I picked this up from another forum, its from the CBC news. I'm not sure what RR property the kids was on so I stuck it here. Moderator feel free to move it to where ever if needs be: "From CBC news (Canada) "Train kills man painting graffiti on boxcar Last Updated Wed, 02 Feb 2005 13:28:17 TORONTO - An 18-year-old man was hit and killed by a train Tuesday evening as he spray-painted a boxcar in the west end of Toronto. Police said the man was hit by a passing train around 9:45 p.m. as he and two friends painted a boxcar parked on a track near Dupont and Christie streets. The train that hit him was travelling at about 40 km/h on the track parallel to the one where the man was painting, police said. The graffiti artist died in an ambulance en route to hospital. His name has not been released." "Written by CBC News Online staff"
I like taggers.If it wasn't for graffiti artists it would be boring to see a train go by.But yes he was stupid for not getting out of the way.Darwin candidate indeed.
It's sad to learn anyone gets hurt, or worse, dies. OTOH- This person was committing multiple criminal acts. Yes. A tagger is a criminal. A trespasser. A vandal. And more. An unthinking bum at best. Selfish. Self-centered. If you want to be an artist, get your own canvas. That freight car does not belong to you. I find it difficult to believe anyone likes that garbage. Why not invite one of these screwballs to have at it with your house, or your wife's car parked in the driveway? Boxcab E50
It is sad to hear of a death but these so called "taggers" need to be stopped as their so called art is a crime and cost us all a ton of money to clean up there crap as we end up paying the price somewhere in the market for those clean up costs.
No sleep lost here! This Graffiti crap is getting out of hand. I wonder how many freight cars are "tagged" in Japan...probably not ONE. Just a sign of our decaying western society.
I was just in mainland Europe awhile back and was surprised to see how much more of this stuff was there than in the US. In Italy they don't look to be doing anything to clean it up at all so there are layers on layers even in various historic places.
I am not defaming anyone on the TrainBoard, so consider the following to be my understanding based upon what I have been told: A local police friend told me to be alert for "tagging" that might someday show up in my area, and to alert him quickly about it. "Tagging" , according to him, started with the hippy flower child bunch, but quickly spread to street gangs as a means of marking out buildings and fences, as being their "territory" for a warning to others. "Tagging" of moving items like Subway Cars, train cars, trucks, and busses, is generally thought to have started up in and around the New York and La Angeles cities by gang leaders for the sport of advertising their power to "Appear" in a rival's area, (and get away with it). Runaways took it up for fun, and the whole thing got out of hand. Out in the wilds west of here, the officials tend to look the other way if a couple of Taggers "get into it". Those who catch someone Tagging anything may usually enjoy helping curb the problem if they "happen" to find a Tagger who "committed suicide" while defacing property belonging to someone else. Back when it was flowers, and psychedelic symbols, the painters may have considered it "art", but today's Tagging" is generally considered a signature. As I understand it, the practice is unhealthy, especially on ranch property or equipment. Taggers should keep in mind that many ranchers ARE the law, on their own property, and most Sheriffs agree.
I actually met this young man's family this week on my job & while I agree that he was breaking the law & and was doing something very stupid, he like many young males died needlessly. We do it to ourselves. Go easy on him, we've all used poor judgement at one time or another but luck(?) was on our side. Just my opinion from dealing with death everyday.
That's true. Surviving youth is not easy when you think about it. Not everyone makes it. I suppose all of us can probably point to at least one event in our youth that we might not have survived had things gone differently. Some people can probably think of more than one thing I am sure. Charlie
Hey, I was invincible. Then something happened about when I turned 25. It was only then that I realized how stupid I had been. I think I read somewhere this week where that a study has shown that young males don't fully mature in the area of risk taking until about then. Duuuhh. I could have told them that. Now there is even a public service add on TV about SUV "Monsters" and how they are dangerous to young men.
While it is sad to hear the yong man died, I find it hard to feel bad about it because of what he was doing. I do feel bad for the poor train crew who hit him. While they had no control over what happened, they are the ones who really have to live with this sad event.
I feel bad for the kids family but therein lies the problem as well. Are families becoming that decayed that they do not even know what there kids are doing? Surely there had to be an inkling. Perhaps a room full of his grafitti drawings, paint cans lying around....something. It is a parent's job to know what they are doing even if it comes down to a little old fashioned snooping. I have 4 kids and both my wife and I work but there is always one of us at home to keep things in line. Family , God , Friends and Trains....it's all that it comes down to in the end. Russ
