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and she did not believe they look at it as a win -loose situation, but as a win -win <br />situation so that they would have an east and west short line railroad as well as <br />the north -south that is here. Ms. Fancher said she did not believe that they <br />wanted to put anyone out of business, but that four miles will be detrimental in <br />determining whether that 45 mile tract could be used for a short line railroad. <br />Ms. Fancher stated that she felt that they would be willing to work with the <br />Kiamichi Railroad and further stated that competition is the best. <br />-Gary Vest, 11651 Clarksville Street, came forward stating that he has some <br />questions about endorsing the Fannin County Rural Rail District, and said he <br />was very familiar with Rural Districts and there are several cases, one being at <br />Sulphur Springs, which was vital to keep rail service to that community. Mr. <br />Vest said at the same time here in Paris, we were abandon by the Texas <br />Northeastern Railroad. They abandon the rail from Paris to Clarksville and on <br />to New Boston, and then they told us in a meeting that they intended to abandon <br />the rail between Paris and Sherman. Mr. Vest said that is the course they are <br />taking now. Mr. Vest advised the City Council that the Fannin Rural Rail <br />Transportation District was formed to save that line. He said there are a lot of <br />questions, but there is a lot of need there, but his concern arises out of the fact <br />that the Kiamichi Railroad has come in a struck a deal with the Texas <br />Northeastern Railroad to provide all the services in Paris, providing all the <br />switching, they provide all the connections to Burlington, Southern Pacific and <br />any other railroad that any of our users want to use. He said he did talk to the <br />head of the States Rails today and there are two representatives here from <br />Kiamichi, and he would like to hear from them to make sure before -the <br />endorsement is made. <br />Mitch Becker, General Manager of the Kiamichi Railroad based out of Hugo <br />Oklahoma, came forward stating that the main reason they are down here is to <br />to be able to talk to the Council Members to understand the facts and what is <br />really at hand with the Council trying to endorse Fannin County. He said the <br />way he looks at things is strictly facts. Mr. Becker advised the City Council that <br />one of the things is they do have a risk if they do make the choice to support <br />this, you do have risk and one of the risk is what you already have in place could go <br />