Court Opinion

ID: 9536566
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:02:31.592094+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:54:45.564271
License: Public Domain

CROCKETT, Justice.
I dissent. In applying to discontinue its station at Black Rock as an agency station for ten months during the year, the railroad agreed that it would have an agent there during the time the volume of business justified, that is, during the months of April and May; that during the other ten months adequate and reasonable services would be provided by maintaining a telephone there accessible to the public which could be used to transact railroad business or for other purposes. The record shows beyond question that the revenues of the railroad from that station during the other part of the year do not justify the maintenance of the station.
The statement in the concurring opinion of Mr. Chief Justice Wolfe appear to be correct and they completely unmask the purpose of the order of the Commission which is affirmed in the prevailing opinion. It is plain to be seen that the only reason for the opposition to the closing of the station is that protestants want the agent there so that he can afford certain conveniences and courtesies to the people in the area, which are not in any way connected with the railroad business. However humanitarian it may be to provide such conveniences for sheepmen and ranchers in that locality, that is not a function nor a responsibility of the railroad. Neither is it a function of the Public Ser-, vice Commission nor this court, by an adverse decision upon its right to discontinue a station, to pressure the railroad into offering to furnish such facilities.