The Publisher's Page BY HAROLD T. BECK

APRIL 24 - APRIL 30, 1999

APRIL 30, 1999

What are regulations for?

Good morning. It is 3:05 A.M. The moon is out there in all of its brilliance and it is 40.8 degrees.

I walked into the Bradford Hotel last night. Billy Peckham, the former outstanding chief of police was there along with Judi and Joe, Betsy and Dave, Susie and Butch, Kath and Denny, as well as an assortment of other people. Dave was at the bar.

I wasn't much into talking. I was beat and I had just met with Jim Buck over at the Star Bar. That's his new hangout since the writers group broke up. I gave him comments on the law suit the School District filed against the county. (I was individually named as a matter of course, but even their slime ball attorney, Fred Gallup, should have known that I, as a County Commissioner, am immune to suits of that nature as a matter of law.)

The suit stems from the fact that the county routinely holds back an administrative fee on the monies paid by the Allegheny National Forest to the townships and School Districts for their part of the timber cut. Other similar suits have been filed in other counties. Considering it is only 19 days to the primary election, the timing is almost laughable. Still, it was just one more thing tossed on the heap, and after awhile, the heap, especially when it is squarely in the center of your back, gets awfully heavy. As I sat down and ordered a cold one, the weight seemed to be getting to me.

Dave shook his head. "Look at this place,"  he said. "Just look at it!" About that time we were joined by Grant Nichols and George Petrisek, who had been at Parents Night at the Family Center.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked.

"What's wrong with it!" he exclaimed, repeating my question back at me as a statement. "Look at it! Look at the people! They're all different!"

"Dave," I said. "Get a grip. People are different. What's wrong with that?"

"Don't get cute with me," he said, obviously irritated. "I'll toss your butt right into the street. You know what I am talking about. These are different people from the ones who used to be here."

"Dave, that's the bar business. The customers are different at the Rainbow, too. A lot of the old bar drinkers are off the roads these days. DUI's have really hit them. And rightfully so," I added. "The old days are gone."

"I know," he said, calming slowly. "But even more than that, no one seems to get along any more. Why is that?"

"They never did," Grant said, putting in his five cents worth. "No one got along before either. It just seemed that they did because there was one group against the other. What has happened is that the groups have fragmented and new groups have formed. Old enemies are now new friends and the strangest alliances have formed. Jim, Ecky, Poyer, and the women from The Era are over at the Star Bar these days since he stared picking one the power women."

Grant, by indicating "he" meant me. I am the despicable person who exposed the power women to the light of day! Rumblings from that one have been felt from the halls of the Department of Education in Harrisburg to the Pulitzer Prize committee in Hackensack, New Jersey. It has shaken City Hall to its very foundation. Standard accounting practices are now in jeopardy as is the law for how many times you can charge your name back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Even selected writings on the gruesome and questionable medical practices and now being questioned. All because I exposed the power women to the light of day.

The mere mention of the power women got Dave going again, just when it seemed he might be calming down.

"Power women!" he exclaimed. "I lost their business because of you, not DUI's! Explain that one to me. They drank a whole lot. That hurts losing their business. Now Gale is afraid to come in here."

"Hey," I said. "I had nothing to do with that. He's the one who got drunked up and was rude to that woman. I can't help it if her old man is mad. Don't hang that one on me, kiddo," I said. "He needs to be responsible for his own actions," I said.

"And his public statements, too," George added.

We were cautious. George was sitting on a bar stool. That was a first. That, as well as him adding something to our conversation. Usually, he just sat there and took notes. Kind of like he was acting as our recording secretary or something like that. We looked to George and waited for a clarification on his addition to what I was saying about Mr. Kellogg.

"He was quoted in the paper as saying that he was very pleased with the asbestos abatement contractor on the job. How can he be pleased when they were fined? If they were fined, just because of that, everything was not right. Something was wrong or they would never have been fined in the first place. Good contractors don't get fined. Only bad contractors get fined so what does that say about Gale Kellogg's rating system for contractors?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "If  you keep that line of thinking up, George, you are a shoe in for a Pulitzer," I said. 'I'll nominate you myself."

"Hey," Dave said. "Gale is my buddy."

"That's okay," I said. "Still, that imposes no obligation on our part. Your drinking buddy is your drinking buddy; but, I am still publishing this letter tomorrow and he is all over it." I handed the letter to Sheffer and he read it aloud.

"There will be no further investigation by the EPA in reference to asbestos at the Bradford Area High School, as far as the EPA is concerned all regulations have been followed, etcetera - etcetera - etcetera .........I am amazed! What in the hell do we have regulations for? How can one of our government emplayees (not a typo) make a statement like that? The EPA does not only mandate that all removal and abatement of asbestos be done by the book, it also requires specific records to be kept as to the date, method and location of all removal and abatement procedures. They are even more stringent than that. They require periodic inspections of all of the asbestos known to be in a building. What about those records? Has anyone asked to look at them? Do they even exist? And if they do in fact exist, is the ink dry? To this date I have not read in any publication or heard on any radio station whether or not the EPA has inspected the records of yesterday much less yester-year. The etcetEra lost no time in contacting state officials about the possible qualification records on Hickey. Why have they not been as diligent in their search for the truth in respect to the records keeping of Kellogg, "the ass-inspector"? Oops! Was that an offensive remark? How about this one Gale old buddy, do you remember when you are sober what kind of a fool you make of yourself when you are drunk? I don't think you saw the showers or containment but I do think you could use a bit of both."

"Who wrote this?" he asked.

"THE JERK  wrote it," I answered.

George picked it up and read through. "He has a nice style of writing. He gets his point out very well and I like the sarcasm and the way he uses it to get his main idea across. What is this business about "the ass-inspector"? I don't understand it."

Dave was frustrated. "Oh...........He had too much to drink and made a fool out of himself with this guy's wife.....THE JERK. It can happen to anyone. Now THE JERK has this vendetta going."

"Vendetta, my foot," I said. "Bad behavior is bad behavior. He could have gone back and apologized. He didn't. I'm told that he claims he doesn't remember saying anything. If that's the case, how does he remember the showers? How does he remember that all the regulations were followed? How can we believe him?

"Even beyond that," I said. "THE JERK is right when he asks about the record keeping. I never asked to inspect the high school. I only wanted to see the records, the ones THE JERK is talking about. I wasn't allowed in, possibly because the records, at that time, did not exist yet. Hickey and McLaughlin say that on January 10th the last entry was back in 1989. What would we find today?"

Grant jumped in. "He's right. Why hasn't the newspaper dug into the inspection records? If the records are up to date they should tell us where asbestos was located and when it was taken out. They should in all probability clear up the question of proper containment and the three chamber showers that Hickey describes on the documentary. Mr. Kellogg wouldn't have to try his poor memory. He would have written facts to tell him what happened."

The other men agreed.

Just about that time, George Walter walked in. Dave's face came to life. "There's someone I remember! That's an old time Bradford Hotel person."

"Yes," I agreed. "Yes he is."

"Hello, Bud," my father-in-law said to me.

"Hi George," I said back.

"Tanya is outside waiting to take you home. She'll be back to collect me later. Get some sleep. You look like you need it."

I left but I didn't get much sleep. Look at the time! Oh well. It is getting daylight now. The moon is still up. Maybe I can rest over the weekend after I get through today.

Comment on this article at rdhedbud@penn.com.  

APRIL 29, 1999

Failure of the system

Good morning. It is 37.2 degrees at 4:24 A.M. and the moon has everything illuminated with its silver light.

Why I wake up like this is beyond me. I stayed up later than usual last night and I still woke at the same old time. It is useless to try to sleep once I am awake, so here I am.

I couldn't help thinking about the coverage that was given to the movie we just did about the asbestos.

I couldn't help wondering how it was that the EPA was so ready, willing, and able to come right in for the newspaper and tell them that all was well at the High School. I don't know for sure, but for some reason this EPA seems to be a kinder and gentler EPA than the one we have read about in other issues of the newspaper. Why is that?

The EPA was there to pull the plug on Willamette Industries at the paper mill in Johnsonburg, and probably rightfully so, for releasing dangerous and forbidden levels of chemicals into the air. It wasn't something that just started, either. From the coverage I read (and I keep in mind that it was written by Jim Buck and it did appear in The Era), this has been going on for years. It has stunk pretty bad down there and evidently the smell was the chemicals and the reason for the fines.

That's a paper mill and a town, in volume of lives, not much larger than the High School and all the people who passed through it for the eight months that proper handling procedures allegedly  were not followed. What distinguishes it from the High School? Is asbestos less dangerous than the chemicals that were released as a result of the manufacture of paper? Where is the EPA when I need them?

Still, the EPA man, Mr. Sherman, seems to be prepared to give Cheri and Mr. Kellogg a clean bill of health. He seems to be prepared to do that without: (1) ever talking to Dave Hickey; (2) ever talking to Clint McLaughlin; (3) ever talking to any of the other trades on the job who were just as concerned as Hickey and McLaughlin; (4) asking me to see the pictures I have in my possession; (5) viewing the video tape they made in January, 1999 before proper handling procedures were allegedly implemented; and, (6) really trying to find out the truth, if any exists, in the allegations that were made. It seems to me that a "walk through inspection" is hardly valid when we are talking about the health and safety of our children.

I don't know, but I would think that a few walls should be opened up and perhaps the EPA just might want to look behind them and see if the asbestos was removed in its totality as is required by the law once it is disturbed. Think about it. If you are coming across the border from Canada back into the United States and someone alleges that you are carrying drugs in your car, they would literally rip it apart looking for those drugs. In light of the fact that certain alleged evidence does exist, why haven't they opened a few walls to see if there is any basis to the accusations?

Is it possible that if Mr. Sherman finally does do his job that it will possibly expose a period when he and the EPA did not do it all that well? If that would happen, what then?

The reporter was all too pleased to jump on Mr. Sherman's statements and Mr. Kellogg's assertions that he "remembers seeing showers" and that everything was done the right way from day one. She was all to pleased because the inference, made by me, is that The Era didn't do its job either. I think I remember saying that they "white washed this whole matter." In asbestos terms, that is closing up the walls before the EPA gets around to telling you the date and the hour of the next "unannounced inspection." White washing in reporting terms is looking up when you should be looking down; and reporting that Dave Hickey, Jr. is not currently licensed as an abatement remover when he says that in the documentary that The Era called a "home movie."

Petty! Petty! Petty!

That, along with incorrectly reporting the rental of the movie was $3.00 instead of $2.00 and the fact that THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL REVIEW is not a quarterly, but in fact a monthly publication.

Tisk! Tisk!

Being a bit petty myself, my trench coat is green, not tan, (That would have made an improper fashion statement!) and my glasses were not sun glasses. They are prescribed and I wear them most of the time when I am not posing for pictures. I wasn't posing. It was as close as I was allowed to get to the High School.

Oh my! Now I am like them. This stuff must be contagious.

Drifting away from pettiness for a moment, I am wondering what kind of message is being sent when the EPA is not interested in what happened on a job before it got around to begin doing the one we pay it to do?

"When asked if he would contact Beck to see the video, Sherman said he wouldn't." The Bradford Era, April 28, 1999.

Perhaps I should send along to the EPA in Washington, D.C. a copy of the video and one of the paper in which Mr. Sherman is quoted. Perhaps some concerned parents should begin to question Washington about the function of the EPA in protecting our children while they attend schools during major renovations like the one that took place here in Bradford. Perhaps we all should ask who the EPA really protects?

It is hard for me to imagine that Mr. Sherman is not interested in finding out what happened. That totally escapes my feeble ability to comprehend rational thought. Why wouldn't he want to know unless I am correct in my theory that the system is set up to catch other people and not itself? If that is the case, then throw all the regulations on asbestos away. Make them apply only when they suit you. That seems to be the case here. That means that the system has failed.

You, Mr. Sherman, get a "F" grade for your performance, or lack thereof.

Comment on this article at rdhedbud@penn.com.  

APRIL 28, 1999

Why I did it.....

Good morning. It is 34.2 degrees at 5:57 A.M.

I gave a special showing of OUR CHILDREN AT RISK yesterday at the Bradford Area Senior Center. It was an appropriate place to show the 53 minute film about asbestos at the Bradford High School. It was because so many of our seniors have experienced, first hand, the effects of asbestos on them and their lives. Many have lost loved ones, spouses, and family members because they were exposed at one time in their lives.

McKean County has a history with asbestos. Over in Port Allegany there is an asbestos treatment program for workers and families of workers who were exposed in the course of their work. It was the first of its kind in history. In Bradford there is a similar program, but it was not so readily known to the public at large. Asbestos is buried in our land fill as well as under U.S. Route 219 only a mile or so from the New York border. It seemed to me that asbestos was accepted and the attitude was along the lines that "we all were exposed at one time or another, so what is the big deal?"

I invited radio station WESB-AM, The Olean Times Herald, and The Bradford Era to the showing.  All three parts of the local media were represented during the 53 minute film.

The film has been described by people who have watched it as sobering.....,   shocking....., serious.....,  and very surprising.

A reporter from The Era asked me why I did it? Bob Hand asked what I would say to charges that the film was politically motivated?

To Bob Hand I answered that it wasn't politically motivated and I could not stop my detractors from saying what they wanted. I told him that I didn't care what they said. The film speaks for itself.

To the reporter from The Era, I told her that I did it because the paper wouldn't. I said that they had covered up the story and tried to white wash it away. She was angry with me for suggesting that, but none the less, anyone who was following the story from January, 1999 on would have seen a continuous and an on going slant that the two workers were not to be believed and that all was well on the $7 million renovation project at the High School.

I pointed out to Bob Hand that he had recorded the outrageous statement by School Board Member Paul Timbrook who suggested that "parents wouldn't get upset if their children got a few whiffs of asbestos" and never made it public. I pointed out that in my capacity as County Commissioner, had I made an ignorant and stupid comment like that it would have been player every half hour for the rest of the week and would have been a headline in the paper demanding that I resign.

For some reason the press and the radio have carried the School Board and the Superintendent and the Management of the Project around on a silk pillow, careful, ever so careful, to insure that they are not damaged. Why?

Interestingly enough, The Bradford Era was pointed to in a Sunday article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette regarding their investigation of how accessible public records are. Of course the story of my phone bill (which now was never really my phone bill at all!) was featured. We saw how deep Mr. Buck was prepared to dig to uncover the phantom calls to Altoona; and, we saw how the paper under Mr. Buck's by line accused the Board of Commissioners of clamping down on the disclosure of public information.  

While I was being denied my right to access the records at the High School regarding a matter of grave importance, Mr. Buck was insinuating that I was making frivolous calls at the expense of the tax payers. Ironically, while The Era saw nothing political or politically motivated by the timing of their expose, they will undoubtedly accuse me of political grand standing so close to the election. While they are making accusations like that aimed at me, they will also ignore the flagrant and blatant abuse of the Right to Know by School Superintendent Cheri Maureen O'Mara.

When this story first became public, I declined to publish it for the exact reasons that will now be insinuated as my motivation.

I told the two men to take what they had to the local media. I told them that it was news worthy enough to have it done properly. I told them that both sides needed to be heard. What I believed would happen, in deed did not.

The Bradford Era sugar coated the story.  They made the two workers appear to be trouble makers.  They gave an enormous amount of ink to what was being done now that the workers caused all the fuss and looked the other way on what had gone on for eight months.

Why did I do it?

The workers had ten minutes of video showing chunks of asbestos laying around. As they were filming children were in the school. You can hear them on the film as the workers describe what we are seeing.  The kids are not aware of the potential danger to their futures, laying on the floor and probably floating, invisible to them, in the very air that they are breathing.

Why did I do it?

The Bradford Era was offered the pictures that appear on this web site and were published in the April issue of THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL REVIEW.   They were offered them but they chose not to even mention that they existed.

What would you call that?

The only way parents were going to be made aware of what went on and the potential danger to their children was to do what I did. The parents needed to know so measures could be taken today to see that the kids can be taken care of if, and when the dreaded fear might come true. No one else was prepared to put out what I have. It needed to be done.

The EPA was aware that I had video and pictures in my possession. They never tired to contact me and they never tried to see any of the evidence. They said it themselves when they said that it was hard to determine what went on when everything is cleaned up and all the workers gone home. It was a done deal in their eyes. Why would they want to find out what really happened?

From what I was given and from what was said in the interview that I conducted, it appears that Asbestos was present in the air at the high school from June, 1998 to January, 1999. Why was it covered up?

The movie speaks for itself. The Seniors who watched it yesterday were shocked that the School Board shirked its responsibility. They were disappointed that it was not made public sooner. Say what you will about me, but the movie does speak and the words that it says are everything and more than what you expect. Shocking!

Comment on this article at rdhedbud@penn.com.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: It is now 7:35 A.M. I have had a chance to read this mornings article in The Era.

-The EPA has closed the book saying there is no way to prove what happened way back when. Where were they way back when?

-The Era continues the white wash. The movie is called a "home movie" and Dave Hickey's credibility is challenged. A whole lot more ink is given to Kellog and O'Mara claiming that all is and was well.

Rent the movie and see for yourself. Make up your own mind and do not allow The Bradford Era to influence how you think. It is unfortunate that one of the few reliable columns they print is the Horoscope.

APRIL 27, 1999

Red sky at night

It is 32.5 degrees at 5:50 A.M.  As the sun set last night the sky was a brilliant red color indicating another great day today. Yesterday was about as good as you could ask for in April. The day kept getting better and better as it went along. Especially once the County Commissioners' meeting was over.

Publish a letter from a friend in Austin and more show up!

"Hey, Bud man ! Just out of curiosity, who was the "lady" from Austin that wrote about the asbestos thing ? Didn't think I was still reading you, huh ? Brett"

Brett, to me, will always be a kid. He will always be the
"big dummy" too. As if he couldn't figure out it was Kathy who wrote the letter! Nothing ever changes. One of these days I will devote a whole column to the kid that I raised, it seems, like one of my kids. He just kept growing and growing and growing. Everytime I turned around he was another inch taller.

No, Brett. It did not occur to me that you were reading every day! Good to hear from you.

Anyway, the whole world came to the Commissioners' Meeting yesterday. There were so many people there that we had them standing up. We ran out of chairs! See what happens when you have open government and do business out in the open. People actually participate!

We finally got to meet Linda Devlin. She is the new director of the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau, formerly known as Seneca Highlands Tourist Assn. and who knows what else! She came to "respectfully request" the $20,000 that was in the 1998 budget for tourism. She wasn't so respectful when we told her it was only an in and out deal, not an actual allocation of funds, just so they could get matching funds from the state. She didn't seem to want to understand that. She wanted the money. Maybe to help pay for her salary, something we've been kept in the dark about since she was hired.

She brought along Rick Esch. He put his tape recorder on the table to, I suppose, to have a record, just in case. Didn't he realize that we publish and keep the actual minutes of each and every meeting?

Of course it was only a coincidence that Mrs. Devlin and Mr. Esch showed up at this time so close to the election and Al Pingie going on the Live Line show at 12:30 P.M. If they hadn't, Al wouldn't have had anything to talk about. Instead, he did have a good one liner about how we should support those people because they bring jobs and prosperity to the county.

What Al didn't mention is that they also would bring jobs and prosperity to Bradford Township where he is a Supervisor. I don't see the supervisors standing up and giving them money to support Mrs. Devlin's $30,000 plus salary. As far as I see it, her job is the only one they have created to this point.

Al sounded more intelligent when he was talking about building a four lane 219 - something the County Commissioners clearly have not one bit of control over. Still, it made good copy for the paper.

While Mr. Pingie was on Live Line I was at the Rotary Club speaking about issues that affect the county and even got in a plug for the 53 minute movie I just completed. It is on Asbestos at Bradford Area High School.

We are now preparing 100 copies that people will be able to rent overnight and get the truth about what went on for eight months. The two men who shot the original 10 minute segment showing exposed asbestos with the sound of the high school kids in the background are very compelling as they sit in an unrehearsed interview with me and answer why they came forward and made all this public. We also expect to air this three or four times on local television and make it available on this web site.

Another township supervisor, running for County Commissioner, was at the meeting yesterday. Bill Kilmer, notably absent from the public forum at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Thursday night where anyone from the audience could ask him questions, showed up once more to ask questions of his own.

Just like I say in my radio ad:

"In an election year everyone is for Senior Centers to children and even small dogs - just so they can get elected."

C. Russell Johnson has schooled all his "boys" well. They are for everything. They try to sound more like Larry Stratton and me than we do! They would say and do anything just to get elected. Then, with Mr. Johnson's able help, they will take the county back to The Dark Ages when the people knew nothing about what was going on in Smethport. How long do you think it will take until they would have to raise taxes?

Think about it!

Mr. Johnson is counting on a low turnout. He is depending that the people who broke from the party line four years ago are too lazy to turn out once more and keep what they started going. That is what he is counting on. That is what all the "Johnson Boys" are counting on.

Your comments are welcome at rdhedbud@penn.com.

APRIL 26, 1999

It's time!

Good morning. It is 34.5 degrees at 6:08 A.M.

What a nice weekend we just had! It is the beginning of spring here in the mountains and the grass, the flowers, and the trees are all beginning to come alive. The deer are grazing and the bears are feeding. As we watch nature do her thing it is very easy to sit back and take things for granted.

Yesterday afternoon we had my wife's parents, Winnie and George, along with her Aunt Florence, Uncle Guy, Ginnie and Ed O'Hara, and my son Geoff and his girl friend in for dinner. We did rib eyes on the grille. Of course we talked about happenings in the world. The events in Colorado came up. To a person, the elders, all of the World War II generation, were at a loss to understand what had been going on in the homes of the two young men who are alleged to have killed so many and done so much damage.

"I always knew what was going on in my house," Ed said. "What were those parents doing for the better part of a year?"

Ed was right. 

So much goes on around us that we take things for granted. Just so that our little lives continue and are not disturbed, it is easy for us to sit back and say nothing - even when the health and welfare of the ones we love are at stake.

Used to be Sharyn and I did a whole lot of Sunday afternoon entertaining like we did yesterday. Ironically, via e-mail, I heard from one of our old friends who was always in attendance. She wrote about a subject that you haven't heard much about in the past week. There is a reason. After you read her letter, I will tell you why.

"The articles on asbestos perked my interest and I wanted to give you some insight on the different areas in Austin that contained asbestos.Buildings that were constructed during the 70's and prior are subject to containing asbestos, one such building was St. David's Hospital.

"A few years ago the hospital went through some major renovations and each area was suspect of containing asbestos, which was found to be true. The first step was shutting down the entire wing and then constructing a scaffold from the ground floor to the roof. The entire wing was then engulfed with a special plastic and then the E.P.A. and O.S.H.A. did their inspections before any demolition could begin. This was a very time consuming project but the removal of and disposal of asbestos were very stringently adhered to.

"Motorola also suspected that they to had some asbestos in some of their older buildings. Major renovations were being planned for these buildings so the process of the removal of the asbestos was put into place. The first thing that happened was to have what they thought to contain asbestos tested. The floor tile was found to contained asbestos, the mastic to lay the floor tile with contained asbestos, the mastic used to seal joints on the insulation for the heating and cooling ducts contained asbestos and the sheet rock walls contained asbestos.

"The first step was the contractor that was going to remove all the asbestos had to be licensed with the State of Texas and each of their employees had to go through a week long training session.With all of the different types of items containing asbestos you can clearly see that this was going to be a time consuming and expensive project. Special machines were brought in for the removal of the mastic on the floor and this was accomplished without contaminating the air. I failed to tell you, but during all this time the air quality was being monitored by special air monitoring devises. The articles containing asbestos were placed in special containers sealed and clearly labeled. Only then could they be loaded on special trucks for removal and disposal of. Once all of the asbestos is removed the air quality is measured to determine if the area is safe for construction to begin.

"The I.R.S. Building on I-35 was also contaminated with asbestos and the same procedures were put in place during removal of the asbestos. Due to their around the clock schedule the project took over 2yrs. to complete.

"Although I am not an expert on asbestos, but I am very familiar with the proper removal process and the ramifications if not done properly. The photos that you showed shocked me. The damage done is irreversible and warning signs should be placed on the outside of the building stating, WARNING, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.  This is just a little of what I have seen on the subject of asbestos and I thought you might be interested in it."

Letters like that one come in from all over the county. That one is from Austin, Texas. People know how dangerous asbestos is. It was for that reason that we took the video tape prepared by the two workers and made it into an expanded length movie. As we speak over 100 copies have been made and they will be available shortly. (It will also be available on this web site.)

The one thing that comes home in the movie (which was viewed by 30 or so people on Saturday at a special sneak preview) is that proper precautions to protect the children, teachers, and workers alike were not taken for up to eight months. Only after the workers made the situation public, only then, were proper precautions taken.

We were misled by the local news media.

They were part of this thing, if not only by their ignorance of what they were seeing and the dangers, the media did not do the proper research to find out what was really going on. The movie makes that very evident. They did not serve us! They did not give us the facts! They did not tell the true and accurate story and it was there all along. All they had to do was give both sides.

They didn't.

We are conditioned for bad news. Our lives continue after things like a police officer being gunned down in the line of duty, we go to war in Yugoslavia, and kids kill teachers and fellow students in Colorado. Nothing bothers us anymore. The sun comes up and the flowers are growing. So what if kids were exposed to asbestos dust and may just get cancer from it within the next 10 to 30 years! What of it?

It's time to wake up and stop smelling the roses. It's time to get angry and ask why! It's time to stop believing the cover-up that Jim Buck and The Bradford Era have been feeding us and ask them to account for the misleading and inaccurate information that we have been fed.

But beyond that, it's also time for something else. It's time to demand that Cheri O'Mara be fired by the School Board for her part in this affair.

And even beyond that, it's time for us to demand that the entire School Board resign.

There will be a Class Action Law Suit as a result of this. This is not going away. When you see the movie, OUR CHILDREN AT RISK, you will understand why. It's time to be heard.

Comment at rdhedbud@penn.com.

APRIL 24 - 25, 1999

Gone fishin'

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