On Aug. 7, Taylor asked the St. Louis County Council to assist TBAG by forming a task force to independently investigate possible hazardous waste sites that may have been overlooked in the past by the EPA and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). no. Yet the poisoning of Times Beach, and 14 other dioxin sites in Missouri and six in Illinois, happened long before that, a deadly legacy by industry and government from an era when there were no comprehensive laws to protect the public from dangers that few had imagined. To outsiders, Times Beach residents might as well have bubonic plague. The first half of the name refers to Russell M. Bliss, the waste hauler responsible for dumping the pollutants. Although the LaGarce lauds the EPA for its quick initial response, he expresses concerns about any further delay in cleaning up the Lemar site. Then came a 7-Eleven. After her recent success on Love Is Blind, Bliss can also add reality TV star to her resume. ), The worst thing is not knowing, Taylor says. She died less than a year later.. More than a decade later, erosion spread dioxin-laced fill dirt to a nearby subdivision and contaminated a creek. As for developer Wurm, he believes the Callahan property has been cleaned up, but hes counting on the findings of state and federal regulators to protect him against any future liability. The cleanup crew immediately sent 592 drums to a landfill in Wright City, Mo., but more than 600 barrels were stored on-site, along with 500 cubic yards of soil. Indeed, it borders on negligence. BOX 191606 The missive from Martha Steincamp, the EPA regional counsel, instructed Taylor and other members of the Times Beach Action Group (TBAG) to turn over any information they may have concerning potential hazardous waste sites in the St. Louis area. It was only by chance that officials discovered dioxin here two weeks ago after interviewing residents who recalled that a trucker had sprayed oil on their dirt roads to keep down dust a decade ago. Tom Whats-his-face at the Post-Dispatch, he didnt have time. Most of all missing accountability, Stelzer wrote in a piece titled Why the Times Beach Incinerator Should Be Shut Down.. Times Beach had paid Bliss $4,900 to spray its streets in 1972. After all, Bliss sprayed the oil on his own property, and once even claimed to have tasted it to test its strength. They could smoke four packs a day without any harm.. He edited his footage down to a two-minute video, which he argues provides vivid firsthand evidence that racism is alive and well in parts of the country. is jerry russell bliss still alive They had rebuilt before, and they would do it again. If you looked up, there it was, Copeland says, still giggling about it 40 years later. JERRY-RUSSELL BLISS, INC The shop sells Route 66 everythingshot glasses, piggy banks, polo shirtsand metal prints of old business signs. Its important for people to know what happened, to remember. The EPA, Monsanto, and the Cover Up Esther Hicks "They got rid of Agent Orange by burning it," Hedeman said of the dioxin-based herbicide used widely in Vietnam. Jerry Bliss was the first witness today when the hearing resumed. Although Mr. Lambarth was subpoenaed as a witness for the state, his testimony tended to support Mr. Bliss's contention that at the time he picked up the dioxin wastes, he did not know they were hazardous. I think its unfair, unjust All my friends say that I was a scapegoat.. Officials seemed to be acting as if the residents might be contagious. TBAG had opposed the project, saying it was unsafe to human health and the environment. Sewer workers discovered the first batch of barrels on the property of the Rosalie Investment Co., near the intersection of Strecker and Clayton roads, in July 1980. The waste oil salvagers list of clients included: Monsanto, Wagner Electric, Union Electric, Carter Carburetor, American Can and the now-defunct Lianco Container Corp., a can manufacturer jointly owned by Libby, McNeil and Libby and Anheuser- Busch Inc. Monsanto created dioxin as a waste byproduct in its chemical manufacturing processes and also exclusively made toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at its Krummrich plant in Sauget, Ill. until 1977. At the hearing on the matter, the DNR submitted two contracts between Monsanto and Russell Bliss dated 1975 and 1976, the time period in which Bliss is known to have sprayed Terre Du Lac. During the Depression, a lot of the people in the city moved into their homes in Times Beach to ride out the hard times, Leistner says. She worked as a receptionist at a dental office and became a Times Beach alderwoman in 1981. At that point, the EPA decided incineration would be the best way to remediate the site. She started doing amateur detective work. There are many epidemiological studies that showed health effects in humans exposed to dioxins, says Dr. Hana Pohl, an environmental health scientist at the CDC. He was 91. April 28 (UPI) -- A lost dog in Northern Ireland was found 26 days later after walking more than 40 miles to the home of his former owners. The words come easily, honed over decades of repetition. The legendary and controversial TV host was 79 years old. The liquor store doubled as a tackle shop, selling rods and bait. Denial of Application. She pleaded for action. On a hunch, one stable owner dug up his contaminated dirt and sold it as landfill for homesites in Imperial. Stelzer of the Riverfront Times. The first offers were made that month. Feild did not return phone calls. (Despite repeated requests, the agency was unable to comment for this story. As the offers improved slightly, many of the holdouts grudgingly gave in. Everybody was friendly in Times Beach, she says. Among those who doubt the EPAs blanket endorsement is Tammy Shea, a Wildwood resident. I had to go tell him we did it.. This is only her second time coming to the reunion. He was 80. United States v. Bliss, 133 F.R.D. 559 - Casetext The walls smelled. The discovery followed an announcement earlier last year of another suburban dioxin site in Ellisville on Lemar Drive. Leistner doesnt go to the reunions. She is survived by her devoted The way we understand it, Monsanto told EPA investigators that they did not hire Bliss end of story, says Taylor. Alligator removed from South Carolina resident's garage. The biggest fish appears to have either slipped off or broken the line, however. The only request: wash down the trailers first. By the time he answered the knock, the harried courier had already departed, leaving an unexpected Federal Express packet on his threshold. The lots were small, and you needed at least two to build a house. "I don't think we're proud of the track record," said Fred A. Lafser, director of Missouri's Department of Natural Resources at one hearing. I didnt set the price, but its my fault. The town is gone, but the people remain. Eventually, it was. Staff writer Dale Russakoff contributed to this report. Memories of the eviction are still too emotional. It was described as a 500-year flood. On any given afternoon, youre bound to see deer wandering in the woods. Man, I loved living down here, he says. Seven families sued the responsible Realtor, and they were awarded a cumulative settlement of more than $500,000. Steve Taylor (at left) never lived in Times Beach, but he did spend time at one of the horse farms where Bliss sprayed. She currently holds the position of Senior Program Manager at The Walt Disney Company. Copeland didnt know it then, but he had inadvertently contributed to wiping the entire town off the map. asked Bill Keffer, the beleaguered EPA engineer in command here. Leistner holds her own grudges. Once their stay in temporary housing ran out, it was hard for people to find homes. Offers were based solely on square footage, which angered the owners of newer, nicer houses. Some of it, he buried in drums. But even in the heat of election season, Taylor is happy to carve out a couple of hours to make his case about Times Beach and the problems he perceives with the cleanup. For three years, investigators were baffled. To say that dioxin has never caused anythingI saw it wipe out a whole community, she says. (Burford would resign a month later, amid allegations of mismanagement of the Superfund program.). Why put your tail between your legs and run now after you been living with it so long? Just about everything seems out of place, even the stuff that says Route 66 on it. She earned a business degree from Maryville University and served as the Treasurer of the family car business as well as a horse trainer. The news, on the other hand, broke on the 22nd of December, with no mention of any accident. After the discovery of the waste a decade later, Callahan testified in St. Louis County Circuit Court that he had used a lift truck to dump drums of waste, which Bliss had picked up at local industries, on the Callahan property. The EPA received its own test results on December 23 and delivered a Christmas message to the citizens of Times Beach. But if youre in the market for something called a Menopause Meter, youre in the right place. Ultimately, there is probably more than one correct answer to that question. At this point in time, I have seen nothing to suggest that there may be additional sites out there, says Feild. Donna Lopers family moved to Times Beach when she was 6 months old. She still blames me. Instead, she has learned the little she knows from the scant newspaper coverage afforded the subject. It went to the rooftop., Boo Sowards, a tall, muscular man wearing a Mizzou T-shirt, jeans, and work boots, grew up in Times Beach. Officials blame their inaction on scientists who once believed dioxin decays faster than it does. He was 92. Jerry Russell Bliss Aussie tourist 'very sorry' for drunken, nude rampage in Indonesia. Bliss has said he was not told the oil contained dioxin. The offers were very low, so we got organized, Leistner says. It was beautiful., Yes. In laboratory animals, dioxin causes cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, diseases of the nerves, kidneys, liver and even death at the lowest levels tested, a few parts per trillion in some cases. Given these revelations and the luxury of six additional years of hindsight, the lack of prudence exhibited by the EPA and DNR at Terre Du Lac is indeed inexplicable. The only building that remains is a former roadhouse, now a museum and gift shop. Her children helped walk the horses and worked in the stables, she says. Officials won't know until next month, when 250 new dirt samples come back from the lab. She wants to let people remember the good times, and she knows that she reminds them of the bad ones. April 28 (UPI) -- A bear stuck in a Nevada tree was rescued by wildlife officials and firefighters who tranquilized the bruin and then caught the large animal in a tarp. By 1982, the Missouri attorney generals office had entered negotiations with two other firms, American Can and GK Technologies. In the past, Jerry has also been known as Jerry Russell Bliss and Jerry R Bliss. The full-page advertisements boasted that the sweltering heat and discomfort of the city are unknown at Times Beach.. She took photos, dispatching them along with names of chemical companies and sites he visited to EPA and state officials in 1972. There are other holes in the EPAs theory. The trees are thin, which helps visibility. Piatt's daughter became ill, one of nine people to get sick. He was 85 years old. Sue OLeary, 76, lived in the Beach for 20 years. Young wonders if a hysterectomy at 23, headaches so severe that medicine can't relieve the pain, her sons' rashes and birth defects in the children of several neighbors came from exposure to the toxic chemical. The rabbits died. I would move back in a second., After the flood, he and his brothers began rebuilding immediately. Hazardous materials have been identified in 17 waste disposal locations on the site. As McClellan points out, Houk was the person who ordered it in the first place. He is now 78 and lives just off I-44 near Cuba. she asked. Hes been sued repeatedly. Those who do return, however, are eager to have the EPA check their homes for dioxin and fill out CDC health questionnaires as part of a $500,000 statewide study of potential dioxin victims. He carries a brown leather briefcase, packed full of documents, many of which he says are classified. We Dioxin, its silent, unseen. Using disguises and borrowed cars, she tailed Bliss and the other drivers who worked for him. Jerry Russell Obituary - St. Louis, MO Scientists disagree about how much it takes to put someone at risk. But at this point, I cant really discuss the alternatives. Remedial action is mandated by the EPA in a residential setting at one ppb or higher. Bliss, 48, who for years made his living hauling hazardous wastes and used oil from factories, has been quoted here as blaming a now-defunct pharmaceutical firm Theyve dragged me through the courts and I dont think theyre ever gonna quit, he told CNN. It was nearly a week before people could return to begin the daunting task of rebuilding. Jerry Russell Residents started to tell stories. Parents in nearby towns wince when Karen Adams, a Times Beach school bus driver, picks up their kids. In addition to the oil that he picked up at lube joints, he also hauled sludge from industrial facilities. Every year, former residents of Times Beach gather on the site to see old friends, tell stories, and inevitably shed a few tears. Past Addresses: Eureka MO, Saint James MO By its order dated August 7, 1987, this Court found the NEPACCO defendants, IPC, Russell Bliss and Jerry-Russell Bliss, Inc. jointly and severally liable Mr. Bliss contends he was not warned the dioxin wastes were hazardous and that his license has been denied unfairly because of past practices that were legal and Judy Piatt, who was co-owner of Shenandoah Stables in 1971 when the arena was oiled for dust control, testified that the driver for Russell Bliss, a waste oil dealer, ''told me there was special stuff put in the oil for special customers that would kill flies.''. One day, on a dare, the boys sneaked into a church and pilfered its bell. The kids all played together, she says, and we had birthday parties and invited all the neighbor kids. She misses being able to ride her bike to the mailbox or the store. A 74-year-old grandmother, Leistner looks 10 years younger and remains as feisty as ever, with no plans to retire. How deep did it go down? While explaining, in meticulous and sometimes graphic detail, all that her children have gone through, Leistner is on the verge of tears, her voice wavering. Jerry Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers owner who shepherded the NBA team to 10 championships from the Showtime dynasty of the 1980s to the Kobe Bryant era, died Monday. This is especially true for 2,3,7,8tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, which is the most toxic and the one found at Times Beach. Several other sites were created because government agencies failed to prevent removal of tainted soil to other locations. [1] [2] [3] Jerry Hicks died November 18, 2011, from cancer. Russell Bliss was accused of picking up chemical waste from a plant in Verona in the early 70s, mixing it with used motor oil from service stations, and selling the toxic elixir to horse farms, churches, and small towns as a dust suppressant. S.C. woman wins $300,000 lottery prize -- her second jackpot in 3 years. In 1994, the Post-Dispatch reported a dispute involving homebuyers in Turnberry Place subdivision, which abuts the Bliss farm. If you were born and raised there, you grew up there, but then you moved there., On Saturday nights, she and her husband would get together with friends to play penny-ante poker. Look at the record of decision. For one, Houk made his oft-quoted statement in the early 90s at a convention sponsored by Syntex, the company responsible for the dioxin that Bliss dumped in Times Beach. The haul included drums laden with cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). At a recent town meeting, angry Times Beachers wondered why, if the chemical is so dangerous, the government didn't supply them with the same protective suits worn by the EPA workers. Again, it showed that the incinerator was safe, and again, Taylor found flaws in the testing procedure. The fact of the matter is I dont believe people had evidence on Monsanto. After the flood, 40 residents at one trailer park vowed to go home again. He believes that his grandfathers health suffered as a result of the spraying. The EPA has refused to reveal the list of alternatives prior to the publication of its EE/CAs, but according to Ellisville city manager Jeff LaGarce, the choices will likely include a technique called thermal desorption, an unproven process that allows the waste to be detoxified on site. He reported a litany of problems: Documents were lost; samples were mislabeled and switched; a chain of custody was not established. "I was only following orders, but I dream about it," he said. And despite McClellans best efforts to engender compassion for him, Bliss remains an unsympathetic character to those affected by his actions. Stuff flooded in for us to have Christmas like you wouldnt believe, she says. Of 15 confirmed dioxin sites in Missouri, five were contaminated by waste oil laced with dioxin from a southwest Missouri chemical plant for which Mr. Bliss hauled wastes in 1971. Nobody knew it then, of course, but that oil contained massive levels of dioxin, far more than the oil sprayed at Times Beach. Jerry Hatcher, the town's heavy equipment dealer, lost a sale when a customer found dust on a tractor tire. On December 5, the river jumped its banks, and quickly, the entire town was submerged. Contacted by phone last Friday at EPA headquarters in Kansas City, Martha Steincamp, regional counsel for the EPA, could not provide details on the Bliss-Ellisville cleanups and referred all questions on the matter to Bob Feild, the agencys project manager. And some, he mixed together with oil in storage tanks in both Missouri and Illinois, before selling it as a dust suppressant. But it would be wrong to think that nature has only now come under attack in this part of West St. Louis County. According to the accepted version of events, Bliss obtained the dioxin in 1971 from a plant in southwest Missouri that produced hexachlorophene and a chemical component of Agent Orange, the dioxin-laden defoliant used in the Vietnam War. Leistner rejects the notion that its all simply genetic. Dioxin is considered a probable human carcinogen and is known to cause reproductive and immunological health problems in animals and humans. It's been 30 years since dioxin contamination was discovered in Times Beach, in one of the largest environmental disasters in our nation's history. They wanted more money, Leistner says. Leistner (at right) remembers four churches and four taverns, a perfect balance. The new site also raises the specter that there may be an untold number of other contaminated sites waiting to be found. Into it would be loaded all of the contaminated soil, not just from Times Beach, but from dioxin sites across Missouri. The DNR investigation of Terre Du Lac in the spring of 1983, however, does not appear to have been as thorough as the EPA now claims. They were looking for who did it. In this instance, however, because the highest level of dioxin is believed to be buried more than a foot deep, it has been deemed safe by the EPA. Before Times Beach the most notorious of the sites contaminated by Bliss became a household word, the EPA had already rated the Callahan property one of the most contaminated hazardous-waste sites in the nation. The single cell was only large enough for one, so the boys had to take turns doing their hard time. Most lung cancer is caused by smoking, but most people who smoke dont get lung cancer. Natalie faced her 20-year battle with Multiple Sclerosis with bravery, grace, and dignity. Bliss Each gap represents a former road. There are a lot of people I know who were exposed to the same stuff and moreand didnt., Today, the land that was once Times Beach has been turned into Route 66 State Park. The EPA has long blamed the dispersion of the toxins on Russell Bliss, the salvage operator who sprayed dioxin-contaminated oil on unpaved roads, parking lots and horse arenas as a dust suppressant in the early 1970s. If the city approves their respective developments, Wurm and Byrne hope to avoid this legal pitfall by having buyers sign a disclosure form saying that they were told in advance of the lands history. This is the sort of place that, anywhere else, might seem like a harmless tourist trap. Her nine siblings have all lived healthy lives. Ive been looking for answers, and I dont know what direction to go in, says Jordan, who was belatedly informed by a neighbor of an EPA informational meeting held on March 12. Monsanto is a big, big company. Three years after the horses died, dioxin was confirmed in dirt Bliss had sprayed. WITNESS SAYS DRIVER LIED ABOUT SPRAYING DIOXIN He didnt want to look at all this shit. Sometimes, Copeland and Bunch would spend a summer day walking the railroad tracks on the west end of town. On the recommendation of an EPA ombudsman, a retest was completed. Natalie M. Bliss, 58, passed peacefully on Tuesday, February 2, 2021, in her home with her husband and daughter by her side. They put up drywall in her house. Bliss, 48, who for years made his living hauling hazardous wastes and used oil from factories, has been quoted here as blaming a now-defunct pharmaceutical firm for failing to warn him of the dangers in its waste. "You'd tell people, 'it's got to be a chemical in the horse arena' and they'd look at you like you were nuts," she said. "They'd tell me, 'You can't see it, taste it or feel it.' Dioxin levels here are lower, but wider spread, officials said. That the provision of the Superfund law the EPA is using against the environmentalists is normally reserved for attacking corporate polluters hasnt been overlooked. At the time, the EPA considered anything above 1 part per billion hazardous. The citys mayor, Joe Capstick, didnt like the sound of PCBs, and he needed to look out for his family, so he resigned and left. The oil, it turned out, was laced with dioxin. See the article in its original context from. Its good to put a lot of thought into a process such as this, but when are we going to see some outcome? The bank that stood between the town and the river was steep and tall. Bliss has accounted for spreading at least 7,000 gallons of dioxin-contaminated oil across the state, but officials fear there was much more. If they did anything wrong, you were going to find out about it, because one of the mothers is going to tell.. Bliss son still lives on a Strecker Road property once owned by his father, from which the EPA only a few years ago finally removed more than 900 truckloads of dioxin-contaminated dirt in addition to an estimated 1,500-2,000 barrels of toxic chemicals. Even so, between picnics with neighbors, river recreation, town dances, and quite a few saloons, life in the Beach, as old-timers called it, was downright pastoral. A dozen rabbits' ears were swabbed with a 300 ppb dioxin solution taken from contaminated soil residue. Downstream from the Verona plant, dairyman Bill Davis watched eight cows die after they drank from a river a half-mile from the factory where all Missouri's dioxin was once produced. "This is a war to stay on the land you worked and paid for. But the bridge is closed, so you have to drive back out onto Interstate 44 west, go to Eureka, turn around, and come back the other way. She was loyal, selfless, honest, and witty. It's fear of the unknown.". Its no problem. Authorities were tipped in November to the spraying in Times Beach, much as they were tipped off earlier to 15 other contaminated Missouri sites. The government estimates there are at least 14,000 hazardous waste dumps around the country that are leaking poisons, and residents in those areas want answers, too. They found an artificial tree among the debris that the flood had deposited, so they loaded it into the back of a pickup truck and ran it through a carwash. It appears that it is possible that certain leads werent followed up on because they didnt fit their theory of where this waste came from.. Taylors overarching complaint is that the EPAs focus was too narrow. What Im going to ask is that they provide the citizens with some level of accountability, because we certainly arent getting it from the EPA and we shouldnt have to depend on the developer to provide it.. They married in California and moved in with his parents, sharing a two-bedroom house on Forest Road. Well, you know, Leistner says now, Ive never collected.. He operates a roadside attraction, a classic car museum in St. James, and he travels to flea markets. Some streets here measured 100 parts per billion--100 times higher than the level the CDC considers dangerous. There are no signs to warn these park users that they are trekking through a hazardous waste site.