The Curse Of Publicity

Karleen writes:

Thank You 411 for letting people know how the girls were not trying to beat the train, and that they were the unlucky ones. We have tried to live with everything that people say about my daughter and her best friend and they don't care how they hurt someone. Their sisters have to live with not having her around, and all the good things that would have happen if they were alive, so now all we have are the memories of the 16 years that we had with them. We also have the Kids Fest in the summer for kids to enjoy a good day of fun. Our Love will always be there and no one can change that. Thanks again! They were only 16 and were put in an adult situation. Everyone makes mistakes.

Being written about in the pages of our local paper is almost a curse. The internet has a way of bringing out the worst in people, and so having your name in the paper probably gives some people that queasy feeling because you just know somebody is going to make tasteless comments about you or a family member. I note on many threads the efforts that family members make to defend loves ones, but a good defense doesn't take away the fact that someone out there had the gall to make an unsympathetic comment about a situation they probably know little about. (i.e. "Bobaluey" who seems to think because his dad works for the railroad that he is somehow justified to make comments about the victims of an accident.)


The families turned a tragedy into something positive.