Citizens For Keeping Palestine Railroad Jobs

The purpose of this GOFUNDME project is to get donations from the citizens of Palestine, Texas and Anderson County, Texas, with the intent of hiring legal counsel by the citizens to fight Union Pacific Railroad's announced plans to shut down their freight car repair facility (Palestine Car Shop) by June 14, 2021.  This comes about as the result of a recent federal court ruling in Tyler that nullified the 1954 agreement between then Missouri Pacific Railroad and the city of Palestine, Anderson County and its citizens.  That agreement required  the railroad to maintain a certain number of employees from various crafts in Palestine as long as the railroad runs through Palestine.  This dates back to the late 1800's when the city of Palestine, Anderson County and its citizens GAVE the IG&N Railroad $150,000, plus land grants, for them to use as equity to borrow money.  That money was used to bring the railroad into Palestine by laying trackage, building headquarters and constructing freight car/locomotive repair facilities, as well as lodging/homes for its executives.  In return, the people of Palestine had the railroad go into agreement with a contract that said they would employee a certain percentage of certain groups of rail employees in Palestine, for as long as the railroad runs through Palestine.  It also went so far as to say that any successors of the IG&N would be bound by that same agreement, for as long as their tracks run through Palestine.  This agreement has been taken all the way to the Supreme Court twice since then (first by the IG&N and secondly by the Missouri Pacific) with the city, county and its citizens prevailing both times.  This recent ruling by the federal judge in Tyler prevents the city of Palestine and Anderson County from assisting its citizens in their quest to get this decision reversed.  The city of Palestine and Anderson County will appeal his ruling, however, in the meantime, the citizens will need to have their voices heard on this matter,  The citizens of Palestine and Anderson County have always been involved in the past agreements and lawsuits - we need to do the same this time.  The railroad has been a significant part of Palestine's history for the past 150 years.  Hopefully, we're not the generation that allows it to disappear from our history.