I am deeply upset about the fatality at Lake Wabamun on Aug 6. Our cottage is above the track - just 3 cottages west from the train trestle on Moonlight Bay and maybe 10 cottages before the Village of Wabamun. Its a short, but deadly stretch below us. We often hear people from the Paul Band making their way across the tracks into the Village of Wabamun and back. My sister was visiting from Victoria this week and before we went to sleep on Tuesday night, she said she thought she heard people in our yard. We are up on a steep, treed hill from the track and its not easily accessible from the track. However, we can hear what is going on below. We heard people on the track at about 11:30 pm - whether they were on their way to town or back, we dont know. We only heard mens voices - They were obviously drunk - throwing up and struggling with how intoxicated they were. I suggested we call the police - because the track is not safe, but we didnt. Police voices were heard below after 2 a.m. Too late. We didnt call either when my daughter was visiting the week before and people were on the track late at night. It happens often. Last weekend, my son and I had gone into the Village of Wabanum to get something last minute for dinner - I sat outside the Big Way store, while my son went in to get some sour cream. I was approached by a man from the Alexis reserve to give him a ride up the narrows between Lac St Anne and Lake Isle. I told him to wait for my son to come out of the store and wed ask him. We drove him home - safely. After all, like the bumper sticker says - Oh Canada - our home ON native land. Before coming into the city Thursday, my sister and I went to the Paul Reserve to Ironhead Golf Course to tell someone there that we were very sorry that we didnt call the police and that perhaps we could have saved Lovelys life if wed called. The young women at the clubhouse were shy and ashamed looking. They really didnt want to talk about it. They said their people shouldnt have been on the track. They said they have lost many band members from the track. They will lose more if a solution to the problem is not addressed. Id like to know how many Paul Band people have been killed crossing those tracks in the past. Id like to know why CN doesnt construct a safe crossing for people who want to cross the tracks. The tracks are the best bee line form the reserve into town - a natural route west to get across the lake versus going north up the Kepasiwin road by the provincial park to Highway 16, west to the Wabamun exit and south again into the village. Were talking a difference of a 2 km walk or a ? 10+ km walk - not exactly safe routes either. Ill tell you honestly that our family has crossed the track on walks from our cottage in the Summer Village of Lakeview around the provincial park on Moonlight Bay and back around across the track. Im sure we arent the only people who do it. . The train is a nuisance in the area and should be moved to a safer, modern-thinking transportation / utility corridor. The train is a blight to the whole north Wabamun community - from Kepasiwin to Seba Beach. The Village of Wabamun would love to develop itself into more of a resort area, but the train runs directly parallel to the lake and requires people to cross the tracks to get to the lake from within the village. The train tracks are unsafe, unsightly and noisy. If moving the track is not feasible, (Im sure it will be costly, but worth every penny to the people of East and North Wabamun) wont this government along with CN as a good corporate citizen please consider making the area safe by building a foot / bike path across Moonlight Bay. Dont we support foot and bike commuters with zeal in Edmonton? (Oh, but if we make the area safe, does that open up our communities to public access? Is life so cheap that wed rather see people die than let them safely into our communities?) Wednesdays accident should shed a trains headlight into the whole situation - move the tracks to the highway and let the lake be a safe and peaceful area - free from human tragedies and oil spills and industrial pollution.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 12:53:36 +0000
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