Posted on 01/26/2005 6:42:20 AM PST by Pikamax
You know, I was on the Jail website looking up our friend David Garcia (who murdered Burbank Officer Pavelka)....funny how that hasn't gone to trial. He has some court date tomorrow....been 14 months!
I think it's a worse bigotry to believe that the criminal class from Mexico moving in should have us reverse our opinions of the generally law-abiding American hispanics who have lived peacefully in the USA for quite a number of decades. Mexican crime should not reflect onto them. The area I'm living in is very hispanic -- and 20-30 years ago -- they say --- I wasn't here myself --- they never had to lock their doors, worry about fences or iron bars over there windows. And they also say it's the population moving in from Mexico -- not from other areas of the USA that has changed all that. And compared with just over the border -- it's still much safer here.
One thing I've noticed --- on threads that discuss black inner city crimes --- you never see the open borders crowd showing up to defend blacks.
I guess it's okay to talk about inner city black crimes ---- but we cannot examine the crime wave hitting the formerly peaceful SW USA.
Thanks for posting that.
Prayers for his family and friends as well as all the others involved in this horrible incident.
Still not to trial!? I wonder what tomorrows court date is about?
This is an interesting website
http://www.escapingjustice.com/march2.htm
>>Well, considering they had to use all their interpreters to question the guy... <<
He didn't want to admit he was schooled in San Diego, CA. The guy probably speaks better English than we do.
Thank you. Saw it on the evening news ...I think he's still being held there.
Very sad. Rest in peace Tom Ormiston.
You had asked about riders affected by the closures...the stats are finally back online...trips per day would be each way, so one day of work would equal two trips.
Ventura County Line
Stations: 12
Trains per Day: 31
Average Weekday Ridership: 4300
Average Amtrak Ridership: 167
(Amtrak allows Metrolink passholders)
Antelope Valley Line
Stations: 10
Trains per Day: 24
Average Weekday Ridership: 7200
So, 11500 trips affected by the closure, for 5750 people.
RIP
Now ain't that some piece of work.
I must first add to the comments about Mr. Ormiston, because there aren't enough words to express how kind & funny this man was. I also had the privilege of working with him for the short period of time I have been assigned to Metrolink through the Sheriff's Department. He ALWAYS made ALL of us laugh. If he ever had a bad day, no one would ever know it. He was quite the "foodie" and the stories were never-ending about his adventures while dining. Just last week he was bragging to my partner & I about how his meal was comp'd at a local eatery recently because they were amazed at how much food his small frame was able to withstand. He laughed as he described what sounded like a meal that had no end! His only complaint...the desserts were too small and he had to eat 4 or 5 of them!!! Upon learning that I collect cookbooks, he dug one out from his personal collection that is almost 100 yrs old. He handed me a pristine book and acted like it wasn't a big deal. I promised him that I would take great care of it. Every time I would see him, he would inquire whether I had made any of the recipes from it yet. A week and a half before losing him, I snapped some pictures of him modeling a female's pink scarf he found on board his train. He posed several times as I clicked off some pictures into my camera phone. Little did I know that would be one of the last times I would get to work with him. I'm glad I have the photos though. The pictures of him twirling the scarf while standing in the doorway of the train are just the perfect summary of the crazy character I will remember. I get to work with so many fabulous conductors and engineers, but he was one of my favorites! I can't imagine what it will be like to ride his trains without him there asking me if we can make fashion arrests. The most spectacular part is that everyone I know has at least 10 funny stories they can rattle off about him. I think that was one of the things that made him so special to us. He touched our lives no matter how long you had been his friend.
We shall all miss him!
Donna M. Valdez
The following information was taken from the Metrolink website:
Monday, January 31, 2005, 11:30 a.m.
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Church of the Recessional
1217 South Glendale Ave.
Glendale, CA 91205
800-204-3131
The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Alzheimer's Disease Association. They can be reached at 800-272-3900. More information can be obtained at www.alz.org.
Cards or other expressions of sympathy for the family's loss can be mailed to:
Ormiston Family
P.O. Box 8610
La Verne, CA 91750
Amtrak Conductor Thomas M. Ormiston, 58, was remembered at
a memorial service today at Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and
Mortuaries in Glendale, CA. The service was attended by
many of Mr. Ormiston's Amtrak family and friends.
"On behalf of all Amtrak employees, I offer my deepest
condolences to the family of Tom Ormiston," said Amtrak
President David Gunn. "He was a great conductor and he
loved his job. This tragedy affects everyone at Amtrak
and we mourn his untimely passing," said Gunn.
"I first met Tom when Amtrak started the Metrolink service
in October of 1992," said General Superintendent Richard H. Phelps,
Southwest Division. "He has a quiet but strong personality and
he cared tremendously about his passengers and co-workers, who
felt the same way about him. Tom was truly loved by the entire
Amtrak and Metrolink family and we will miss his kind and
generous spirit and his great sense of humor," added Phelps.
Mr. Ormiston passed away on Jan. 26, 2005, from injuries he
sustained in the Metrolink train derailment that day in
Glendale, CA. Mr. Ormiston was a 35-year railroad veteran,
including service with Santa Fe, Southern Pacific and Amtrak.
Hired by Amtrak in August 1992, he worked out of Los Angeles, CA,
assigned to Amtrak's Metrolink commuter operation.
Interment will be later this week in Oklahoma City, OK.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the National
Alzheimer's Disease Association (www.alz.org) in the Ormiston
family name.
-source: AMTRAK
'I wasn't destined to be with those people': Camarillo man normally would have been at the controls of doomed Metrolink train
An out-of-town meeting pulled Larry DuBoise off his train Wednesday morning.
If Wednesday had been like any other workday, DuBoise would have boarded Metrolink train No. 100 in Moorpark precisely at 05:07 and steered into Glendale, California almost an hour later. He would have been in the engineer's seat, riding low to the rails. He would have seen the Jeep Grand Cherokee parked on the tracks.
Instead, DuBoise was home in Camarillo, staring at pictures of mangled metal on the television. The broadcaster said his train had slammed into the Jeep, then a parked freight engine, then an oncoming Metrolink train.
Sitting in his living room Saturday, DuBoise said he is certain he would have been among the dead had he been on the train.
"I would have been like a captain on a sinking ship," he said.
After 32 years as a freight and passenger train engineer, DuBoise, 57, has been through enough near-misses and crashes to know that he would have tried to push his passengers out of harm's way. But he knows that wouldn't have been enough this time because he wouldn't have expected the train to jump the track and smash into two other trains like it did Wednesday.
"I believe in destiny," DuBoise said. "I believe I wasn't there because I wasn't destined to be with those people."
At least not on that day. Any other day, DuBoise would have chatted with Julia Bennett about her weekend plans and watched Scott McKeown work on his laptop in the mezzanine section behind the engineer's box.
Bennett, 44, of Simi Valley and McKeown, 42, of Moorpark were among those who died in the crash.
"I know those people," DuBoise said. "They ride my train every day. I learn about their families and little trips they take. ... They're train family."
He gets angry when he thinks about motorists who are careless, leaving their rear bumpers hanging over rail crossings, or people who want attention, creating a situation where they know they'll be in the spotlight.
"I don't understand why people do the things they do. I can't get into their minds," he said.
According to authorities, the Compton man who drove his Jeep onto the tracks Wednesday wanted to commit suicide. But he almost immediately abandoned his plan and scrambled to safety when he couldn't move his vehicle.
An engineer has only so much control in a situation like that, DuBoise said.
Even if an engineer engages the emergency brake and cuts all power to the engine, the speed of the train and its distance from the object will determine whether there's a crash.
"You're helpless," DuBoise said. "You're sitting there and you know something is going to happen ... and you're thinking, 'What can I do now?' "
It is, at times, harrowing work. Images from crashes and near-misses are planted firmly in DuBoise's memory -- the double-decker auto trailer he missed by six feet, the faces of a couple who crossed over a barrier and into the train's path, a toddler he pulled from under a moving train moments after impact.
DuBoise's wife, Janis, said she doesn't know how her husband can keep going after incidents like these. She couldn't manage it, she said. It's stressful enough being married to a train engineer.
"The minute I see a Metrolink crash, of course, my heart sinks," she said. She calls DuBoise on his cell phone to make sure he's OK. On Wednesday, watching television with her husband, she was so glad he was home.
"I just feel so lucky," she said.
On Thursday, DuBoise was back at work, engineering a commuter train between downtown Los Angeles and Glendale. Years ago, his father, a conductor, told him the best therapy after a crash is to get right back on the train.
"I think, down deep, you don't manage the stress as well as you think. But you don't have a choice," DuBoise said. "I'm 57 years old. ... What am I going to do?"
In another 18 months or so, DuBoise will do something. He'll retire.
But he'll be at the station in Moorpark on Monday, if the lines are repaired like Metrolink officials expect, ready to roll out at 05:07.
He knows it might be a little lonely in the mezzanine area.
"There's not going to be anybody in that cab," he said. "It's going to be a rough day." - Jessica Keating, The Ventura County Star
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Memorial Service for Julia Bennett
The men and women of the Los Angeles Fire Department ask you to join them in celebrating the life of Julia Bennett.
A Senior Clerk Typist for the LAFD's Bureau of Fire Prevention and Public Safety, Julia was one of several rail passengers killed in a train derailment early last Wednesday morning in the City of Glendale.
All are welcome to attend these services.
Friday, February 4, 2005
11:00 AM
Henry Fonda Theater
6126 Hollywood Bl.
Hollywood, CA 90028
Parking will be available on the west side of the building between Argyle and El Centro. Carpooling or use of Public Transportation such as the Metro Red Line (Hollywood/Vine Station), is strongly encouraged.
The family has respectfully asked that any memorial donations be made to the either:
Lyndsie Bennett
c/o Los Angeles Firemen's Credit Union
1520 West Colorado Boulevard
Pasadena, CA 91105
Telephone: (800) 231-1626
...or the:
Los Angeles Firemen's Relief Association
Widows and Orphans Fund
2900 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Telephone: (800) 244-3439
We again wish to stress that all are welcome.
# posted by LAFD Media and Public Relations :
Bank fund set up for McKeowns
By Daily News
A funeral for Scott McKeown, 42, who was killed in last week's Metrolink crash, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at the Church at Rocky Peak, 22601 Santa Susana Pass Road, Chatsworth.
McKeown, of Moorpark, worked as a telecommunications manager for the city of Pasadena. He is survived by his wife, Susan; daughter Ashley, 8; and son, Brice, 5.
A memorial fund has been established to benefit McKeown's family. Send donations to the Scott McKeown Memorial Fund, Account No. 1810076926, Washington Mutual Bank, 165 W. Los Angeles Ave., Moorpark 93021.
LA Daily News
UPDATED: 2:12 p.m. PST February 1, 2005
Story by nbc4.tv
GLENDALE, Calif. -- Memorial and funeral services were held Tuesday for a Los Angeles sheriff's deputy who was killed in Wednesday's deadly commuter train crash.
Hundreds of family members and friends gathered in Oak Park Tuesday to honor Sheriff's Deputy James Tutino.
Tutino was one of the 11 victim from last Wednesday's disastrous Metrolink crash.
Friends and family were joined by law enforcement representatives from San Diego, Corona, Redondo Beach, Azusa, sheriff, police, and firefighters.
Last week, the nation watched as rescue workers saluted the flag-draped body of the 47-year-old as it was pulled from the mangled wreckage of the Metrolink collision. Tuesday morning, they performed a final salute, at the flag-draped coffin of the 23-year veteran of the Los Angeles County sheriff's department.
The church was filled to capacity Tuesday, at 700-plus, with another 500 people outside.
The father of four was the first person identified among the dead Wednesday. When it was discovered Tutino was in the wreckage, it sparked outrage from Sheriff Lee Baca, who was among those who eulogized Tutino during the two-hour service Tuesday.
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/LegalCenter/story?id=1364146
Prime Time Live hitpiece on Metrolink
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