Reports of my suicide are false
If you happened to see a guy crossing the train tracks near the Freight House Restaurant wearing a light green shirt and khakis Monday morning, I can tell you that he wasn’t trying to commit suicide.
He was just doing his job.
The reason why I know this is because that person was me.
Yes. It may have looked odd. Actually, I felt a little weird doing it too, but I had a goal in mind.
I wanted to get a picture of a train coming through downtown Hartselle, something that usually happens quite frequently during the day. However, waiting on the train to come seemed like an eternity.
I parked at the Freight House, walked across the tracks and climbed up the hill with set my camera and tripod. After waiting a while, I decided it might be better if I just parked on United Drive, which parallels the tracks, and waited till the train came through.
So I walked back down the hill, crossed the tracks and got in my car, drove across the tracks at the Hickory Street crossing, parked on United Drive and set up the camera, waiting on my train.
Sure enough, right at 8 a.m., I heard the whistle blow and got my photos.
When I got back to the office, however, I realized that people had seen me and had come to their own conclusions about my actions.
Not long after walking in the door, Publisher Randy Garrison asked me, “Were you trying to commit suicide this morning?”
I said, “No. Why do you ask?”
He then told me that several had called him and asked if one of his reporters was trying to get run over by a train and commit suicide.
In fact later that day, I went to the Hartselle school board meeting and school board member Randy Sparkman asked me the same question.
At that point, I decided that I had made the rumor mill in Hartselle. I’d be willing to bet that someone had killed me off later in the day.
So I’m here to dispel all rumors. I am alive. I’m not suicidal. I’m just a man trying to get photos for our magazine. If you need proof of that, wait a few days and you’ll see the photos in Hartselle Living.
Brent Maze is the managing editor of the Hartselle Enquirer.
