Tennant Accused of ‘Dirty Hand’
West Covina Mayor Forest Tennant is mentioned in the Aug. 18 Times as leading a crusade against garbage burners in the San Gabriel Valley. When I heard Mayor Tennant speak before homeowners in Hacienda Heights recently, I couldn’t believe my ears.
Having known Tennant to have been part of the problem and not part of the solution to the BKK mess, I thought for a minute that an impostor had taken the place of the West Covina mayor.
If a tiny fraction of Mayor Tennant’s newly discovered energy and zest for a safe and healthy valley had been evidenced years ago, the Dracula (otherwise known as the BKK dump) that Tennant has been helping to feed, clothe and shelter in his own backyard would have been taken care of long ago.
A medical doctor and a member of the City Council, Tennant should have been in the front lines of the battle against dumps in this valley. Tennant did not support Proposition K, which would have banned toxic waste in West Covina. He did not want any city inspections of the dump. He did not want any lawsuits against BKK.
A Mayor Tennant leading the fight for a safe and healthy San Gabriel Valley is equivalent to a collaborator for the enemy occupying a position reserved for a Gen. Patton. BKK dump is no longer accepting toxic waste in spite of--and not due to--Tennant. For years, while his constituents near and around the BKK dump were screaming and yelling and warning about the dangers to people’s health and safety, Tennant and his kind took the side of BKK.
No amount of posturing in August, 1985, can erase the fact that Mayor Tennant comes to the whole valley with a “dirty hand” in that he has partial responsibility for the erection of, on the most prominent hilltop in West Covina, the BKK dump. If he has had a “conversion,” we welcome Tennant to the fold. Why doesn’t he first push for or get behind the health study plan developed by the Coalition of West Covina Homeowners and recently presented to EPA?
ROLLAND M. BOCETA
Coalition of West Covina Homeowners, West Covina
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