Monthly Archives: January 2014

Monday will mark the 30th time the Freedom Train has carried people up the Peninsula to San Francisco to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala. - but unless it attracts more riders, this may be the last trip.

Only 300 people have bought tickets for Monday's ride, organizers said Thursday. The train has been drawing several hundred fewer passengers in recent years than its 1,600 capacity, but this is the most drastic drop-off yet.

"There won't be a train next year if we can't pack the train on Monday," said Kathleen Flynn, president of the group that organizes the ride, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Santa Clara Valley. "We just can't keep running it with so few people."

Last year the train drew 1,200 passengers. It had been pulling full loads most years until the NAACP chapter in San Jose withdrew its support in 2010 in protest of the train group taking donations from San Jose police officers.

The chapter's president cited media reports alleging misconduct toward minorities by San Jose police, and told The Chronicle at the time, "You don't honor someone just because they give you money."

Some members of the NAACP continued to take the train anyway, but ridership hasn't fully recovered. The NAACP didn't issue any statement actively opposing the train this year, but is continuing to withhold its support - and this time, it is for a different reason.

The Rev. Jethroe Moore II, the chapter's president, said he's now unhappy with the train organization because it is too friendly with San Jose city leaders who are trying to cut public-safety employees' pensions. He'd also like to see it become more active on a wider range of civil rights concerns.

"I would love to see us all get on the page and fight for the citizenry of Santa Clara County," Moore said. "But I'll be very honest - the current board seems to be manipulated."

He added, "I would be sad to see this train end."

Flynn said the NAACP's concerns are misplaced and that she hoped the groups could work out their differences.

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MLK Day Freedom Train hurting for riders

Freedom Industries Inc., the chemical maker whose leaky storage tank polluted the Elk River last week and shut down water service in West Virginias biggest city, filed for bankruptcy to cope with the subsequent lawsuits.

Freedom Industries listed assets and debt of $1 million to $10 million each in a Chapter 11 petition filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Charleston, West Virginia. The company said the lawsuits and more stringent payment demands from vendors since the incident compelled it to seek court protection.

They are woefully underestimating their liabilities, said Aaron Harrah, a lawyer representing the owner of a Charleston bar and restaurant in a lawsuit against Freedom. Harrah said in a phone interview that hes hopeful his client will still get a payout from Freedom Industries.

A bankruptcy filing halts most litigation, forcing plaintiffs to vie with other creditors for a share of a companys assets. More than two dozen lawsuits have been filed since the accident, which led President Barack Obama to declare a state of emergency for the affected counties. The state attorney general is investigating the spill.

On Jan. 9, West Virginia officials discovered a leak from a 35,000-gallon (133,000-liter) tank of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a chemical used in coal processing. About 7,500 gallons escaped from a one-inch hole, compromising water for about 300,000 people and sending more than 100 to the hospital.

Freedom Industries said the current hypothesis for the accident is that a local water line broke next to its plant, causing the land underneath the tank to freeze in the extraordinary frigid temperatures in the days immediately preceding the incident, according to bankruptcy papers.

A woman who answered the phone at Freedom Industries headquarters and declined to give her name said no one at the company was commenting to the media.

The petition and related pleadings speak for themselves, Mark Freedlander, the companys bankruptcy lawyer, said in a statement, declining to comment further.

Companies facing legal costs and damages following accidents may use U.S. bankruptcy law to protect assets. In August, Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway Ltd., the operator of the runaway oil train that exploded and killed 47 people in a Quebec town, said it was forced to file for bankruptcy because of potential liability from the crash.

Charleston-based Freedom Industries was formed in 1986 and supplies specialty chemicals to the steel, cement and coal-mining industries. The closely held company completed a four-way merger nine days before the leak was discovered.

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Freedom Industries Files for Bankruptcy in West Virginia