Bellingham’s RR anarchists (transporting, crime, how much)

[xPlorer48]

These two women were arrested for placing shunts on local railroad tracks to protest. I guess Bellingham has some well-educated ones. They face federal charges.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/l...a-d672caeaaa80

[bartonizer]

Originally Posted by xPlorer48

These two women were arrested for placing shunts on local railroad tracks to protest. I guess Bellingham has some well-educated ones. They face federal charges.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/l...a-d672caeaaa80

Given the recent conversations about crime and safety in Bellingham, is the point of this post simply to scare people away from considering a move to the area?

I continue to find it strange that we seem to have our own trolling section on this website.

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by bartonizer

Given the recent conversations about crime and safety in Bellingham, is the point of this post simply to scare people away from considering a move to the area?

I continue to find it strange that we seem to have our own trolling section on this website.

While I agree that there is a couple of anti B'ham Trolls hanging around I think this is a newsworthy story worth sharing.

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by Sockeye66

While I agree that there is a couple of anti B'ham Trolls hanging around I think this is a newsworthy story worth sharing.

Yep, gotta take the bad with the good sometimes

[bartonizer]

Originally Posted by Sockeye66

While I agree that there is a couple of anti B'ham Trolls hanging around I think this is a newsworthy story worth sharing.

I guess? But I don't see other people posting about random crimes on these threads. Right now, three of the first eight threads in the Washington forum are about Bellingham crime, and these all started when someone expressed interest in the city a couple of weeks ago and asked questions about safety. Conservatives from rural surrounding areas started piling it on and acting like Bellingham was some sort of super dangerous area to be avoided at all costs, which isn't remotely true.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. We also have an ongoing thirteen year old thread with angry native or longtime Bellinghamsters who question the intent of newer or perspective residents and regularly post about issues like high housing prices, traffic, disparities in wealth, homelessness, and even grey skies in the winter, as if they're completely limited to Whatcom County. Ridiculous, and a very skewed representation of what this place is all about.

[nuggznsauce]

Pretty par the course for the northern WA eco-warriors. I’ve always wondered how much harm to the Earth their action of protest end up causing?

Say a train derails with toxins or substances that can do exceptional harm to the surrounding environment. How is that protecting the Earth; you've now done exactly what you accuse others of doing only you did it with malice. These people are simply followers of a self-absorbed cult that has convinced them that harming others (the and very environment they supposedly are trying to protect) will make their own lives better for whatever reason.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by bartonizer

Given the recent conversations about crime and safety in Bellingham, is the point of this post simply to scare people away from considering a move to the area?

I continue to find it strange that we seem to have our own trolling section on this website.

I find it strange that someone wouldn't want to know that the next time they go to cross train tracks, that the crossing could have been sabotaged such that the arms/lights/bells won't work and get broadsided and killed by a million tons of freight train. Or even worse, the train hits a truck heavy enough and derails, spilling flammable or poisonous liquids or gasses, and or catching fire! This article posts more details about where the shunts were placed and the various things they affected, it appears that a total of 41 of them were placed in Whatcom and Skagit counties which affected various pieces of warning equipment.
https://www.heraldnet.com/northwest/...-against-bnsf/

Maybe like the crime in this area, it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't happen to you?

"On ten occasions, shunts were placed in areas that disrupt the crossing guards where the tracks cross streets, so vehicles could have tried to cross the tracks unaware of the oncoming train.”

When the first shunts appeared on tracks in January, the Antifa group It’s Going Down claimed responsibility, stating that the goal was to “fight against colonial invasion.”

On Oct. 11, multiple shunts were placed in three locations in Whatcom and Skagit counties and triggered an automatic braking system on a train transporting hazardous, combustible material, the release states. The emergency braking caused a portion of the train to decouple from the engine, causing a potential derailment of tanker cars carrying flammable gas in a residential area.

Reiche has reportedly served as a deputy field organizer for Washington State Democrats, and at the time of her arrest, had a sticker on the back of her car that said "Indigenous Land" over a picture of the entire United States. A request for comment from the group was not immediately returned."

As far as my old thread you continue to slander, "I offer the truth, and nothing more".

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by nuggznsauce

Pretty par the course for the northern WA eco-warriors. I’ve always wondered how much harm to the Earth their action of protest end up causing?

Say a train derails with toxins or substances that can do exceptional harm to the surrounding environment

Nothing good would happen for sure. Train hits someone in a car that didn't look both ways that's bad enough, but maybe it hits a school bus, or a big rig, and derails, catches fire, and or explodes. For example, I know that they have propane terminals that interface with the RR in at least two spots in Whatcom county and it's a common tank car item among our freight.

[CrazyDonkey]

Idealism gone awry...

[slowlanes]

These two wingnuts don't represent responsible environmentalism anymore than the idiot teen who crossed state lines to shoot two protestors represents responsible gun ownership.
The 80/20 rule applies to pretty much all such....80 per cent of the folks are there for the right reasons, 20 per cent for the wrong.