(rshsdepot) Kingsburg CA attempting to acquire old passengerdepot from UP

["jdent1_@_optonline.net" <jdent1@optonline.net>]

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Original Message:
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From: Paul S. Highland paul-kim_@_thegrid.net
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 08:45:48 -0700


Kingsburg (CA) Recorder:

http://www.newzcentral.com/articles/2003/10/22/front/weekly_kingsburg.txt

City will take depot fight to railroad's door

By Patrick O'Donnell 
Recorder Staff

Kingsburg -- The time has come and gone for the city of Kingsburg to take
possession of the deed to
the old Kingsburg Train Depot. According to the city, now it's time for
action.

At the Oct. 15 Kingsburg City Council meeting, City Clerk Sue Bauch told
the council that she had
sent a letter to Union Pacific Railroad on Sept. 3 inquiring where
Kingsburg stood in the process of
gaining possession to the deed for the depot.

She said that unfortunately, Jim Larson is in charge of the file again.

Larson is the representative at Union Pacific that the city had been
dealing with and had been
making no progress. Bauch said that over the summer, Larson had been sick
and the city's case had
been being dealt with by another representative and the issue was making
progress in that person's
possession.

Bauch expressed that since Kingsburg's depot isn't as large as some of
Union Pacific's other sizable
ones, it's not at the top of their list. Bausch explained that in following
up to the letter, she's
learned that Larson is once again in charge of their case and City Manager
Don Pauley added that
they believe it's once again at the bottom of the pile and will continue to
remain stuck on Larson's
desk.

"In the past we've talked about sending a delegation to Omaha, I think the
time is now," said
Pauley. Omaha, Nebraska, is the location of Union Pacific Railroad's
headquarters.

Pauley's list of potential delegates includes Barry Kriebel, John Wright
and Larry Esau. He said
that he knows this is a topic near and dear to all the members of the
current council, so he'd ask
that they send one delegate as well as one member of the city staff to
facilitate.

"It's not going to be cheap, but I don't think we're going to get anywhere
until we stand at their
front door and tell them we want answers," said Pauley.

He said that he knows it will probably take some time to get everyone's
calendars on the same page,
but that he wants to get everything rolling soon, since Nebraska, in the
dead of winter, isn't the
most accommodating of places.

The council was very much in favor of Pauley's suggestion and discussed the
fact that they should
probably all draw lots to decide who gets to go, since they're all
interested.

On the topic of how they were going to get there, Councilman David
Karstetter joked that the
delegation should travel by train. His suggestion was met with a barrage of
laughter.

Mayor Leland Bergstrom explained that Kriebel is an important part of the
delegation, since his
father was a former vice-president of Union Pacific and he believes Kriebel
still has a few contacts
in the organization.

Karstetter said that on top of everyone else, he thought Mayor Bergstrom
should also be part of the
delegation, to which Councilman Paul Kruper half-joked that he thought they
were going to draw lots.

Councilman Bruce Blayney made the motion that the council approve the plan
with the names of the
delegates to be determined later. The motion was unanimously approved.

(October 22, 2003 Newspaper Publication)

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Copyright © 2003 Pulitzer Central California Newspapers. All Rights
Reserved.
http://www.newzcentral.com

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