Letter: Taggers ruin most of what is nice
Why can’t (we) the taxpayers have anything nice?
Southern Pacific employees took it on themselves to restore a bay window caboose to use on the Madera run.
When I first saw it last year I was just nuts. I chased it down and caught it on the siding of the main line by Central Avenue. I actually trespassed on railroad property to walk up to it and take some pictures. I was even invited to get up on the platform and have my picture taken standing on it.
Since then, I look for it around noon, just to watch a thing of the past slowly travel by. I wave, they wave pack. Leaving TECO the other day (around 11 a.m.), I saw the train coming. As it passed, I could not believe that some jerks had graffitied that fine caboose.
All of the United States is fouled by this crap and we seem to just accept it by painting over it and wringing our hands at the cost. When Madera got its $150,000 grant to buy that truck and hire three employees to paint over this crap I wrote the Tribune and said it wouldn’t work. I even suggested night vision goggles and night vision scopes to take these guys down. I said, a couple on Monday night, a couple on Tuesday night and by Wednesday we won’t have a problem.
The city didn’t take that route, and here we are. Half a million bucks to paint over crap, and no solution. The only operating caboose ( on a real rail line) in the country and some jerks sprayed it. We need a real plan. It needs to be severe.
Time to limit our liabilities.
Bill Hoffrage,
Madera
