Nov 1, 2011

3 youth killed crossing train tracks

Life is so precious and often far too short as seen from a perspective of the mortal world. But it iis at time like the one I am soon to relate that I am aware of a far greater perspective and am so thankful for it.

During my adult years as I have been raising my children I have opportunity to be a coach and a scout leader and a friend to each of my children and consequently to many of their friends and youth of the same age. I have grown to love and respect many of those friends and also had heartache as some of them have made choices that have destroyed their lives here on earth. Again I  am thankful for a gospel plan and a loving Father and Brother in Heaven who will be the judge of our lives.

Some of the youth that I have known have not lived long enough to experience many of the joys of this life but I am again thankful that it doesn’t end here. Three of those youth were cousins. A couple of them lived in Mapleton and were approximately Ben’s age in school. I had had some interaction with the two in sports and in scouts. They were killed in a car wreck trying to beat a train across the tracks at the south end of Mapleton. I often wonder about the few moments before the accident and what it must have been like in that car (and in the train.) The three of them were apparently late to a golf appointment with their dads at the Spanish Oaks Golf course in Spanish Fork, Utah. They were traveling south along highway 89 toward Spanish Fork canyon and the quickest way to the golf course would have been to cross the tracks and go to highway 6 and from there down to the course in the mouth of the canyon. The safest way would have been to continue on to the mouth of the canyon , turn onto highway 6 and cross the tracks on the bridge which was part of that highway. They elected though to try and beat a train that was going south on the tracks and cross over the tracks before it got there. They tied in that race but lost their lives in so doing. I have often thought as I have crossed railroad tracks many times and many times at that exact crossing how that in a race with a train there really isn’t such a thing as a tie, the car or truck will always loose. It was once stated to me that a car and a train are the same in comparison as a pop can and a car.  These three young men are buried next to each other in the Evergreen Cemetery in Springville. They came into life at nearly the same time and left at the same time.

Note added 11/1/11

Two other teens were recently killed on the tracks by Covered Bridge Canyon. Here is the news article about the incident.

Essa Ricker and Kelsea Webster, both 15, were killed in the accident, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office. Kelsea's sister, 13-year-old Savannah Webster, was critically injured and rushed to Primary Children's Medical Center. She was undergoing surgery Sunday and remained in critical but stable condition."It's very devastating," said Bruce Hiskey, who serves as stake president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the area. "These are vibrant, good young women. They were having a beautiful time on a beautiful fall day, and it's just a tragedy this happened."

Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon said the three girls were taking pictures on the railroad tracks just off U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon near the small community of Covered Bridge."It goes without saying that they were in an area that would not be well advised for them to be in," he said.The teens apparently knew one train was coming but did not realize another train was approaching from the opposite direction and were caught between them, Cannon said. Moments before the accident, one of the girls had posted, "standing right by a train ah haha this is awesome" on her Facebook page.

One train either hit the girls or blew them into the path of the other, Cannon said, and it's possible they were hit by both trains.Noise from the first train may have prevented the girls from hearing the second one, although an engineer reported sounding his horn as the train approached the crossing."Or maybe they realized it was there, and it was just too late for them to get away," he said. "We just don't know. But there's just a thunderous noise as they're standing that close to the train."Mary Scobell, who lives in Covered Bridge, said dozens of trains pass through the area every day. Locals know there are two sets of tracks in the area, she said, and they caution visitors and newcomers to be careful around them."We always tell our visitors, if there's a train and it goes past, you still don't get on the tracks," Schobell said. "You count a few seconds, look right and left to make sure (another) train isn't coming."Kelsea and Savannah Webster moved to Covered Bridge from Sonora, Calif., about two months ago, Cannon said.

I have photographed there before but am always very cautious of trains since I know how fast they travel through that area. I learned something from this though that I did not realize before and that is that even being close to the train the wind created by them has potential to blow you away from it and onto the other tracks. I always thought that I would just move off the tracks but now I know that I would move across the road instead.