SERVICES TODAY FOR MUECK, REINDERS

(CAMERON) Funeral services will be held today for two Yoe High students killed Tuesday afternoon in an auto/train accident here in Cameron.  Travis Mueck and Brian Reinders, both Yoe High Juniors, were pronounced dead at the scene after the pickup they were in was struck by a southbound Burlington Northern Santa Fe special passenger train that was en route from Kansas City to the Super Bowl in Houston.  The accident happened around 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Houston Street Railroad Crossing behind Milam Grain Feed Store. 

Services for Mueck will be held at 10 this morning at St. Monica’s Catholic Church with burial to follow in the church cemetery.  Services for Reinders will be held at 2 this afternoon at St. Monica’s with burial in St. Michael’s Cemetery in Burlington. 

Hundreds packed into the Yoe High Gymnasium for a combined rosary for the two young men last night. 

Both Brian and Travis were active Yoe High Juniors involved in Ag, FFA and athletics.  Both were members of the 2003 varsity football team.

It’s been a difficult week not only around Yoe High School, but the entire community.  Wednesday, the day after the accident, the high school was more or less a place where students could gather with friends, counselors and ministers from the community to talk about the tragedy.  Many of the week’s normally planned activities were cancelled or postponed.  Basketball games with Caldwell were cancelled Tuesday, and their make-ups will be Saturday.  The Boys varsity will entertain Caldwell at Yoe Gym at 5 p.m. while the girls varsity will travel to Caldwell for a 5 p.m. game.  The Freshmen and JV games that were cancelled will not be made up.  Basketball games with Lorena scheduled for tonight have also been cancelled.  The games are rescheduled for the Varsity Girls at home Friday Feb. 13th and the Boys Varsity at Lorena Friday Feb. 20th.  And the Yoe High Sports Banquet scheduled for Saturday has been postponed until further notice.  Several other activities during the week were cancelled.  Citizens National Bank where Brian’s mother is employed, will be closed from 1-4 p.m. today.

The railroad crossing has been the site of two other train-vehicle wrecks in the past five years. The first resulted in two fatalities but only minor injuries were reported in the second.

The intersection is marked with signs but has no crossing arms or signal lights to warn of an approaching train. Texas Department of Transportation officials say it is one of 14 crossings in the Bryan district set to receive a crossing arm and lights.

Bob Colwell, a spokesman for TxDOT, said the state agency requested funding for warning signals at those intersections earlier this month through the 2004 federal signal program. The Bryan district was granted $2.5 million to pay for the work.

Colwell said however, the state agency is trying to determine whether the crossing where the teenagers died Tuesday is on public property. City officials have said the intersection is on private property, and federal money can be used only for signals on public land. Colwell said if the intersection is on private property, the property owner can decide whether to put up a crossing arm or signal lights and must pay for it.