In regards to the piece titled "Amtrak Abandons Diabetic Man at Lonely Railroad Crossing," was I the only person who found this report to be just a bit irresponsible? If you follow the link, there is another link to this rather informative update:

This is an update to the article "Amtrak Abandons Diabetic Man at Lonely Railroad Crossing", June 28, 2007.

Roosevelt Sims, the diabetic man who was put off an Amtrak train in the middle of an Arizona forest for unruly behavior that Amtrak personnel assessed as alcohol-related, was found last night four days after his disappearance. Carrying a walking stick and wearing only his underwear, he was discovered beside a railroad track three miles south of the nearest town.

It's a happy ending to a story that could have been tragic. The diabetes aspect of the situation, however, is less clear than initial reports indicated.

Mr. Sims's family believes that he was in diabetic shock at the time of his removal from the train. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, however, cited his family as saying that he had just been diagnosed with diabetes the day before his trip and that no diabetes medication had yet been prescribed for him.

When his wife spoke to him by phone on Sunday evening, he told her that the dining car had run out of food and that he had eaten only a bag of potato chips since embarking on his trip. The family contacted him by cell phone the morning after his ejection from the train, while he was apparently alone in the forest, and he reportedly told them that he was sitting in the backyard with his wife and sister, having left the train during an attempted robbery by bandits.

Oddly enough, his phone was apparently last used to make a call from a town 180 miles away. How his phone got there has not been established.

Meanwhile, Amtrak stated that train personnel escorted Sims off the train Sunday night at Williams Junction in accordance with policy and during a regularly scheduled stop. According to Amtrak, police were called and a conductor waited on the platform with Sims and his luggage. When the officers appeared, says Amtrak, Sims ran into the woods without his luggage and disappeared.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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Indeed, a strange story. However, given the alarmist nature of the original report, perhaps a retraction would be in order.