Residents <i> Are </i> Worried About Toxics

Re “Westminster Toxics Worry Everyone Except Residents” (Aug. 25): The reporter wrote as if my neighborhood really is passive and doesn’t care about the toxic problem. Well, that just isn’t so.

My family and I have lived in our home since 1974. It wasn’t until 1983 that we received a letter from the health department stating that we might have a potential problem; it was handled very lightly, and the department did not seem too concerned.

We heard again from department officials in 1987. That is when the city, along with the health department, had a community meeting. I believe the whole tract of residents showed up at the Community Center. Future meetings were held . . . and each time attendance declined. The decrease in attendance was not due to lack of interest; one reason is that not all residents received meeting notices because they were not directly involved (even though they are indirectly involved), and the other reason is the health department would give the same report each time.

We have heard the same information over and over and over and over each time. Also, at those meetings they (health department officials) would say that another test for this and that had to be done and it wouldn’t be until some time in the future that the results of those tests would be available. Then, they would have another meeting, and again it would be a rehash of the same problem, and again, they would have to test another batch of this and that.

We no longer eat the fruits off our trees and haven’t planted a vegetable garden in years. The article said that the asthma conditions that the people have been suffering may or may not be related. I feel they are related because in the houses (primarily four or five along the trench that backs up to the flood control channel and have seepage) at least one or more members of those homes suffer from asthma in various stages of severity. It seems there must be some connection.

The article said that some homeowners in this tract are so used to the tar-like blobs that they sometimes pick them up and toss them in the trash. Granted we have been told not to touch it, but if it is so bad, why don’t they (state health department, city of Westminster and EPA) come in and clean it up? This is another reason people have appeared to be passive. We are getting mixed signals. It is bad, but not bad enough to get it cleaned up!

It all goes back to this: We know it’s there, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control (state health department) knows it’s there, the city fathers of Westminster know it’s there and so does the EPA. Sooooo, clean it up! Do it now! Don’t drag it on until years from now.

We (at the tract) do hope we are placed on the EPA Superfund schedule and cleaned up very soon.

BONNIE HAYNIE

Westminster