Free Exhibit - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

z In H Case 3:03-cv-00945-CFD Document 211-27 Filed 05/10/2007 Page 1 of 2
t Nevl Héiaen Register - Page 1 of 2
Fear of toxins infiltrates neighbors
Rebecca Baker, Register Staff - _ December 13, 2000
HAMDEN —— Neighbors of Hamden Middle School say they
want someone to test the soil throughout the
neighborhood to see whether toxins found around the
school have spread to their back yards. __t»_
A dozen residents of Wadsworth Street, Bryden Terrace, Winchester . it
Avenue and Mill Rock Road met this week to share their concerns about the
soil contamination at the middle school, which sits a block or two away from
their homes.
They were responding to soil test results that uncovered high levels _of lead, `
carcinogens and other compounds in several "hot spots" around the middle ,
school. The test results were made public last week and additional tests are
underway at the school, which was built on top of an industrial waste dump ·
in 1954. v_
The discovery of the toxins derailed a $19.5 million school expansion plan, it
and students have been ordered not to walk or play on the grass.
The neighbors said they want federal, state or local govemment ofhcials to
extend the soil tests at the school into their own backyards to see if they‘re
living on safe land.
"lf there are any Endings, we need to know how we're going to fix it," said
Joe Frasier, a former fire commissioner who lives on Wadsworth Street.
Frasier said he reported the neighbors' concerns to state Rep. Peter Villano, ‘
D-Hamden, and the Quinnipiack Valley Health District. Villano and Health
Director Leslie Balch could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Nearly all the residents said they have found bottles, crushed glass and
other questionable materials a few feet below the topsoil on their property. .
Willie Spence, a Winchester Street resident, said he is concerned that he ·
was exposed to contaminated soil when he dug up several feet in his yard to
put up a basketball hoop. _
"It’s really scary," said Eldridge Hatcher of Wadsworth Street. "l'm not going .
to be doing too much digging until we find out what‘s going on." _
Neighbors also say they are worried the underground toxins may be related
to several cancer deaths in the neighborhood.
"lt's happened all around us.
It stirs the imagination," Frasier said.
The residents said they know six to eight neighbors who have been 1F
diagnosed with brain tumors, stomach cancer, breast cancer and other
related illnesses within the last 10 years- DEFENDANT’S
"lt could be a coincidence, but because of the dump there, it's worth looking EXHIBIT
1t0," Mill Rock Road resident Robert Edwards said. E 2
"Our health and the children's health —— that's the most important thing," said KS- - #4 ’0
his wife, Ann Edwards.
http://vvvvwv.zxNire.co.../news.cfm‘?newsid=1 17l285&BRD=128l&PAG=461&debt id=7573&rti= O4/09/2001

l · A Case 3:03-cv-00945-CFD Document 211-27 Filed 05/10/2007 Page 2 of 2
- Men Re ister Page 2 of 2
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Spence said he wonders if the nearby contaminants could have caused the U
death of his father from kidney cancer at age 49 and the death of his brother
from a brain tumor at age 24.
"ltjust makes me worry whether l should move, because I want to live," he
said.
State Department of Public Health officials could not be reached for
comment Tuesday.
©New Haven Register 2001 I
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