After Crash Killing 47, Oil-by-Rail on Trial in Canada, Maine

Tuesday, 03 June 2014      By Roger Annis, Truthout | Op-Ed 

 ....... Local residents are asking why no charges have been lodged against the higher-ups at MMA. On May 13, the three accused were led into court in handcuffs. A large crowd of residents gathered to watch and something unexpected was reported by the journalists present - there were no expressions of hostility to the accused. On the contrary, many residents voiced that the wrong people were on trial.

Nancy Guay, a hotel worker who used to give Harding his wake-up calls after overnight stops, said the silence of the crowd would have been soothing to the accused. Speaking of Harding, she said, "I said to myself, 'Poor him . . . They're not the ones who should be there.' " 

The Montreal Gazette devoted an entire page of its edition of May 14 to local response to the trial. The reaction was near universal - locals hold federal railways regulators and the owner of the former MMA responsible......