Oh, thats a good one! They were just being stupid! If an American citizen had done this we would never see the light of day, but because they were iillegal aliens they get a slap on the wrist?!!!! Their "stupidity" could have caused a major disaster and killed people! Oh well I guess since it would have most likely been American citizens that would have gotten killed, whats the big deal, right?



http://www.commercialappeal.com

Illegal aliens held in derail threat


By Tom Bailey Jr.

May 26, 2006

An act of vandalism spotted by a rail inspector in Collierville this month would have derailed one of the 28 trains that rumble through town daily, a Norfolk Southern spokesman said Thursday.

Within a few days of the May 15 incident, authorities identified two illegal aliens from Mexico as the vandals, said Robin Chapman, the railroad spokesman.


"I do not believe this was an attempt to commit a terrorist act," FBI spokesman George Bolds said Thursday. "I don't be believe these people attempted to derail a train. I think they were just being stupid."

The incident happened at a rail switch behind the AutoZone store at 995 W. Poplar.

Chapman said the two men were "on lunch break, hanging around our tracks. They pried a metal object into a track switch, opened it 3 or 4 inches."

A train traveling in either direction would have derailed, he said.

"It was caught by one of our employees before any train came through," Chapman said.

"Working with local police and federal authorities, we tracked the culprits down. They were turned over to Immigration and Naturalization Service for deportation."

Neither Chapman nor the FBI's Bolds identified the two men, referring questions about them to Citizenship and Immigration Services. The federal agency did not return a reporter's telephone call Thursday afternoon.

The vandalism occurred during the daylight hours, Chapman said.

He said he did not know how far away any approaching train was when the rail employee spotted the gap.

The line was closed for 90 minutes while authorities investigated, he said.

"We do patrol the tracks. We have security police who patrol on a regular basis, and inspectors, which is how it was caught," Chapman said.

The freight hauled by the trains includes a "long list" of hazardous cargo, he said. "Industrial chemicals of various types. Varying degrees of hazardousness."

Danny Box, who owns the Sun Porch hair-styling salon within yards of the rail switch, said he arrived to work May 16 to see 20-25 FBI agents "all over the place."

The agents asked him if he had any surveillance-camera tape they could see, but he did not.