is jerry russell bliss still alive

She remembers the camaraderie. Of particular note was a chemical plant in Verona, which had been used to produce Agent Orange and hexachlorophene, an ingredient used in soap. Did it get into the water supply? To say that dioxin has never caused anythingI saw it wipe out a whole community, she says. OLeary (at right) came back to her house as soon as she could after the flood. Times Beach, which involved burning over 265,000 tons of dioxin contaminated waste from more than two dozen sites in eastern Missouri. S.C. woman wins $300,000 lottery prize -- her second jackpot in 3 years. But now, she turns indignant, her jaw tightening and eyes narrowing, seething at the people who dare to argue that dioxin never hurt anyone in Missouri. People magazine profiled their last stand. A flood, thats real. It's fear of the unknown.". Using a microphone, Burford announced to the people outside that the Superfund would buy their homes at fair market value. There are few records. The EPA has taken all those necessary steps and there are no problems relative to any exposures to the public at this point. Stelzer of the Riverfront Times. It was so awful. You can move it, but you can't get rid of it. He is now 78 and lives just off I-44 near Cuba. I guess Wildwood is just going to have to look at it from a credibility standpoint, says Shea. Were going to have to weigh out a lot of factors. We decided that we would do it ourselves, so we started taking up a collection to pay to have our streets tested. When the EPA got wind of that, it decided to test immediately, too. It was safe. The rabbits died. Its clean as a whistle, says Wurm of the Callahan property. She confronted Bliss, but he insisted he had used only crankcase oil. They would write him a check., Rollins allegations have been corroborated to a degree by Judy Piatt, the one-time owner of Shenandoah Stables in Moscow Mill, Mo. The walls smelled. Times Beach was founded, oddly enough, as a newspaper promotion. We do not have the expertise that the U.S. EPA and Missouri Department of Natural Resources have. oklahoma public land deer hunting Accept X No. Missouri's problem is different from New York's Love Canal, which Hooker Chemical used as a toxic dump for dioxin until it was discovered in 1978. But this blue-collar town beneath gray granite bluffs on the muddy Meramec River has become a symbol of a national trauma no one seems to know how to control. Taylors overarching complaint is that the EPAs focus was too narrow. I believe that the whole area there is littered with contamination pockets, she says. His acting career began at the age of 12 when he was given a role in the western series The Another has a rare form of epilepsy. He didnt want to look at all this shit. Across the street in the park, a family of four walks with their two dogs along the asphalt trail that skirts the dioxin-contaminated site. From publicly released EPA documents, this much is known: In the winter of 1981-1982, the DNR and EPA excavated more than 1,200 barrels of toxic waste from the Callahan property. She was loyal, selfless, honest, and witty. Current Address: ETZR Strecker Rd, Ballwin, MO. "Bliss told me it couldn't be in the oil because he didn't haul chemicals.". A majority of residents realized that there were no available methods then for cleaning up dioxin, and they didnt see the point of rebuilding homes that had been destroyed by the flood anyway (especially since Times Beach had voted itself out of the National Flood Insurance Program a few years before). Further, the incinerator testing had a variety of shortcomings, which were enumerated in a series of stories by C.D. Parents in nearby towns wince when Karen Adams, a Times Beach school bus driver, picks up their kids. The more you smoke, the worse it is for your health. May she rest there in peace, and may those who cared for her continue to feel her unconditional love. While the CDC warned residents to evacuate and stay out to avoid dioxin exposure, the jury is still out on its long-term effect on humans, as well as the extent of contamination. So why were they in such a rush to get the barrels off the Callahan property? asks Shea. You got to do your homework on these pieces, otherwise youre wasting your time. Even so, he has consistently denied having any knowledge that the materials were toxic. Teachers made them sit at the front of class, away from the rest of the students, in case they were contagious. She was one of a dozen witnesses called so far this week by attorneys for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which has denied Jerry Russell Bliss Inc., Mr. Bliss's concern, the hazardous waste transporter license it needs to stay in business. The EPA received its own test results on December 23 and delivered a Christmas message to the citizens of Times Beach. It was an abortion. ", Larry Collier pledges to hoist an American flag in his yard as a symbol of defiance. Just little bullshit. The same man was under investigation for spraying dioxin-laced oil on roads across the state in the early 1970s. A trio joggers run past them. Only Bliss actually knows how much he knew about what he was hauling. The Registered Agent on file for this company is Evelyn J. Bliss and is located at 149 Strecker Road, Ballwin, MO 63011. The full-page advertisements boasted that the sweltering heat and discomfort of the city are unknown at Times Beach.. After all, Bliss sprayed the oil on his own property, and once even claimed to have tasted it to test its strength. One day, on a dare, the boys sneaked into a church and pilfered its bell. The dioxin has been traced to six tanker truckloads of waste Bliss picked up in 1971 from the now-defunct Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Co. in Verona, Mo. "Then the dioxin scare hit and most said they didn't want to fight it," said Charlie Stone, the park owner. We continue to follow up on any information that is provided to us by the public.. The area has been fenced off and excavated. "This is a war to stay on the land you worked and paid for. In the past, Jerry has also been known as Jerry Russell Bliss and Jerry R Bliss. 1 killed in shooting at Massachusetts house party, Heavy shelling in Kherson, Kharkiv destroys residences, Cuba postpones International Workers' Day parade over fuel shortages, Democrats, Republicans remain split on debt ceiling plan. In 1971, Judy Piatt hired Bliss to spray waste oil on her horse arena, near Moscow Mills, to alleviate dust. She contacted authorities, but their response came too slowly for her. In both instances, the allegations were not based so much on environmental concerns as they were on the bottom line. (Despite repeated requests, the agency was unable to comment for this story. Waste was tracked to the Verona plant. Why put your tail between your legs and run now after you been living with it so long? Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Leistner holds her own grudges. Many have relocated with federal emergency help, but hard-headed "river rats," as they call themselves, are rebuilding modest homes in the "Show Me" state. Bob Feild, who headed the EPAs clean up at Times Beach, says the agency is currently following up on several leads it received recently regarding other potential hazardous waste sites in the St. Louis area. Regulatory authorities became aware of the contamination in October. Aside from a motorcycle and a possibly vintage gas pump, the museum contains items that are fairly similar to those in the gift shop, except that these tchotchkes are ostensibly not for sale. McClellan calls Bliss an intelligent and thoughtful man, and hes stayed in touch with the erstwhile waste hauler over the years. 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. Although the state hastened to dispose of hundreds of barrels at the Callahan site in the early 1980s, the EPA did not close its case on the property until last September. Taylor thought that sounded like a bad idea, so he co-founded the Times Beach Action Group to oppose the incinerator. One document that TBAG copied is a verbatim transcript of an interview conducted by an EPA official in 1980 at the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City. "There may be as many as 70 Times Beaches," said a senior official of the Environmental Protection Agency's hazardous waste cleanup program. Compelling evidence of Bliss misdeeds had been presented only months earlier as a part of the DNRs effort to prevent his son from being granted a hazardous waste haulers license. Representatives of the DNR and the Missouri Attorney Generals office were also present. By 1982, the Missouri attorney generals office had entered negotiations with two other firms, American Can and GK Technologies. The activist points out that no PCBs were found in southwest Missouri in the tanks at the Verona, Mo. Eventually, they moved into a place of their own and started a family. Bliss sprayed dioxin-contaminated oil on unpaved roads, parking lots, truck terminals and horse arenas as a dust suppressant. Some was used in highway roadbeds. 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. It has caused a great deal of concern for people. She remembers being able to let her kids run free without having to worry. Natalie is reunited in Heaven with her parents, Robert and Nanon Hyink; her mother-in-law, Evelyn Bliss; and a host of cowboys, cowgirls, and horses that loved her deeply. To outsiders, Times Beach residents might as well have bubonic plague. The citys nearly 2,500 residents were divided about what to do next, whether to stay or to ask for a buyout of their property through the EPAs Superfund. After dealing with the revelatory shock, the stress, the mysterious health issues, and the anger from all sides, yes, Marilyn Leistner would like you to remember Times Beach. He was 92. Copeland made friends with a kid who went by the name Boner T. Bunch. 20,000 cubic yards of soil contaminated with 2,3,7,8-TCDD. Back in 1982, she called Bliss and asked him, point-blank, whether he had sprayed Times Beach with dioxin. WebView the profiles of people named Jerry Russell. Then came a 7-Eleven. From the picture window of her ranch-style home, Lorraine Jordan has a view of James S. McDonnell Park across Adie Road, where an eight-foot tall cyclone fence is now being constructed. Surveyors have also staked out a section of the park near Jordans residence with bright orange flags. Denial of Application. 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. She doesnt speak to me., Eventually, the properties of those who didnt take the buyout went into condemnation. The announcement of the new site came only weeks after the EPA and DNR had completed their controversial incineration project at One residence has had to be evacuated because of interior contamination. Much to the chagrin of longtime residents, a trailer park opened, followed by a second one. This is the sort of place that, anywhere else, might seem like a harmless tourist trap. Instead, she has learned the little she knows from the scant newspaper coverage afforded the subject. To pad the citys coffers, it stationed a cop with a radar gun out on the highway. Entrepreneurs like Truman Nickel, however, are busy hauling away beat-up mobile homes for resale in Alabama and Louisiana with the EPA's blessing. I didnt have anything to do with their money.. I dont know his real name, because he never did say it, Copeland says. Ultimately, there is probably more than one correct answer to that question. Bliss faces five lawsuits from property owners, officials said, and an unrelated indictment for tax evasion. She won't ever come back to the white frame house that sits abandoned in this flood-ravaged town of 2,500 after learning that her two sons played in dirt contaminated with one of the most dangerous chemicals known to man: dioxin. So she took matters into her own hands. He was 80. 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. The requests to develop these two properties have dredged up a litany of questions that have never been adequately answered by EPA officials or by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR). And since the buyout checks were so meager, the residents couldnt afford much, anyway. In Times Beach, an ex-truck driver for hauler Russell Bliss came forward to retrace his route. You cant tell me dioxin has never caused anything. Exposure can cause cancer, immunodeficiency, endocrine disorders, and reproductive and developmental issues, says Dr. Arnold Schecter, a professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health and one of the worlds foremost experts on dioxin. They also had to spend several weeks working on the citys road crew. Wurm is referring to Tom Uhlenbrock, who first reported the Wildwood development plans in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on June 11. Some streets here measured 100 parts per billion--100 times higher than the level the CDC considers dangerous. Mrs. Piatt, who said Mr. Bliss had been paid $150 to oil the floor of the arena near Moscow Mills, Mo., described in gruesome detail how pet cats and dogs and a total of 62 horses succumbed to the poisoning and died from 1971 to 1973. She had cancer in her female organs that had metastasized to her blood, Leistner says. Its very confusing, the fact that theyve kind of lumped these properties together yet dealt with them differently. 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. 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. 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. No one listened. This was home. They married in California and moved in with his parents, sharing a two-bedroom house on Forest Road. April 28 (UPI) -- A South Carolina woman won a $300,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket just three years after winning a $250,000 lottery jackpot. Steve Taylor (at left) never lived in Times Beach, but he did spend time at one of the horse farms where Bliss sprayed. I will bet you two weeks pay there is no dioxin on your streets, she recalls Bliss telling her. Look at the record of decision. According to a 1981 IEPA document, Piatt recalled that Bliss possibly obtained waste from Monsanto. The IEPA summary goes on to state: Judy Piatt has a diary and pictures of such activities, but will not release these to (EPA) Region VII on the advise of her attorney., But perhaps the most damning indictment comes from Bliss himself. Anyone can read what you share. I think theyve done that.. One of Copelands tasks was to help a waste hauler named Russell Bliss spread used motor oil on the unpaved streets, in an effort to control dust. The EPA removed the remaining barrels in July 1983. State officials have cited Mr. Bliss's role in the dioxin case and other pollution episodes over the last decade as reasons for denying his license. Dog missing for 26 days walked 40 miles to his former home. This site that was discovered over in Ellisville was completely new information, he adds. That paved the way for final approval of the buyout. He spent years lobbying against casino expansion, and hes now the communications director for embattled Rep. Todd Akin. They wanted more money, Leistner says. By visiting our site, you agree to our privacy policy regarding cookies, tracking statistics, etc. Monsanto refused to consider the governors appeal, even though before a federal ban on the chemical the company had been the sole producer of PCBs in North America. Sue OLeary, 76, lived in the Beach for 20 years. "I was only following orders, but I dream about it," he said. Will it be cheaper to buy out the town or clean it up?". After the flood, 40 residents at one trailer park vowed to go home again. Some of it, he buried in drums. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. They could smoke four packs a day without any harm.. Tests show dioxin in the fish. As things stand, Byrne Builders holds an option to buy the land from its current owners, Gerald and Patricia Primm. April 28 (UPI) -- The PGA Tour's Mexico Open was briefly interrupted when a swarm of bees sent a group of golfers ducking in the grass. Our city adopted a resolution asking them to remedy this problem as quickly and efficiently as possible, says LaGarce. The next day, he was sure that somebody was doing it to get even with him, Leistner says. WebIn his early life, Jerry Hicks had been a circus acrobat for two years in Cuba, and then, beginning in 1948, had toured for 20 years as a musician, master of ceremonies, and comedian. The DNR presented further evidence at the same proceeding that linked the chemical manufacturer indirectly to a 1977 incident in which a Bliss driver dumped toxic chemicals including one exclusively made by Monsanto at a site in Jefferson County. Monsanto is where we got the pesticide, the stuff that I thought smelled like bug spray. Sitting at her dining-room table, gazing out across the hillside through her glass patio doors, she begins. You can see it, deal with it. A few days after it reopened, the city received the results from its soil tests. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. asked Bill Keffer, the beleaguered EPA engineer in command here. She lived there for a quarter century, until December 1982, at which point the town was thrown into what she calls the time of flood and dioxin. She has spent the past quarter century telling the Times Beach story. This is especially true for 2,3,7,8tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, which is the most toxic and the one found at Times Beach. The concern's application was denied in early 1981, but Mr. Bliss has continued operating pending the appeal hearing that began here Monday morning. When I talked with the (St. Louis) Post-Dispatch, I got misquoted. As with the gift shop, this would be a fine place to go running or maybe toss a Frisbee, if not for the memory of a community gone up in smoke. Leistner remembers Times Beach kids being ostracized at school. We would invite the press out, and we would spray-paint the prices on the homes. She has a photograph of a house with $15,800 scrawled across the siding. The initial unearthing of the contaminated caches led one state environmental official to say at the time, People move out here to escape pollution. One says, Is it hot in here, or is it just me?. When everybody was scrambling, because we lived almost to Blakey [Road], farthest away, we didnt think the water was going to come up to us, Purler says. It was in Illinois and it had a big fence around it. Truckers crudely called him the hemorrhoid with the Polaroid. He wrote ticket after ticket. Waiting proved to be a bad move. She wants to let people remember the good times, and she knows that she reminds them of the bad ones. I didnt set the price, but its my fault. "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. Officials blame their inaction on scientists who once believed dioxin decays faster than it does. There are no signs to warn these park users that they are trekking through a hazardous waste site. 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. They received modest settlements, but the victims were required to absolve the defendants of any future liability. As the offers improved slightly, many of the holdouts grudgingly gave in. Our approach is not to destroy it, but to assure public exposure can be limited" to healthy levels. As much as I hated to see that happen to people, Leistner says, it was part of the contract to get the buyout going and to get all of those people out of there and in permanent homes., Still, all these years later, animosity persists. she asked. It would be better to err on the side of safety, says Shea, than risk exposing people to more hazardous waste by digging foundations on the Callahan property and inadvertently excavating a heretofore undetected layer of toxic waste. Bliss became wealthy spraying it across the state, and he even sprayed it on his own farm, which he would have avoided had he known it was toxic, he has said. He was 85 years old. 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 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. Bliss then mixes the dioxin with waste oil. first published in the Riverfront Times (St. Louis), March 25, 1998 The trees are thin, which helps visibility. Businesses were locating there, Leistner says. At the time, the EPA considered anything above 1 part per billion hazardous. The Vietnam veterans got a huge settlement, Taylor says. An early EPA investigation found portions of the Primm property and three other adjacent parcels to be contaminated. 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 Finally, Dr. Renate Kimbrough, a CDC toxicologist, suggested testing for dioxin, the only dangerous hexachlorophene byproduct. The Times Beach story began as a medical mystery in 1971 when Bliss was hired to dispose of 18,000 gallons of gooey, foul-smelling sludge from the defunct Northeastern Pharmaceutical & Chemical Co. in Verona. April 28 (UPI) -- A British piercing enthusiast broke his own Guinness World Record when the number of flesh tunnels in his face increased to 17. The company's filing status is listed as Voluntarily Dissolved and its File Number is 00205495. She is survived by her devoted He faced a maximum of nine years in prison. She started doing amateur detective work. I know Monsanto was not a viable defendant in this litigation.. When he resigned, Leistner became acting mayor. Our materials are appropriately handled at waste disposal operations., Martha Steincamp, the chief regional counsel for the EPA, concurs with Monsantos professed innocence. Under crossexamination after Tuesday's testimony, Mr. Lambarth acknowledged that since Jan. 1 this year he has been working for a waste oil concern that is competing with Mr. Bliss for customers.

Jess And Kristin Johns Drama, Quitting Before Getting Fired For Theft, Nicole Zavala Botched, Brave Church Denver Staff, Articles I