If over-cautious comments haven’t come from a local reader yet, they’re coming. This Wednesday, local property owner Earl Young was struck and killed by a train in DeKalb and I can feel the tension building like static.

This is not the first time it has happened either, far from it. Since moving to the downtown four years ago, I have noticed a grim pattern. It seems like every year around this time a pedestrian finds them self in the path of a train and it has never ended well for the pedestrian.

It is at this point that the townspeople begin chanting about how dangerous it is to have a rail-crossing cutting through the middle of the downtown. Common sense sides with the town’s people and the scapegoating begins.

In year’s past the trains were required to lay on their horns as they went through every single crossing in town. Now we have wayside horns. They are quieter you see because they direct the sound towards the crosswalks instead of ringing incessantly for all to hear. Expect the chants to begin any minute now because I promise they are coming. It won’t be long before the wayside horns receive the full brunt of the citizenry’s wrath.

They aren’t loud enough they’ll say. Sure. The gates aren’t impassable enough they’ll say. Uh huh. The flashing lights aren’t bright enough they’ll say. Maybe the preponderance of signs indicating the presence of trains doesn’t express well enough the full magnitude of danger involved when crossing railroad tracks.

It’s all hogwash by the way.

The horns are still plenty loud, the gates still formidable, the lights bright (and flashing) and the signs are as clear as a sign can be. In our hearts we know this to be true but it will not stop the battle cries of the outraged populace and it’s a shame really.

This city has been bending over backwards trying to do something, anything really, to revamp a part of town that needs revamping. As a resident that lives literally a stones throw from the tracks, I love the new wayside horns. Rather than wake up every 15 minutes to what sounds like the end of the world rumbling through my home I can sleep rather soundly. This coming from a person that fell asleep at a demolitions range while in the military.

So there it is, and I can hear it already, “That callous, horrible man that lives downtown couldn’t give a hoot about the loss of a life.” Let me respond by saying you could not be more wrong. I had the good fortune to meet the recently deceased Mr. Young this past summer. As far as I could tell, he was a good man and I know he was kind and fair to his tenants.

However, sometimes terrible things happen to people that do not deserve it. That is exactly what happened this time and no horn, gate, series of lights, or signs can change that.

The fact of the matter is this, the wayside horns are singularly responsible for a dramatic improvement in the quality of life for everyone living or doing business within earshot of the once terrifyingly loud trains.

As nice as it would be to live in a world in which all dangers have are nullified, it is simply not a reality nor will it be in any of our lifetimes. The world can be a dangerous place and it is up to each of us to be aware of that and, when possible, avoid those situations especially when the source of danger is known.