(The following story by Nancy Hicks and JoAnne Young appeared on the Lincoln Journal Star website on January 29, 2010. Randy Meek is Chairman of the BLETs Nebraska State Legislative Board.)
LINCOLN, Neb. The legality of roadside memorials on Nebraska state highways isn't the only thing senators should consider as they ponder a bill that would regulate them, a train engineer told the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee this week.
Randy Meek, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said makeshift memorials at the sites of car-train fatal crashes are painful to the engineers and railroad workers involved.
"They will never forget the fact that they have killed someone," he said. "To be continually reminded of their involvement through these roadside memorials ... is a continuous and unwarranted action that perpetuates their need to deal with traumatic memories."
Meek said he had experienced the trauma of watching a person die in front of a locomotive he was operating, knowing he was helpless to stop it.
"It's not something I want to remember every day of my life," he said.
Meek testified on a bill (LB856) introduced by Sen. Charlie Janssen of Fremont that would require the Nebraska Department of Roads to develop a written policy on the memorials.
He said the organization would support state-sanctioned memorial signs, rather than makeshift ones put up by family members and friends, because they are safer.
He asked that county roads be included in any legislation on roadside memorials.
