WebJERRY-RUSSELL BLISS, INC., Petitioner-Appellant, v. HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMISSION, et al., Respondents. But he also makes some important omissions. Bliss faces five lawsuits from property owners, officials said, and an unrelated indictment for tax evasion. The mostly pleasant trails run north by the railroad tracks and then take a right along the river. Eventually, it was. I know Monsanto was not a viable defendant in this litigation.. I believe that the whole area there is littered with contamination pockets, she says. "Why, if it's so dangerous, did the government wait 10 years to warn us?" first published in the Riverfront Times (St. Louis), March 25, 1998 "I figure anyone who's been contaminated done been contaminated. The version that the developer presented to Wildwood is pretty vague about what happened, Shea says. Obviously I have to depend upon them to do their job and hope that we do ours.. Bliss showed no emotion during sentencing before U.S. Dictrict Judge Clyde S. Cahill. WebThe Bliss site is an 11.5 acre tract owned by Jerry Russell Bliss, plus four contiguous properties near Ellisville, Missouri. We have to determine what there motivation is.. The rugged land has resisted development for a long time, so a rural atmosphere still clings to these verdant hills, despite the encroachment of affluent subdivisions on the remaining ridgetop farms. He has a roadside attraction a museum of classic cars and trucks and various odds and ends, including Coke bottles of all ages and types. WebJERRY-RUSSELL BLISS, INC. is a Missouri Domestic Gen. Business - For-Profit filed on November 15, 1978. "Is it in the houses?" She still has her family reunions down here. The greatest surface concentrations, 169 ppb, are present in a wooded ravine, which is currently being fenced off. In May, a second flood hit, a sort of aftershock, and in June, Leistner won the mayoral election, defeating a challenger who wanted to stay. In addition to receiving a firm ass-whooping from his father, Copeland was sentenced to an hour in jail. May she rest there in peace, and may those who cared for her continue to feel her unconditional love. An EPA tracking sheet lists 29 such sites. Officials won't know until next month, when 250 new dirt samples come back from the lab. Everyone in attendance says that if the town were reopened tomorrow, they would move back in a heartbeat. OLeary (at right) came back to her house as soon as she could after the flood. Many people in town took part in personal-injury lawsuits against the chemical companies. You didnt have to lock your doors., Velda Pratt, who lived in Times Beach with her husband and four kids, talks about coming back after the flood. The townspeople couldnt afford to have the results quantified, so they were given only yes-or-no answers. Most of all missing accountability, Stelzer wrote in a piece titled Why the Times Beach Incinerator Should Be Shut Down.. In Times Beach, an ex-truck driver for hauler Russell Bliss came forward to retrace his route. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. no. When a driver frequently moves from team to team, hes often called a journeyman.. "When I hear people talking about the effects they're feeling now, tears come to my eyes.". Even if he had known that what he was hauling was toxic, there were no laws against what he did. 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. Businesses were locating there, Leistner says. Early 1970s: Waste oil hauler Russell Bliss is hired to remove dioxin from the tanks. Stelzer of the Riverfront Times. 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. 'Fog of bees' briefly interrupts PGA Tour's Mexico Open. He remembers being approached by an official one day while he was working. 67115 (Mo. To say that dioxin has never caused anythingI saw it wipe out a whole community, she says. ST. LOUIS -- Waste-oil hauler Russell Bliss, who allegedly sprayed dioxin-contaminated oil around the state in the 1970s, was sentenced Friday to one year in We feel that our residents should not be subjected to having that site next to them for an excessive period of time., On the other hand, the director of the St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department, expressed unqualified satisfaction with the EPAs handling of the McDonnell Park site. The waste was the unwanted byproduct from manufacturing the antiseptic hexachlorophene. Whether the 88-year-old wants to be is another story. It was nearly a week before people could return to begin the daunting task of rebuilding. On the other side of the road, at 210 Strecker Rd., developer Larry Wurm of James Properties Inc. is proposing to build Wildwood Ridge, an 11-home development on 7.6 acres of land now owned by Jean Callahan. Though it was rocky at times, their iconic relationship lasted for five years before they called it quits in 1982. 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. Waste-oil hauler Russell Bliss, who allegedly sprayed It remains a priority. 67115. However, we dont have any information that would suggest there would be. There are probably a lot of people who are unaware, she adds. Sid Hammer, who was chairman of the board of aldermen, became acting mayor, while Leistner became acting chairwoman. On a hunch, one stable owner dug up his contaminated dirt and sold it as landfill for homesites in Imperial. Many former residents wish they hadnt been forced to leaveand think they werent adequately compensated when they were pushed out. Sometimes its just best to leave well enough alone.. Anyone can read what you share. "This is a war to stay on the land you worked and paid for. The way we understand it, Monsanto told EPA investigators that they did not hire Bliss end of story, says Taylor. WebView the profiles of people named Jerry Russell. 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. Asked about Wurms criticism, Uhlenbrock says the developer was bent out of shape because he wanted the article to say that the Callahan property never had any dioxin or Russell Bliss on it. Uhlenbrock said he was unable to confirm whether dioxin had been found on the site or whether there was a Bliss connection to the property. This is not to say there is no controversy about dioxin. 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. I think its very interesting that PCBs were so overlooked, Taylor says. Her husband, Grover Callahan, worked as a truck driver for the Bliss Waste Oil Co. in the early 1970s. If I had Monsanto as a potential defendant, and had the evidence on them, I certainly would bring them in as a party. A copy of the written request obtained by the RFT shows the agency inquiry is specifically focused on the disposal of hazardous wastes generated by Monsanto and the now-defunct Wagner Electric Co. Taylor and the environmental group have until the end of the week to provide the agency with the information or be fined $25,000 a day until they comply. United States v. Bliss, 133 F.R.D. 559 - Casetext The discovery of the Lemar and McDonnell sites came after the closing of the controversial Times Beach dioxin incinerator in June, which precluded burning the waste locally. Once their stay in temporary housing ran out, it was hard for people to find homes. You want to make sure you do it right, and, in the process of doing it, safeguard the public. 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. Sue OLeary, 76, lived in the Beach for 20 years. In August, the EPA warned Imperial residents of a potential dioxin problem, later revealing that it suspected contamination of 40 other sites in Missouri. No (s). She remembers being able to let her kids run free without having to worry. They conveniently avoid the giant ash pit. The biggest fish appears to have either slipped off or broken the line, however. He spent years lobbying against casino expansion, and hes now the communications director for embattled Rep. Todd Akin. Mennonites came in to help rebuild. She sent a petition with hundreds of signatures to President Ronald Reagan, asking for a buyout. They put up drywall in her house. The EPA intends to cap that area with soil and sod to limit human exposure and soil erosion. The level of PCBs was low, not a major concern, but the dioxin was a problem. 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. Alligator removed from South Carolina resident's garage. Russell Bliss was accused of picking up chemical waste from a plant in Verona in the early 70s, mixing it Then we left when they drug us out kicking and screaming, she quips. The buyers said they signed sales contracts without being told by their real-estate agents that their new homes were adjacent to a hazardous-waste site. Will it be cheaper to buy out the town or clean it up?". 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. Another possible alternative was eliminated in December, when the only available commercial incinerator licensed to accept dioxin-contaminated waste was shuttered in Coffeyville, Kan. The new site also raises the specter that there may be an untold number of other contaminated sites waiting to be found. In Times Beach, the dioxin level was more than 100 parts per billion. As the offers improved slightly, many of the holdouts grudgingly gave in.
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