBULANCE WAS CALLED FOR HIM. STOWERS SIGNED A REFUSAL AND DECLINED MEDICAL ATTENTION. NO OTHER INJURIES WERE SUSTAINED BY ANY OTHER PARTY.
Sorry about the all caps — that’s the way it is in the report. In a supplement to this incident, Officer Winfred Fallert added this curious information (again, emphasis mine):
ON 08/30/2005 MYSELF [Fallert] AND SGT SWAIN WENT TO THE LOCATION OF THIS RAILROAD CRASH. WHILE THERE I SPOKE WITH [Steve] DRASSLER WHO IS EMPLOYED AS AN INSPECTOR WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION. DRASSLER INFORMED ME THAT THIS WAS A VERY MINOR INCIDENT THAT DID NOT EVEN REQUIRE THE RAILROAD TO INFORM THEM. THE MANDATORY REPORTING CRITERIA FOR RAILROAD CRASHES ARE DAMAGE IN EXCESS OF $6700.00 OR INJURY TO ANY PERSON REQUIRING MEDICAL TREATMENT. THE ESTIMATED DAMAGE IN THIS CASE IS APPROXIMATELY $5000 AND ALTHOUGH THE ENGINEER DID SUFFER MINOR INJURIES HE DID NOT SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION. DRASSLER ADDED THAT HE WAS ONLY AT THE SCENE BECAUSE HE RECEIVED AN “ANONYMOUS” PHONE CALL INFORMING HIM OF THIS INCIDENT.
Since there was no injury “requiring medical treatment” and damages were reportedly under $6,700, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) did not conduct a formal investigation of the incident. It almost makes one wonder if Stowers was coerced into refusing medical treatment. I mean, the guy was 46 years old, jumped from a runaway train (reported by one eyewitness to be traveling at approx. 30 mph) in the middle of downtown, had abrasions all over his body, yet refused medical treatment? Something’s fishy there.
Stowers wants to be awarded no less than $50,000 in damages and demands a trial by jury.