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New Orleans Refugees Being Sent to Toxic Waste Dump in Arkansas
by Bison William
Saturday, Sep. 03, 2005 at 5:35 PM
I live in Fort Smith Arkansas and 360 people from NO have been shipped to an old army base outside our town. The problem is the base barracks they have put the people in is listed as a toxic waste dump. The barracks are so inundated with lead paint that the people that have to get around them wear masks so they don't have to breathe the fumes coming off them.
There is no air conditioning and it is 95 degrees at this time of year. I am afraid some of the older people will die of stroke from the heat.
This morning I went out and snuck into the area where they are being kept and told many of the people that the buildings were poisonous and got many of them to promise to leave as quick as they could before I was told to leave or be arrested for inciting a riot..
When I say the building are poisonous you must believe me. They have been trying for years to find a way to destroy them but the EPA won't let them do it..If they burn them it will release lead into the air and it will settle in the lakes and streams around the area. They can't tear them down and send them to other places because no one wants poisonous wood..They ground around them is even poisonous from the lead wash off when it rains. So what does our Illustrious Repug Governor do,.. well he puts NO refuges in them... Ain't that america baby..
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x460...
organize locally?
by k
Saturday, Sep. 03, 2005 at 6:00 PM
so fucked up! are the people allowed to leave? how big is your town? is it feasible to coordinate local churches and organizatons to do something? 12 individual church groups or organizations taking 30 people each under their wing would cover 360 people! someone needs to organize alternative housing there!
false - out of date
by epa
Sunday, Sep. 04, 2005 at 8:44 AM
I don't know if you want to trust the EPA on this, but on this page
http://epa.gov/region6/6xa/base_chaffee.htm
it says
EPA will soon certify final portions of Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, ready for public reuse, formalizing a successful environmental cleanup underway at the closed army base since 1997.
The U.S. Army completed transfer of the property to the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority in November 2003.
(Information current as of February 23, 2004)
epa.gov/region6/6xa/base_chaffee.htm
What do you think?
by TheTroll
Sunday, Sep. 04, 2005 at 9:51 AM
I expect a lot of shuffling around of refugees. I also expect that the shuffling around will prevent many refugees from voting against the responders who left them hanging in the wind.
I propose a special voter registration status for refugees so that they will be able to vote no matter where they end up come election day.
Not that I believe that e-voting gives us real representation. At least taking this action would keep the losses of the refugees in the spotlight until the election.
So Untrue!
by Chandra
Saturday, Sep. 24, 2005 at 7:09 PM
OMG, this is so not true! Yes, the evacuees were sent *through* Fort Chaffee - both after Katrina and just before Rita.
First of all, they only stayed 1-2 nights before being sent on to other shelters.
Secondly, they were *not* housed in the old barracks, as most of them don't even have complete roofs or solid floors. I believe they were actually on the opposite end of Chaffee, which is a distance of several miles.
Third, about half of the nasty old barracks have already been replaced with new buildings that are being rented by businesses. I'm there there once a week, so I know for sure.
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