Rail Explorers: Driven by money, not home privacy
A lot has been said and written about the home privacy of the people along the railroad track down the Tyrone Pike, but the real issue has never been mentioned. The real issue of this revolves around money. I live down there, and we have complained to our fiscal court, sheriff’s department and police department to no satisfaction. The last time I called and complained to the sheriff’s department about the noise, I was put on hold, and no one ever came back to the phone.
Woodford County believes the railroad pedal carts bring in additional revenue to the county; therefore, neither the county nor law enforcement will do anything to protect our home privacy. We pay our property taxes along with everyone else, and those taxes pay for police protection, fire department protection, but the biggest thing we pay for is the right to live in our homes in peace with privacy that we no longer have, just for the sake of the money involved.
I myself served in the military, and after being shot twice, I became a disabled veteran. I returned to my home to live in peace, with privacy that this county will no longer let me and others have, just because of the money involved. This is not from the entire county, but from a certain few involved. It is a shame that anymore, everything has to be about money, regardless of who is hurt from it.
The Bluegrass Railroad claims to be a nonprofit organization, but receives $4 per rider from the cart business. The carts claim to have had 9,000 riders the first year. Do the math on that one. That means they sent $9,000 people by our homes yelling and screaming that year, and they do it every year now. They have closed down now for winter, but will start again this spring with more people yelling and screaming, plus the thump-thump sound the carts make.
There is an old saying that what goes around comes around, and we feel that the next Woodford County elections will prove that to be true. Everyone living down Tyrone Pike, plus their relatives and friends who don’t even live there, are responsible for a lot of votes. We will see.
Donald Rice
Versailles