Moreno brings worldwide attention to himself, East Moline

Former East Moline mayor Moreno's recent decision to risk his life by parking himself in a truck directly on railroad tracks to stop a freight train in order to allow marathon runners to pass has made Moreno and the town he formerly led an international laughing stock.

A Google search on the words "east moline marathon" returns over 161,000 hits. AP wrote a piece on it which was distributed world-wide.

A partial list of news outlets and websites carrying the bizarre story includes:

The Daily Times (Pakistan)
The Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
CJAD Radio, Montreal, Quebec
The Washington Post
USA Today
ABC News
The Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Sun Times
MSNBC
The Boston Globe
CNNsi (the CNN/Sports Illustrated channel)
Yahoo News
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The New Jersey Star-Ledger
The Baltimore Sun
Daytona Beach News
The Sapulpa Daily Herald of Sepulpa, OK
Cox.net of New Orleans
The Memphis Appeal
Rednova.com (where it's listed under "oddities")

and hundreds more.

But perhaps the most interesting is the message board at Trains.com, which offers a few considered opinions of Moreno from professional railroaders. To give you a flavor for the comments there, the entire thread is titled, "What a Dumbass!"

So it appears that Moreno has accomplished what he perhaps failed to do when he held office - getting himself and East Moline world-wide publicity. Too bad it's as the objects of scorn and derision.