Offering to a god on railroad draws bomb squad

[Knothead]

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060603/LOCAL/60603004/1078/rss

By LISE FISHER

Sun staff writer

NEWBERRY - Someone left two bundles of vegetables, meat and coins on the railroad tracks as an offering to make a note full of wishes come true.

Instead of good fortune, however, the parcels attracted the attention of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office Bomb Disposal Team and railroad employees Friday morning.

A report of packages, made of fuzzy cloth with a tiger-skin pattern and resting on tracks on NW 16th Lane off County Road 235, prompted CSX officials to contact deputies.

Officers viewed the bundles, tied with brown ribbon, and decided not to take chances, calling out the Sheriff's Office Bomb Disposal Team. But what deputies first thought were suspicious and potentially dangerous packages turned out to be part of a religious ritual that railroad officials said they've usually seen practiced in South Florida.

Neal Rine, a CSX assistant foreman who had arrived to inspect the track, said the railroad company has had reports of similar items on tracks around the state, including in Lake City.

In South Florida the practice of ritualistic religions like voodoo and Santeria are common, according to railroad officials. Sacrifices and offerings are part of these religions, they said.

Ogun, a deity worshipped by some in these Afro-Caribbean religions, is considered the god of war and iron and, therefore, is associated with the metal railroad tracks, railroad officials said.

In one neighborhood in South Florida, the number and types of sacrifices such as bones and blood offerings of dead animals have upset residents, even those accustomed to them, railroad officials said.

"Our concern is certainly the litter but also the fact that people are trespassing on our railroad and creating a potential hazard to themselves," said CSX spokesman Gary Sease. "We stress over and over again that railroad tracks are not the place for people to be."

Leaving bundles like those found in northwestern Alachua County violates state law prohibiting interference with a railroad track, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Sease said no trains were delayed because none were scheduled to run on the track at the time.

The stretch generally is used for trains making periodic coal deliveries.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Steve Maynard said deputies with the Bomb Disposal Team operated a robot that wheeled over toward the bundles and was able to pick them up. As it did, corn, peppers, beans and pennies tumbled out from the cloth, officials said.

Officers picked through the items afterward and also found two pocketknives, toy cars and a toy soldier, crackers and a food-stained, handwritten note. Headed with the words "To OGG," it read like a wish list and asked that "Steve to get over wife, Sassy to get over Jamie, Marcia to find new love, Sheldon to get over fears."

Traffic on CR 235 was shut down for about a half hour.

Lise Fisher can be reached at (352) 374-5092 or .