Responsibility for Cleanup

* Re “Site’s Radioactive Past Haunts Present Owner,” Aug. 14.

To quote the staff writer Jean Guccione, “officials now acknowledge the property contains hazardous atomic waste left behind by previous occupants and that the government erred decades ago in certifying it as safe. They are demanding that the 85-year-old retiree pay millions of dollars in cleanup costs.”

As I read that, the government made a mistake, years ago, and now [Joseph A.] Thomson has to pay for it. There’s something very wrong with that situation.

Surely there is someone in the legal profession who can come alongside this couple to help them get the justice they deserve.

E. ARDIS VAUGHN

Burbank

*

I must say that I am shocked and appalled at what has happened to Thomson over the past several years. It is truly unbelievable that a person who buys a piece of property with a clean bill of health from the appropriate federal agency should now be responsible for someone else’s wrongdoing. This is a classic case of a travesty of justice.

IRA T. SWARTZ

Los Angeles