EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — The leaves are changing in East Palestine; for Sherree Zamary, that means the harvest is drawing to a close in the Threshold Residential Services community garden just off Market Street.
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It sits across from the Norfolk Southern tracks. And if you’re wondering, she said, “the soil’s been tested, we’re doing great, we feel it’s safe.”
The change in seasons here also marks the passage of time since Feb. 3, when the train derailment and fire put this community in the national spotlight and brought swift and immediate bi-partisan calls from Washington to do something to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
“Congress can legislate a solution to this problem, and that’s exactly what I’m going to try to do,” Vance said during February visit.
He and Sen. Sherrod Brown soon teamed up to introduce the Railway Safety Act, a measure that, by U.S. Senate standards, was moving along at a record clip.
“We plan to have that bill on the floor next week,” Senator Brown said during a June visit. But more than four months later, it still sits in committee as attention these days is focused on Israel, the fight for a speaker in Washington and the looming government shutdown. Sherree said that worries her.
“Because with the news cycle, there’s always a new story coming up, but I do hope that the town will be in people’s minds and especially our politicians will take care of us.”
Senators Brown and Vance both told News 5 that is their goal, their promise. Brown was in East Palestine just this week to announce a half-million dollar grant for a small business revolving loan program here. Vance is putting out this video marking 250 days since the derailment in an effort to get movement on the Rail Safety Act; he told me it is delayed, yes, but in no way derailed.
“I still feel we're going to get a vote on Railway Safety,” Vance told News 5. “Is it going to happen tomorrow? Probably not, but will it happen eventually? Yes, because I think there is strong bipartisan support for the idea that we have way too many train crashes in this country. We've got to change that.”
Vance blamed in part the delay on the pace of work in the Senate. “I recognized going into this process that the Senate, unfortunately, and by the way, this is a complaint of mine, that we don't work enough in the United States Senate, we don't cast enough votes. I think we can do everything we needed to do very quickly if we just actually spent a little more time doing our actual jobs.”
Senator Brown blamed in part the chaos in the House as Republicans go about the process of selecting a new speaker.
“I am concerned that the House of Representatives doesn’t get its act together. They’re just doing talking points, trying to score political points; they aren’t doing their job, and it's why people are so sick of Washington, D.C.”
That being said, he thinks the Railway Safety Act can be passed this fall.
“I think we’re close,” said Brown. “I know that the Democratic leader who runs the Senate wants to see this done before the end of the year.”
In the meantime, Sherree Zamary will tend to the garden as the trains continue to pass by just yards away.
“When you hear that whistle blow, it does come back and reminds you a little bit,” she said of Feb. 3. “But it also reminds us how we made it through it, and that’s the best thing.”
