By Daniel Victor
New York Times
No town ever wants a “poop train” nearby, and should that fate befall your town, you would not want to see a news article describing it as a saga.
But after a train full of human excrement sludge from New York City traveled to Alabama, only to be bureaucratically stuck outside the 1,000-person town of Parrish for more than two months, engulfing the town with a suffocating stench — yeah, that was a saga.
And now at long last, the saga is over. The odor, however, is lingering.
“It smells like rotting animals, or a dead carcass. It seems like there’s a dead animal nearby,” Mayor Heather Hall of Parrish said Thursday. “And it’s not like you just get a whiff of it where it’s just a subtle smell. It is so overpowering you cannot go outside.”
On Wednesday, Mayor Hall announced that she had "wonderful news": The last of the sludge had been removed, and the town was free at last from the 42-car train with the awful nickname.
The foul odor had been difficult to avoid, permeating all two square miles of the town, about 40 miles northwest of Birmingham, she said.
It was especially horrid in the early evening, but you could smell it throughout the day. Little League baseball games were canceled, and you could forget about enjoying the nice weather on the front porch. Turning on the air-conditioning would just bring the smell inside.
A federal ban forbids New York from disposing of its treated sewage waste in the ocean. So the city routinely ships it to the South, where landfills can offer better bargains. A nearby one, Big Sky, had accepted the city’s sludge since 2017, according to the Ascociated Press.
But West Jefferson, a town near the landfill, was fed up with the smell as the loads were transferred from trains to trucks. The town got an injunction to stop the trains in January, at which point the train in question was parked in Parrish.
Parrish was not happy. Last week, the town’s council issued an ultimatum, saying it would file a lawsuit and injunction against Big Sky if the rail cars weren’t removed by April 23, according to the Daily Mountain Eagle, a local newspaper.
No town ever wants a “poop train” nearby, and should that fate befall your town, you would not want to see a news article describing it as a saga.
But after a train full of human excrement sludge from New York City traveled to Alabama, only to be bureaucratically stuck outside the 1,000-person town of Parrish for more than two months, engulfing the town with a suffocating stench — yeah, that was a saga.
And now at long last, the saga is over. The odor, however, is lingering.
“It smells like rotting animals, or a dead carcass. It seems like there’s a dead animal nearby,” Mayor Heather Hall of Parrish said Thursday. “And it’s not like you just get a whiff of it where it’s just a subtle smell. It is so overpowering you cannot go outside.”
On Wednesday, Mayor Hall announced that she had "wonderful news": The last of the sludge had been removed, and the town was free at last from the 42-car train with the awful nickname.
The foul odor had been difficult to avoid, permeating all two square miles of the town, about 40 miles northwest of Birmingham, she said.
It was especially horrid in the early evening, but you could smell it throughout the day. Little League baseball games were canceled, and you could forget about enjoying the nice weather on the front porch. Turning on the air-conditioning would just bring the smell inside.
But West Jefferson, a town near the landfill, was fed up with the smell as the loads were transferred from trains to trucks. The town got an injunction to stop the trains in January, at which point the train in question was parked in Parrish.
Parrish was not happy. Last week, the town’s council issued an ultimatum, saying it would file a lawsuit and injunction against Big Sky if the rail cars weren’t removed by April 23, according to the Daily Mountain Eagle, a local newspaper.
To read the rest of the story, click on link: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/nyregion/poop-train-alabama.html
11 comments:
La Southmost, even without a shit train! LOL
Bring it to Brownsville cried the Black Mamba Rene Oliviera, my shit don't stink, I shall get the Jackass Jason Hilts of the BEDC to get the Wannabe Rockefeller Cowen to open a plant and turn the shit into fertilizer. Just send it to me
I am amazed that Mayor Tony Martinez didn't make an offer to have it sent to Brownsville.
Don't need one just go to verterans park and enjoy the smell and the view. Smells dog crap and see all the dog crap on the grass.
It's the new getto park (veterans park) homeless sleeping on the grass and on the benches. Dogs crapping all over, the smell is horrible. Children no longer play on the ground they are afraid to stop on dog shit.
The sad thing here is the local veterans don't give a shit.
Veterans families should feel disgraced by sharing their memorial with a dog poop park.
No respect.
And the parks director is no where to be seen. I guess he's with the VA nominee, Ronny Jackson.
What an embarrassment, for the families and the vets. The city does not care to maintain this park clean and presentable to it's citizens and specially the Veterans.
All funding must go to the bike trails very important
The city needs to post a sign on central blvd. in front of veterans park stating "BEWARE BAD ORDER AREA". I drove past Veterans Park and I could smell the dog shit inside my car. "UNBELIVABLE"
Dog bites, fights and attacks are events that all pet owners have to be prepared for. No matter how well-trained and well-behaved your canine is, they can have unpredictable reactions.
Besides reliving themselves at veterans park and the owner not picking up his beloved pet's crap. Do you think the pet owner is trained to stop a bit from his pet dog, specially if he weights over 20 lbs.
Just waiting for something like this to happen at veterans park. It's like hitting the lottery..
Sue the crap out of the Parks director and the city
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