A "hoot" and a "whiff of superiority"? Gee, Mr. Judd, can I fill yer coffee cup, Mr. Judd, you bein' that great journalist an' all...gosh, Mr. Judd. There is no whiff of superiority on my part, just a disbelief that in a paper like the Seattle Times, there could be such glaring factual oversight and lack of research involving a national news story.

I am a professional railroader, who, along with my co-workers, has been following this story very closely. None of us can believe the way that the story has been handled, from the unbelievably stupid admission on the part of Metrolink regarding the engineer's guilt, and the subsequent media speculation about that, to the complete disregard on the part of the media to find out some very basic technical facts about railroads before opening their mouths, or extending their fingers, as in your case.

Yep, my coworkers and I will surely sit around the bridge the next time we go to work, and after we discuss the night's work with the Conductor (provided he isn't texting while he's at the controls), we'll bow our heads in a moment of silence out of respect for the people who died in the "Metroline" accident, but who evidently were not important enough to warrant a fact check by the A-Team at the Seattle Times when their story was told in a two-bit snippet column. Get it right, Mr. Judd, not close.

U. Bet

Here is a link to the "spontaneous rant" (fitting for this news item, don't ya think?) in question: [seattletimes.nwsource.com]