Monday, March 26, 2007
more Leo
In case you haven't noticed, I have a very cute cat, so everyone has to be subjected to cute pictures.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Terribly sorry for the huge gap between posts. Things have been crazy at school, I'm working too much, and anyway it's not such a bad thing to cut down on internet usage, I figure.
Now I've got a break, the weathers beautiful so I'm back to cycling a ton, and I admit I'm a little bit bummed because I missed out on a great camping chance (I swear, the one night in about a year that I was asleep at 8:30pm, and I get an email invite...just my luck), but I figure I'll take it real easy this weekend...it's certainly quiet enough around here. And, I had a birthday recently, and despite it being in the middle of a big testing period here, I got together a bunch of my best friends and had a nice meal out. So my mood is generally good.
This is enough to let down any sort of good mood:
WILLITS -- It's the first stoplight north of San Francisco on 101. Willits is a quaint valley town of about 5,000 that some people say has a secret poisoned heart. Residents here have a wide range of health complaints:
"I've been nothing but sick," says 43-year-old Deanna Deaton. "I have bronchial problems all the time. I have neurological problems. I have tremors which I can't control."
"It's unbelievable. I've had 13 surgeries on my female organs and then a total hysterectomy when I was 28 years old," explains Melissa Anasatasiou, 32. "My daughter had her first surgery on her female organs when she was fifteen."
33-year-old resident David French developed a rare, often fatal blood disease: "Being exposed to the chromium and the burning of chemicals and the dumping in the creeks around there … I feel without a doubt that's what caused me to get sick."
Many people blame their illnesses on chemical toxins from the now-closed Remco chrome-plating plant in the middle of town. But despite lawsuits, angry meetings and expert panel recommendations, what's making the people in Willits sick remains unknown and, some say, intentionally hidden.
"We don't know for sure, because they haven't been studied," says Dr. Robert Harrison, an expert panel chairman in Willits. "They haven't had examinations or been provided with the kinds of medical services we recommended."
Court documents in a new lawsuit reveal decades of pollution dating from the sixties contaminating the air, the soil and the groundwater in Willits. The creeks flowing near what once was the busiest plating plant west of the Mississippi took the brunt of the toxic waste.
"When we were children, we'd play in the creeks all around Remco and around the schools," remembers resident Julie Johnson.
Baechtel Grove School, the town's middle school with 400 students, sits 40 feet from plant property. Court records show more then 30 years of pollution may have contaminated generations of children. One boy abruptly died several years ago, his parents say, after he drank creek water.
"I'm disgusted now, that they knew this was going on for so many years, and nobody was ever told," says 57-year-old resident Margaret Dryden.
Scientists have known for 50 years that hexavalent chromium used in plating causes cancer. But federal regulators resisted stringent workplace standards until just last year. Remco did massive defense work on missiles and submarine and cannon parts.
In court records, the company's own insurance carrier claimed the contamination was widespread and criminal. The contamination included not just chromium, but also solvents and toxins created by burning chemicals.
"My husband worked there for 18 years and he died a terrible death," says Gwendolyn Underhill, a 76-year-old resident who still lives in Willits. "He bled through the pores of his skin. Just bled, bled, bled."
Judy Cartwright-Gully says respiratory failure almost killed her two decades ago. She grew up a block from the plant in an area where state experts estimate high levels of toxics drifted through the air daily.
She says her mother died of cancer, as did her husband. Her son is now sick: "He just turned 40 years old and his father died when he was 43. It really bothers me he's going in the same path."
Deanna cleland says she had cancer and a hysterectomy at age 30. She lived for years right next door to the plant and says both her children have been sick almost from birth.
"I brough them home to the house on Franklin Street believing it was safe," says Cleland. "Your home is supposed to be safe. It wasn't."
Consider one idyllic street about a hundred yards from the Remco plant, on West Oak Avenue. It's what residents call "cancer alley." There have been 21 cases of cancer just on this block. It's where Patricia and Marvin Brannon have lived for the last 29 years.
"Why should you have to be sorry about that?" ask 78-year-old cancer patient and grandmother Brannon. "Why should you feel guilty that you let your grandchildren play in that creek where the water turned orange and the fish died?"
The Brannons say their three generations of cancer, reproductive problems and other abnormalities baffle their doctors.
"The best answer they ever told me was it was an 'environmental anomaly,'" says Marvin Brannon. "[That] was the word they used. I don't know what that means; it means they don't know."
Court records indicate toxins spilled and spewed from the plant for decades. Other court documents allege some workers intentionally dumped them in a nearby local pond and at many other spots around the county. The plant had the best jobs in town. Most workers kept quiet.
"There's people sick and dying in this town, and it's going to continue for a long time to come," says former plant employee Brad McCartney, whose body is riddled with tumors.
At a town meeting last June, Willits' leading doctor downplayed health risks, quoting a state report.
"It estimates that chrome exposure might cause at the most 13 additional lung cancers among the residents living near Remco," hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Mills Matheson explained at the meeting.
Matheson declined to speak to KTVU, but said smoking is a greater lung cancer risk than Remco chromium and that medical monitoring for lung cancer would do more harm than good: "In the largest screening program that's ever been done, the people who were screened died sooner than the people who weren't screened."
Plus, Willits' city manager Ross Walker says city officials struck a deal with the plant. The agreement recently made front page news in Willits because it gives up any claim for future medical monitoring.
"The city's been in the thick of this since we sued the company in 1996," says Walker.
UCSF occupational health specialist Dr. Robert Harrison chaired a panel of experts looking at the Willits case. It concluded that ongoing medical help for residents is crucial.
"Those health effects may not be noticed for 20 or 30 years, even after the plant has closed," says Harrison
But many in Willits say most people here are not sick, and talk of illness and pollution is bad for business, turns off tourists and prospective home-buyers. The city says it is currently focusing only on plant clean-up.
"People want it to get cleaned up, put back in productive use, and move on," explains city manager Walker.
After millions of dollars in remediation, the head clean-up official says there is no significant risk today at the plant. The town dump is closed and being cleaned up. But townspeople say other contaminated sites around the Willits area are being ignored.
In order to clean someplace up, you have to face the reality that there's something wrong" argues 51-year-old local resident Julie Johnson
In return for the city giving up medical monitoring, plant owner Pepsi-Americas gave $4 million to a private foundation to build a new hospital. The daughter of Remco's founder heads that foundation; hospital Chief of Staff Matheson proposed the deal along with other doctors
Some residents say the hospital got the cash and they got the shaft. "I think we should get that money," says an angry Deanna Cleland. "It should help us get healthier if that's possible. We're all too young to be sick like this."
Several hundred residents sued Pepsi-Americas. The company has admitted no wrongdoing, but six months ago settled with about 300 people. The plaintiffs said a link between disease and the plant was difficult to prove. Most received $1,500.
"I just seen it as a sell out," says former Remco worker McCartney. "I took the money they offered and it was a cop out probably. I should a stood and fought, but I'm tired of fighting."
Bay Area civil rights attorney Bill Simpich has filed a new lawsuit based on new science on behalf of about 140 people including 57 children.
"We've got evidence that these individuals were literally poisoned by one particular chemical from one particular plant," says Simpich. He claims that chemical is dioxin from Remco and that its unique chemical fingerprint left in resident's bodies may finally prove their case.
Pepsi-Americas declined to speak to KTVU for this report and it's clear a lot of people in this town would just as soon this all would go away. But this new lawsuit appears headed for trial next year.
A grassroots group is trying to start its own health study and doctors say the cancers and other diseases will likely take years yet to develop. Activists say they don't want people to forget that what happened in Willits should serve as a warning to other communities.
Article
--
Now I've got a break, the weathers beautiful so I'm back to cycling a ton, and I admit I'm a little bit bummed because I missed out on a great camping chance (I swear, the one night in about a year that I was asleep at 8:30pm, and I get an email invite...just my luck), but I figure I'll take it real easy this weekend...it's certainly quiet enough around here. And, I had a birthday recently, and despite it being in the middle of a big testing period here, I got together a bunch of my best friends and had a nice meal out. So my mood is generally good.
This is enough to let down any sort of good mood:
WILLITS -- It's the first stoplight north of San Francisco on 101. Willits is a quaint valley town of about 5,000 that some people say has a secret poisoned heart. Residents here have a wide range of health complaints:
"I've been nothing but sick," says 43-year-old Deanna Deaton. "I have bronchial problems all the time. I have neurological problems. I have tremors which I can't control."
"It's unbelievable. I've had 13 surgeries on my female organs and then a total hysterectomy when I was 28 years old," explains Melissa Anasatasiou, 32. "My daughter had her first surgery on her female organs when she was fifteen."
33-year-old resident David French developed a rare, often fatal blood disease: "Being exposed to the chromium and the burning of chemicals and the dumping in the creeks around there … I feel without a doubt that's what caused me to get sick."
Many people blame their illnesses on chemical toxins from the now-closed Remco chrome-plating plant in the middle of town. But despite lawsuits, angry meetings and expert panel recommendations, what's making the people in Willits sick remains unknown and, some say, intentionally hidden.
"We don't know for sure, because they haven't been studied," says Dr. Robert Harrison, an expert panel chairman in Willits. "They haven't had examinations or been provided with the kinds of medical services we recommended."
Court documents in a new lawsuit reveal decades of pollution dating from the sixties contaminating the air, the soil and the groundwater in Willits. The creeks flowing near what once was the busiest plating plant west of the Mississippi took the brunt of the toxic waste.
"When we were children, we'd play in the creeks all around Remco and around the schools," remembers resident Julie Johnson.
Baechtel Grove School, the town's middle school with 400 students, sits 40 feet from plant property. Court records show more then 30 years of pollution may have contaminated generations of children. One boy abruptly died several years ago, his parents say, after he drank creek water.
"I'm disgusted now, that they knew this was going on for so many years, and nobody was ever told," says 57-year-old resident Margaret Dryden.
Scientists have known for 50 years that hexavalent chromium used in plating causes cancer. But federal regulators resisted stringent workplace standards until just last year. Remco did massive defense work on missiles and submarine and cannon parts.
In court records, the company's own insurance carrier claimed the contamination was widespread and criminal. The contamination included not just chromium, but also solvents and toxins created by burning chemicals.
"My husband worked there for 18 years and he died a terrible death," says Gwendolyn Underhill, a 76-year-old resident who still lives in Willits. "He bled through the pores of his skin. Just bled, bled, bled."
Judy Cartwright-Gully says respiratory failure almost killed her two decades ago. She grew up a block from the plant in an area where state experts estimate high levels of toxics drifted through the air daily.
She says her mother died of cancer, as did her husband. Her son is now sick: "He just turned 40 years old and his father died when he was 43. It really bothers me he's going in the same path."
Deanna cleland says she had cancer and a hysterectomy at age 30. She lived for years right next door to the plant and says both her children have been sick almost from birth.
"I brough them home to the house on Franklin Street believing it was safe," says Cleland. "Your home is supposed to be safe. It wasn't."
Consider one idyllic street about a hundred yards from the Remco plant, on West Oak Avenue. It's what residents call "cancer alley." There have been 21 cases of cancer just on this block. It's where Patricia and Marvin Brannon have lived for the last 29 years.
"Why should you have to be sorry about that?" ask 78-year-old cancer patient and grandmother Brannon. "Why should you feel guilty that you let your grandchildren play in that creek where the water turned orange and the fish died?"
The Brannons say their three generations of cancer, reproductive problems and other abnormalities baffle their doctors.
"The best answer they ever told me was it was an 'environmental anomaly,'" says Marvin Brannon. "[That] was the word they used. I don't know what that means; it means they don't know."
Court records indicate toxins spilled and spewed from the plant for decades. Other court documents allege some workers intentionally dumped them in a nearby local pond and at many other spots around the county. The plant had the best jobs in town. Most workers kept quiet.
"There's people sick and dying in this town, and it's going to continue for a long time to come," says former plant employee Brad McCartney, whose body is riddled with tumors.
At a town meeting last June, Willits' leading doctor downplayed health risks, quoting a state report.
"It estimates that chrome exposure might cause at the most 13 additional lung cancers among the residents living near Remco," hospital Chief of Staff Dr. Mills Matheson explained at the meeting.
Matheson declined to speak to KTVU, but said smoking is a greater lung cancer risk than Remco chromium and that medical monitoring for lung cancer would do more harm than good: "In the largest screening program that's ever been done, the people who were screened died sooner than the people who weren't screened."
Plus, Willits' city manager Ross Walker says city officials struck a deal with the plant. The agreement recently made front page news in Willits because it gives up any claim for future medical monitoring.
"The city's been in the thick of this since we sued the company in 1996," says Walker.
UCSF occupational health specialist Dr. Robert Harrison chaired a panel of experts looking at the Willits case. It concluded that ongoing medical help for residents is crucial.
"Those health effects may not be noticed for 20 or 30 years, even after the plant has closed," says Harrison
But many in Willits say most people here are not sick, and talk of illness and pollution is bad for business, turns off tourists and prospective home-buyers. The city says it is currently focusing only on plant clean-up.
"People want it to get cleaned up, put back in productive use, and move on," explains city manager Walker.
After millions of dollars in remediation, the head clean-up official says there is no significant risk today at the plant. The town dump is closed and being cleaned up. But townspeople say other contaminated sites around the Willits area are being ignored.
In order to clean someplace up, you have to face the reality that there's something wrong" argues 51-year-old local resident Julie Johnson
In return for the city giving up medical monitoring, plant owner Pepsi-Americas gave $4 million to a private foundation to build a new hospital. The daughter of Remco's founder heads that foundation; hospital Chief of Staff Matheson proposed the deal along with other doctors
Some residents say the hospital got the cash and they got the shaft. "I think we should get that money," says an angry Deanna Cleland. "It should help us get healthier if that's possible. We're all too young to be sick like this."
Several hundred residents sued Pepsi-Americas. The company has admitted no wrongdoing, but six months ago settled with about 300 people. The plaintiffs said a link between disease and the plant was difficult to prove. Most received $1,500.
"I just seen it as a sell out," says former Remco worker McCartney. "I took the money they offered and it was a cop out probably. I should a stood and fought, but I'm tired of fighting."
Bay Area civil rights attorney Bill Simpich has filed a new lawsuit based on new science on behalf of about 140 people including 57 children.
"We've got evidence that these individuals were literally poisoned by one particular chemical from one particular plant," says Simpich. He claims that chemical is dioxin from Remco and that its unique chemical fingerprint left in resident's bodies may finally prove their case.
Pepsi-Americas declined to speak to KTVU for this report and it's clear a lot of people in this town would just as soon this all would go away. But this new lawsuit appears headed for trial next year.
A grassroots group is trying to start its own health study and doctors say the cancers and other diseases will likely take years yet to develop. Activists say they don't want people to forget that what happened in Willits should serve as a warning to other communities.
Article
--
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