Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993 TAG: 9310070014
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By Paul Dellinger STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Leonard Wolford of Pulaski filed a $2 million suit against the railroad Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court accusing train operators, among other things, of failing to sound a whistle or horn as the train was approaching a bridge.
Also on Tuesday, a Pulaski citizen complained to Pulaski Town Council that the NS Corp. trains were sounding their whistles and horns too often.
Mary Lee Duncan told council that several other people had complained to her about train whistles being sounded in recent days. She wanted council to ban them totally.
Bad idea, said Town Attorney Frank Terwilliger. He said he would not recommend that because it could lead to legal liabilities for the town.
It has done just that for the railroad. Wolford, hit by a train Oct. 10, 1991, when his pants leg caught on a spike protruding from a trestle, filed the latest suit saying NS does not keep its rails safe for pedestrian traffic.
At least three previous suits involving people hurt or killed on rail trestles have claimed NS failed to warn pedestrians with whistles or horns.
The railroad responded to the Wolford suit by saying that people who get hurt while willfully trespassing on NS property have no standing to bring suits.
The Town of Pulaski already has an ordinance banning train whistles unless they are necessary for public safety.
In a recent letter, NS representatives have told the town that it is up to train operators to decide whether whistle-blowing is necessary. "Basically they've said they're not going to second-guess their engineers," Terwilliger said.
Councilwoman Alma Holston said the steam train that passed through town last weekend during the Count Pulaski Day festivities sounded its whistle, and it was necessary because of all the people, including children, in the vicinity of the track at the time.
"I was glad to hear that one blow," she said.
Council took no action to change but will monitor the times that train whistles are sounded.
In other business, Mayor Gary Hancock reported on the final meeting of Virginia's Commission on Population Growth and Development, on which he serves.
The commission is to submit draft legislation to the General Assembly in January under what will be called the Virginia Growth Strategies Act, to include a strategic plan for Virginia and ways to carry it out, he said.
A recommendation made by Hancock to include incentives to increase economic development in rural areas of Virginia will be part of that package, he said.
Council voted to hire Municipal Advisers of Virginia Beach as a financial consultant, at a fee not to exceed $7,000. The firm is to recommend ways for re-investing town general obligation bonds at lower interest rates which, over time, could save the town as much as $185,000.
The governing body approved guidelines for making loans from its Urban Development Action Grant money to create new jobs.
Council will combine its next two regularly-scheduled meetings into a single meeting on a different date.
The next regular meeting would be Oct. 19, when some town representatives will be attending the Virginia Municipal League session. The one after that would be Nov. 2, which falls on election day. Council decided to drop both of those and replace them with a single session Oct. 26, at 7 p.m.
Town offices will be closed Monday for Columbus Day.
by CNB