I feel like I’m caught in a Monty Python movie every time I read a story like this.
David Pittman, the Vice President of Recreation Trail Advocates, says the recent use of the [Kellar Branch] rail line should not sway people against the trail.
In other words, the STB’s decision to allow both Pioneer Industrial Railway and Central Illinois Railroad Company to run trains on the Kellar Branch isn’t a mortal blow to the trail advocates’ all-or-nothing plan to tear out the rail and make this corridor a dedicated hiking trail. “‘Tis but a scratch.” “Just a flesh wound.”
The Journal Star reported this bravado:
State Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, would lobby for the transformation of the rail into a trail and work to enact a federal earmark to supersede regulations so the Kellar Branch can be converted.
Psst, hey Aaron, “earmarks” specify spending priorities (i.e., they give money to a project); they don’t make regulations. You can’t just “earmark” the overthrow of a federal regulatory agency’s decision. Besides, don’t you think Ray LaHood — Champion of Earmarks, scoffer of trains, and in-law to Bonnie Noble — would have already done that if it were possible? But hey, it sounds tough, doesn’t it? “The Black Knight always triumphs! Have at you!”
All I can say is, “All right, we’ll call it a draw.”
