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Hunter Harrison Selected As WCBC Person of the Year 2017

December 20th, 2017 by WCBC Radio

The WCBC Person of the Year for 2017 was not in a position to affect the region as we rung in the new year, and is not around as we close out December. Replicating the Time Magazine model, Person of the Year  is an annual award of WCBC Radio that features and profiles a person, a group, an idea, or an object that "for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year".

Our choice this year is Hunter Harrison, who died on December 16th after arriving at CSX on March 6th.

Employees of the railroad spent most of the year on edge, with over two hundred positions eliminated in Cumberland. Rumors swirled that more jobs were going to be cut locally, and some even feared that Harrison would eventually close the Cumberland facility.

Derailments also caused safety concerns, including an August 2nd derailment in Hyndman that resulted in the evacuation of the entire town for several days while crews put out a fire that threatened to cause to an explosion.

Harrison arrived at CSX with a medical condition that was never fully explained, and was given medical leave of absence just one day before he died.

The late Hunter Harrison. WCBC's Person of the Year 2017.

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