That Long Black Train

Later today I'll be meeting with activist, conservative and liberal, and lawyers who are preparing to fight the efforts of extortion and land grabbing by the North Carolina Railroad with a possible class-action law suit. Many North Carolinians think this doesn't affect them because they neither own property nor live beside the 317 miles of track running from Charlotte through Salisbury, Lexington, High Point, Greensboro, Burlington, Mebane, Durham, Raleigh, Garner, Goldsboro, Kinston, New Bern, Havelock, and dozens of other cities and towns before finally ending at Morehead City.

Well the fact is: If you live in North Carolina you will be responsible for paying the cost of any class action lawsuit levied against the North Carolina Railroad. You see, the North Carolina Railroad is owned and operated by the state of North Carolina so any losses incurred by the railroad are losses to the tax payers of North Carolina. Slice it, dice it, or mix it up any way you want but in the end we-the-taxpayers will pay for the current attempts of extortion currently being acted out by railroad officials including their board of directors.

A website is planned and I'll be posting on this subject a lot as the story develops. As soon as P.A.U.S.E. (Property Owners Against Unfair Selective Fee Entrapment) gets their website up and running I'll point all of you to where you can find it.

Lastly, if you have already settled with the North Carolina Railroad it might be you're owed some money back-- perhaps every dime you've paid the railroad plus interest-- and I would like to hear from you. E-mail me at idlehandsmag (AT) gmail.com and we'll try to get together. I would love to tell the story of how the railroad used lies, deceit and the threat of legal actions to extort money from you, your business or your family.