Tech Creek, No One Saw This Coming: At Blue Island East of Ronald Reagans Home In Illinois About a dozen freight train cars derail, the mishaps spotlight an enormous concern among rail conglomerates, Brother a safety expert for Bombardier (Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell) and BART visited NorCal for work in Hayward, Tracey and Stockton and at the end of this feature Some Good News from ET About Spencer Webb’s Baby
NEWS CRIME PUBLIC HEALTH POLLUTION Brothers Who Are Both Safety Experts Weigh In
Special Report by Ben Edokpayi ©
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Tech Creek, No One Saw This Coming: At Blue Island East of Ronald Reagans Home In Illinois About a dozen freight train cars derail, the mishaps spotlight an enormous concern among rail conglomerates, Brother a safety expert for Bombardier (Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell) and BART visited NorCal for work in Hayward, Tracey and Stockton and at the end of this feature Some Good News from Entertainment Tonight About Spencer Webb’s Baby
Service resumes after person dies in Caltrain collision, Churchill Avenue grade strike is second fatality of the year, In Blue Island Which is East of Naperville, Aurora and Dixon Where Ronald Reagan Was raised More than a dozen cars of the CSX train derailed around 9:20 p.m. Wednesday at Thornton Road and 136th Street in the south suburb, according to police and the railroad.
PALO ALTO — A person died after being struck by a Caltrain Sunday night, authorities said.
The collision happened at 8:43 p.m. at the Churchill Avenue grade crossing, about a mile south of the Palo Alto station and three-quarters of a mile north of the California Avenue station.
None of the 46 passengers on southbound Train №678 were injured, Caltrain said.
It was the railway’s second train fatality of the year, following a fatal strike in January in a San Francisco tunnel.
A San Francisco man who identified himself as a southbound train rider said he believed the victim may have been a cyclist. Question is was he high on meths, marijuana or drunk? Which Must Have Mad Him forget where he was?
“I was seated in the front car behind the engine,” Tyson Wrensch said Sunday night. “When we passed Palo Alto station just after 8:39 p.m., something metallic hit and flew by my window and the train came to a fast stop.” The Churchill Grade crossing is within vicinity of a portion of Interstate 101 in Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley) where I was Caltrans Public Information Officer for work on that arterial highway. I was interviewed by Nick Veronin for an update on the project in The Palo Alto Online
Words on Marble “Driving is not recreation or contact sports that is why auto crashes and collisions are called accidents, sometimes deemed criminal and felonious.” Intellectually explained in this Vacaville Reporter Op-Ed
https://www.thereporter.com/2007/02/23/is-your-mind-on-driving/
Face The Nation The science of traffic (Online) and Global Fallout from a Satanic Eugenics Smear Scheme and hacked Olan Mills Picture Taken at JC Penny, Fairfield Mall.
Special Report by Ben Edokpayi © from a Nick Veronin Palo Alto Online Interview
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https://twitter.com/BenjaminEdokpa1/status/1640008085258530818?s=20
https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/04/16/palo-alto-person-dies-in-caltrain-collision/
Safety Enhancements At Parkway Boulevard Grade Separation Project Will Now Include A Flagger, Okayed At City Hall A Bay Area Exclusive On Transportation Planners and Safety Experts
By Ben Edokpayi, Staff Writer
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I supported Oladele Ogunseitan and other staff and DTSC Green Ribbon Advisory Members As CalSafer Information Officer. Sissy Petropolous from Athens Greece is my former cubemate at the DTSC World Renowned Science Lab. She is now with the California Department of Public Health.
https://publichealth.uci.edu/faculty/ogunseitan-oladele/
Obit: Spencer Webb, 22, Excellent Footballer Who Brought Joy To His Dixon, California Hometown
By Ben Edokpayi, Enterprise Journalism ©
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Dixon, Calif — When news of the shock death of Spencer Webb, a Christian Brothers’ High School Product, filtered through the airwaves last week, many thought he was born in Dixon, California instead of Dixon, Illinois.
Ronald DeBrock, editor of the Dixon Telegraph when contacted on Monday demystified the rumors that Webb was born in the same Illinois town where President Ronald Reagan grew up. Born in Hawaii, Illinois is also the state where President Barack Obama climbed to fame as a State Senator.
https://millercenter.org/president/obama/life-before-the-presidency
https://www.dixongov.com/dixon-community/reagan-s-roots.html
Debrock said their article on Webb titled “Oregon tight end, social media star, dies of head injury” was an “Associated Press story, not written by our staff.”
In a tribute The Bee’s Joe Davidson who I contacted for this report wrote “He was a great football player. We could see that, but what really made him was that personality.” Davidson said Webb overcame a rough childhood “and had every reason to veer off … but he was hooked on football.”
Nathan Patterson track and field coach at Dixon High School weighed in. “ I just know Cody, his older brother grew up here because I played football with him, but I don’t have any of his contact info, “ said Patterson who informed that DHS athletes have honored Spencer Webb with Facebook posts of his early years playing Pop Warner football in Dixon, California.
Webb, a senior at Oregon State University, died at age 22 in a cliff-diving accident, which saw him fall on some rock slides and hit his head, TMZ reports.
A police statement, informed that after arriving at the site near Triangle Lake in Oregon, first responders were unable to revive him at the scene. “He was approximately 100 yards down a steep trail,” reads the statement, which was shared on the Lane County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
“There is no evidence of foul play and his death appears to be accidental,” said a report released on Friday which interestingly was the start of the World Athletics Championship at Hayward Field, considered the Mecca of Track and Field, and which was previewed in the Dixon Tribune Sunday edition.
While the biennial competition ends next Sunday, the Oregon Campus where the family visited in 2004 for the Junior Olympics Championship and where my son medalled in three events at the Nationals, will obviously still be in shock that Webb’s boisterous presence will not be felt on campus because of an unfortunate accident.
In remembrance of a shared genealogical and symbiotic relationship between Dixon California and the other Dixon where President Reagan was raised, the Dixon Tribune recalls this important historical pathfinder originally titled “A Fairy Tale of Two Dixons”
The Original Report.
A Fairy Tale of Two Dixons
By Ben Edokpayi ©
So similar and yet so distant, the city of Dixon in Illinois seeks a partnership with Dixon, California.
Geographically Dixon, California is poles apart from Dixon, Illinois. The two cities, named alike, are three time zones removed from each other. In addition it will take almost 2,000 miles of freeway driving if you have to travel east to west on interstate 80 between both cities.
But for some folks in Dixon, Illinois the gulf between them and their California town mates is more than a geographic divide. At least that is the impression given in an email sent to the Dixon Tribune by Bob Gibler, president of Lee County’s historical society. Lee County is where Dixon, Illinois is located.
In the email Gibler writes: “I recall in one of my travels to your city (traveling south to LA) probably 5 or 6 years ago, stopping in at a McDonald’s store and wearing my Dixon, Illinois shirt. We were there for perhaps 30 minutes and I was sure that it would strike up some conversation from someone in the place, but not one person asked or mentioned about another community with the same name.”
“ We left with a kind of feeling that the local natives were not too friendly like they are back home,” remarked Gibler in the e-mail he sent earlier this year.
Two years ago Jim Burke, who is the mayor of Dixon, Illinois also initiated a move to establish some kind of bond between both cities. This was after a local travel agent informed Burke of another Dixon in the Golden State. The mayor, a connoisseur of history, then spent some time researching material on this similarly named California City.
What he discovered was so pleasing and intriguing to him that he fired off a proposal for a sister city relationship to his mayoral counterpart in Dixon, California.
“Maybe it got lost in the shuffle,” Burke says of his correspondence, which he never got a reply to. “But I’d certainly love to establish some kind of relationship with Dixon, California,” he adds enthusiastically.
Gary Short, president of the local chamber of commerce in Dixon, California likes the novelty behind the idea. But he is curious to know what his Dixon stands to gain from such a relationship.
“There’s a lot on the plate for our Dixon right now- we have got the prospect of a huge race track, budget issues and a new high school on the horizon,” says Short. “Something like this would take a huge amount of time and it would have to make some sense for us.”
Not too long ago Dixon, Illinois also tried to establish a sister city relationship with the city of Dikson in Siberia, even going as far as creating a web link for that Russian city. But according to Burke that city literally vanished from the Siberian wastelands a few years back.
Unlike the Dikson that vanished in Siberia there is certainly a lot in common between both Dixons in the United States. With a population of 16,103 residents Dixon, California has just 200 people more than its East Coast counterpart, according to 2000 census statistics.
Both communities’ claim to fame also lie in agriculture based events. For Dixon, Illinois it is the Petunia festival which reaches a climax every July since the late 50's.During this time thousands of pink petunias beautify more than two miles of Dixon highway approaches and main thoroughfares, giving the city a warm glow of color from early May until late fall. “We call ourselves the Petunia City of the state,” says Burke proudly.
For Dixon, California May Fair is the city’s yearly highlight; a four day festival in May that has evolved from just a parade in 1876 to the State’s longest running fair with an interesting mix of live performances, livestock exhibits and garden shows, among many other attractions.
Interestingly both cities still retain their small town allure in spite of phenomenal growth in surrounding communities. Then throw in the fact that both Dixon’s bear the names of two prominent nineteenth century settlers and you have a good backdrop for the sister city concept.
Regarding their origins Dixon, California is named after Thomas Dickson a local school teacher and minister who built the first train depot in town during the gold rush era, while Dixon, Illinois morphed from an Indian settlement into an outpost bought by John Dixon, who later settled in with his family. The outpost located on the banks of the scenic Rock River was to play a significant role in the Black Hawk war of the early nineteenth century.
Perhaps Dixon, Illinois’ most significant piece of memorabilia from that war era is the fact that it also served as the gateway to national prominence for many important figures in the nation’s history including Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. The only statue of Abraham Lincoln as a young soldier in the Black Hawk war can be found on the banks of the Rock River.
In a more recent era though, Dixon, Illinois which is located 100 miles west of Chicago, is better known as the place where the family of President Ronald Reagan first lived in his formative years during the depression era.
Aside from being the hometown of Reagan, Burke is proud to add that his city has more parks per capita than any other city in Illinois. Many of this city’s parks are located along the scenic River Park, including the magnificent 240-acre Lowell Park where Ronald Reagan worked in his youth as a lifeguard.
While Dixon, California does not have as many parks per capita as its East Coast counterpart its location in the heartland of California enables access to some of the most enticing tourist attractions in California, including Lake Tahoe, the pristine Mount Shasta area, the Napa and Sonoma wine regions and the San Francisco Bay area.
Perhaps it is a combination of these tourist attractions and Dixon, California’s small town charm that keeps on inspiring Burke toward a relationship between both cities. “I’d really like to make a trip out there,” he says.
But first he would have to connect with his colleagues at city hall in Dixon, California and then figure out a way to bypass the sister city concept and regulations, which only allow for “ international partnerships for the mutual benefit of two cities, through cultural, political and economic activities.”
This story originally appeared in a 2004 Dixon Tribune edition and received rave reviews that included this letter from a former Dixon Illinois Mayor.
*This letter is from James G. Burke, then mayor of the city of Dixon, Illinois following a story I wrote titled “A Tale of Two Dixons”. Dixon, Illinois has served as the gateway to national prominence for many important figures in American history including Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.
“Dear Ben: Thank you for the copies of the Dixon Tribune. That was a super story with a lot of interesting aspects to it. I am curious to see if there is any response from the Dixon, Ca leadership. I have taken the liberty to pass a copy on to Clark Kelly of The Dixon Telegraph, who is also interested in and intrigued by the two Dixons. Thanks again, Ben Sincerely, City of Dixon James G. Burke, Mayor 2004.”
Click this link for Highlights of Spencer Webbs Exceptional Career, cobbled together by Bee Sports Reporter Joe Davidson. https://www.sacbee.com/sports/article263478063.html
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/girlfriend-late-oregon-football-player-spencer-webb-tribute
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spencer-webb-dies-age-22-oregon-football-tight-dead-fall-triangle-lake/
A historical landmark on Ronald Reagan Way in Dixon, Illinois was a lead picture of this article published in the Dixon Tribune in 2004, not available online.
Spencer Webb and President Ronald Reagan share the distinct honor of being raised in two excellent Dixon Towns in California and Illinois. Photo Courtesy City of Dixon, Illinois.
https://twitter.com/BenjaminEdokpa1/status/1649135129158352896?s=20
