Comment EI-24812
Received or sent (printed as 7/13/2016)
Having recently attended a major funeral in the Serena, IL area, I was struck at how the proposed Great Lakes Basin Railroad would affect local traditions, like the funeral procession. Many funerals are major community occasions with funeral procession of 50 to 100 cars common and police escorts through towns. Add to this the nearest funeral homes are either in Sheridan, which will have the train tracks running through it or Somonauk and Ottawa, IL. The Somonauk and Ottawa locations of the funeral homes can result in a 30 to 45 minute procession ride to the Serena Cemetery. The sheer volume of trains, 1 every 13 minutes, 110 per day, will greatly impede the traditional long funeral procession in this area. I think this is wrong. Another common tradition throughout the country is one final drive by for the funeral procession past the deceased's home or farm. A Serena funeral can easily have to cross this proposed GLB line 3 or 4 times to keep with the traditional respects paid to the deceased. This line will effectively ruin a time honored rural tradition, as for this reason alone the line needs to be denied. This line takes away from the culture of the rural people.
Submitted by: Dennis Scheppler · Mount Prospect, IL
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-35952/comment/EI-24812 · back to the docket sheet