NIMBY

Some of you may know that NIMBY stands for "Not In My Back Yard." Well, we have one of those battles going on in King George (the county where I grew up and currently live). The Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail group has been hit hard by many citizens of the county, well, hating them and their supporters. The group is trying (and essentially has already completed) to convert an old railroad bed to a hiking and biking trail.

The land was taken from the original owners by the Federal government back in the day and was used for the Naval Base in Dahlgren. Well, times change, peace arrives, and it's no longer in service.

Enter the current owner, Joe Williams and "trail boss" David Brickley. They teamed up to make this great conversion that has the potential to be a great attraction for the county. Aside from having one of the only bridges across the Potomac River and a large Naval Base, we don't have much to offer. Well, there is the dump that takes in garbage from the entire east coast.

Anyway, the guys are just trying to do right by the trail in creating a place for people to bike, hike, run, walk, etc. in peace.

Now those opposing this have done some damage. They've cut trees, fired shots, the list goes on and I won't glorify their stupidity. In the end, they hate (or at least strongly dislike) the trail folks.

Enter DC and the Railroad Realignment Feasibility Study.

Oh? What's this? Homeland Security wants to re-route dangerous trains through King George? And they might use the old railroad bed?

Can you say IRONY!!!

While I'm not too keen on have trains loaded with dangerous things traveling through my county, they can't be any more dangerous that those trucks on the road. But part of me really wants the trains to come through these assholes backyards just so I can walk by their house and say "See? You could have played nice and had people going by on bikes. And look what you have now. A huge train, blaring it's horn, roaring through your back yard at 3 am. Happy now? I am!"

Just cross out the little hiker on this map and put in a nice large CSX engine or two.