Vandals strike in Athol

[mick]

Early Thursday morning 8/12, MOAY hit a burning abandoned van that vandals had set on fire and rolled down an embankment near MP 361 in Athol, MA. It was on a curve, so there was no warning, and the train hit it going 25 MPH. There were no injuries to the train crew, luckily, and minor damage to the locomotive. The train was delayed 4 hours. ST , State, and Athol police are investigating.
I wonder what goes through the kids minds when they do things like that. Absolutely no consideration that there are men running that train who could get killed by their stupidity. I hope they nail the little pr**ks.

[TPR37777]

Even if they are apprehended, the charge of Receiving a Stolen Motor Vehicle will get them nothing but a continued without a finding disposition with no jail time. Welcome to Massachusetts.

[NellsChoo]

Well, I hate to be nasty, but every time we are in Athol, all I can think of is alcoholics with nothing to do....

... ok, that was mean, so I will retract (but not delete) that statement. I shall now replace it with this one:

GET A LIFE!

PS: Do we know which engine hit the van? I'd like to try and spot the damage

[camster202]

Okay, I'd like to put my two cents in and ask that you think before you speak about the town of Athol, NellsChoo and mick. First of all, you have absolutely no knowledge of the town of Athol or the town of Orange next to it. You think of the bad things, you have no clue of the good people who live there. There are many good people there.

In addition, you have no idea if this person who did this was from Athol or even was a kid! How do you know this? THINK before you make these statements. I happen to live there and do not appreciate at all your statements, as you insult where I live you're insulting me. I'd like you to THINK CAREFULLY about what you say before you say it, as these things do not please me that you think that this town is all "alcoholics".

I thought I'd put my two cents in about this.

[NellsChoo]

Just so happens my boyfriend stores some of his cars in Athol. His friend also stores cars in Athol, works in Orange, and lives in Wendell. We end up in that area almost every weekend.

Every town has good and bad people...

[mick]

I never said anything bad about the people who live in Athol, I just said what happened, and I hope they catch who did it. If it was not "kids" that did it, then they had the mentality of children, who don't realize the consequences of their actions. I also never said anything about alcohol, though I would guess it played a factor. Furthermore, there have been many incidents of rock-throwing and other vandalism in the Athol/Orange/Erving area related to the railroad.

[camster202]

Doesn't really matter who stores cars in Athol. The point here is/was, you guys have no idea what goes on on a day to day basis in the western end of D3. Every town has good and bad people-true. But why don't you two give me a town that doesn't have people who throw rocks, etc. at trains, automobiles, and buildings.

What I'm trying to tell here is that you should always think about who you could be insulting and who lives where in what town before you flame it like there's no tomorrow.