DEAR EDITOR:

“We spent our lives building that home for ourselves and our children, and one act (well, multiple acts) of Norfolk Southern’s negligence stole it from us, leaving us without a safe place to live and without the financial stability to move on. GET US OUT!”

That is just one anguished plea of an East Palestine resident who, along with 830 others, signed a petition (change.org/FreeEastPalestineVictims TrappedinToxicCage) demanding that Norfolk Southern purchase the property of their victims who wish to escape the toxic cage imposed on them. This demand for justice has, to date, fallen on deaf ears at Norfolk Southern.

Contrast that to its recent purchase of the Cincinnati Southern Railway for $1.6 billion. The same vehicle which ultimately caused the East Palestine catastrophe, unfettered corporate greed, drove this notorious corporation to grab the lucrative CSR. Fortunately finalization of that deal requires voter approval, and that presents an opportunity to implement new values, ones that maximize quality of life over quantity of profit. Norfolk Southern needs to invest that $1.6 billion in purchasing the contaminated property of Greater East Palestine residents and businesses who wish to leave. It is the morally right thing to do.

It would take a miracle for such a paradigm shift in operative corporate values to occur, but as the holy season reminds us, miracles are possible.

WERNER LANGE

Newton Falls