Grain Handling Facility at Freeman: Contamination & Cleanup Options Study

Dear  Ms. Trccani,

I definitely request an online public meeting for cleanup site ID12540.  I would never again pretend to believe anything published by the department of ecology and I want to open you up to as much scrutiny as posssibl...↓e, because you, as an agency, need it, especially now.

The Department of Ecology’s political “ecology" and lack of willingness to be honest about the state of water in the northwest contributed greatly to the demise of my sister’s career at Ecology and to her early death. Kitty had epilepsy and lived atop the westside hill in Olympia, but because she couldn’t drive, she either rode her bike the 6 miles, one-way out to Lacey everyday, or took the bus. She was always early. She worked tirelessly for 18 years and she didn’t miss work unless she fell off her bike because of a seizure. She singlehandedly gathered people together for the very first collective purchasing agreement in the state and she has a special dedication in the introduction of David Major’s world renowned book, “Street Smart Sustainability,"  because she believed that water is a public trust and that Ecology represented the People of the State of Washington and not themselves.  David was her close friend and mentor and I was pleased for my mother that he stayed in touch with Kitty until her death, when of course, he was in touch.  With years of taking epilepsy medications, her numerous bike accidents and the political fence built around her truths at work, she finally became socially inappropriate at and was fired.  She remained too devastated to work again and four years later tried to kill herself in her house with propane, but it didn’t work at first; she turned the gas off and took a shower when the refrigerated restarted and blew her house up. She was airlifted to Harborview Burn Unit in Seattle and died 12 hours later.

I am moving somewhere where there is extremely limit water, in order to be closer to family. I am leaving Washington because Kitty is no longer alive and we don’t have each other to take care of. You have no idea how hard it is for me to leave this wonderful place, where my great-grandparents opened the first shoe store around, all my family are buried and I can swim with my eyes open underwater and pick huckleberries an hour away.  Backward flips, huckleberry pie, minnows, salmon, good rocks, dogs swimming. Bye bye.

Go look for her file in Personnel.

Please get your leadership to forget their stupid politics and to listen to the little farmer out on the prairie who used to think he had some water, but now he guesses that that guy with seven cars has it.

My sister trusted you Ecology and she can now see everything that you do.  But We the People can’t.

So again, yes, I request an on-line public meeting for cleanup site ID12540

Sincerely yours,

Janet Gillespie

Ms. Treccani:

Thanks for your information on the Grain Handling Facility at Freeman Cleanup. Having read the brochure, I agree with the preferred option Two. 17 years vs 32 years makes more sense if the results are to the Department of Ecology standar...↓ds.

I do have a question. Is there an option that would allow future flexibility if there are scientific advancements regarding the pollution cleanup?

Regards,

Robin L. Cole

Dear Ms. Treccani,

Thanks for your recent, very professionally done Newsletter requesting comments from the Public about the mess in Freeman!   What a great idea, to invite the general public to submit ideas.   You must realize that even peo...↓ple who lack multiple Doctorates can offer germane "comments".

As a retired RN who also studied Geology, my idea is to develop an antidote for the poison---in this case, Carbon Tetrachloride. (Yecchhh!  A truly AWFUL chemical!  My Mom kept a tiny bottle of it wrapped in a cloth, inside of a coffee can, and she'd take it out to the middle of the back yard before opening it to clean spots off our clothing!)   Then inject this antidote into the site of the spill.   Break the Carbon Tet up into smaller, non-poisonous, molecues.   I'm not a chemist, nor am I a geologist, so I'll leave the pesky details up to you folks. 

INVOLVE THE STUDENTS at Freeman High School!  Today's young people are smarter and savvier than my generation, and who knows what they would come up with, if turned loose on this disaster?   After all, it is THEIR water supply!   (There was a tragic School Shooting there, a couple years ago;  this would be just the thing to galvanize the students and the community in a positive way!).  Contact the Principal, and the Chemistry Department!

I'm quite serious about this.   Our generation has become OBSESSED with "credentialism", and we believe you need three multisyllabic degrees after your name before you can tackle any problem.   But history is replete with examples of inventors and thinkers who, though formally uneducated, nevertheless came up with discoveries and inventions that changed the world.    Get Freeman High on board!!   It will give your Department of Ecology some positive visibility in the community.

Hoping you will see, and read, my "comments",

Yours truly,

Dian Allison