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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2000)
Smelly situation draws Brockovich to York BY GWEN T1ETGEN After seven years of inhaling the smell of rotten eggs at York Avenue and 16m Street, some York residents hope a letter written to a recent celebrity will help them breath a little easier. York resident Leslie Hodgson never expected a response when she wrote a let ter to Erin Brockovich. Nevertheless, a phone call came five days later. Brockovich, who was the subject of a self-titled movie in which she was por trayed by Julia Roberts, called Hodgson and said she would look into the request Brockovich, the director of environ mental research for Masry and Vitito, a law firm in West Lake Village, California, sent research associate Madonna McKenzie to York in October to attend the county health board meeting and take samples for testing the levels of hydrogen sulfide in the sewage system. Hydrogen sulfide, which smells like rotten eggs, is a dangerous gas that is heavier than air and occurs naturally dur ing the breakdown of solid waste. The gas is commonly found in sewage systems. Because this residential area is one block away from the place the High Plains ethanol plant's sewer line empties and mixes into the city’s sewer line, hydrogen sulfide is formed at a perceptible level, Jack Vavra, York city administrator said. Hodgson was inspired to write the let ter to Brockovich after watching the movie in which she investigated an environmen tal case involving the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. But Brockovich and the law firm have not made any decision on whether to take the case yet, said Kathy Brown, assistant to Erin Brockovich, on Tuesday. Brown said the firm is currently wait ing for the test results, and it’s too early to tell if the firm will take the case. And while Brockovich’s associates wait for the test results, Hodgson and other residents in her neighborhood wait for an answer. An answer to their nausea, headaches, fatigue and stomach aches - all side effects Hodgson and her neighbors said they have experienced because of overex posure to hydrogen sulfide. “I don’t care about a lawsuit. I just want our problem fixed,” Hodgson said. Vavra didn’t deny the fact that the resi dents of the area were sick, and that it could be a result of the hydrogen sulfide levels. But he said the city’s measure ments show, under normal circum stances, that the hydrogen sulfide is not at dangerous levels. Yet, city officials and High Plains Corporation plant manager, Danny Allison, say they are working together to try and take care of the problem. “We are more than willing to do what ever it takes to solve the problem,” Allison said. “We want to be good neighbors, and we want to help solve the problem what ever it takes.” To do this, the ethanol plant has hired an environmental waste water consultant to analyze the effluent in the air and deter mine under what conditions the creation of hydrogen sulfide occurs. Joe Ruocco, president of Phoenix Bio Systems out of Kansas, was hired by Allison to investigate the case around mid-October. Ruocco said he could not comment on the research he has found, but said the plant was doing everything they could to solve the problem. “Warm weather, flat, slow flowing sew ers give rise to hydrogen sulfide difficul ties,” Ruocco said. “It is extremely com mon.” To combat the problem, the city also is planning smoke testing of the main and private sewer lines when the weather gets warmer, said Orville Davidson, director of pubic works. “This is a result of us becoming aware of how severe the problem is or was,” Davidson said. “Before, it was not brought to the attention of many people in higher posi tions.” Who should take the blame, the ethanol plant or the city, is still under debate. Allison, High Plains Corp. plant man ager in York, said High Plains is trying to determine how the gas is getting into citi zen’s homes and whether the hydrogen sulfide is coming from the city’s sewage line or the High Plain’s sewage line. Though there have been two docu mented incidents of the gas being in resi “Warm weather, flat, slow flowing sewers give rise to hydrogen sulfide difficulties. It is extremely common.” Joe Ruocco Phoenix Bio-Systems president dent's homes, it has been in areas of the home where physical damage to the plumbing had occurred, Allison said. But Allison said there has been no detection of hydrogen sulfide where the plant's discharge leaves the plant Davidson said though there have been intermittent levels of the gas over a period of time, it hasn’t been a constant issue. The city, which checks the hydrogen sulfide levels daily, hasn’t detected the gas in the area for 45 days or longer, he said. Davidson said the levels of hydrogen sulfide have varied from zero to 50 parts per million, but the plant has been using ferrous chloride, an iron salt commonly used to control levels of hydrogen sulfide, to combat the problem. Even though city and corporate offi cials say they are taking action, Hodgson said she hasn't seen any results. Hodgson said she doesn’t necessarily want a lawsuit. But she hopes the letter will at least bring some attention to the issue. “It just smells like eggs everywhere,” she said. dailyneb.com because everyone else has Delta Thu Delta and Pi Beta Phi pte&ent... “FOOD FOR THOUGHT” s4 Study Delta Tau Delta 715 N. 16th St. $3 in advance $4 at the door All proceeds benefit Clinton Elementary School Office nit with press-pass requests ■ Nebraska Press Association reported 104 media outlets want to cover Clinton's visit. BY GEORGE GREEN When President Clinton lands in Kearney on Friday, a small army of media personnel will be ready to follow him across the state. Allen Beermann, executive director of the Nebraska Press Association, said his office received requests for press pass es from 104 Nebraska media out lets. These reporters ranged from high school students writing for school publications to profes sional journalists reporting for some of the state’s largest papers. In addition to print journal ists, an entourage of electronic media workers will be on hand to cover Clinton's appearance. Beermann said the electron ic media, including television reporters, have made slightly more requests than their print counterparts. Along with these Nebraska reporters, a group of national journalists will also accompany Clinton on his first trip to Nebraska. Jennifer Smith, director of specialty press for the president, said the White House had not completed a formal list of the national media people who will tag along with the president But, Smith said, if space and time permit only a few reporters to cover Clinton's stop, her office has picked which news agency will do "pool” reporting for all of the other organizations. Reporters for the Gannett Co. News Service will do the reporting for the print media, she said. Bloomberg Radio will handle radio reporting and NBC News will file stories for the tele vision networks. A complete list of all the other news groups accompany ing the president won’t be avail able for a few days, she said. “Usually, it comes out the day before the president visits,” she said. Five fraternity members ticketed for stealing BY JOSH FUNK Five Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity members were ticket ed for theft after police found an assortment of stolen holiday dec orations in die fraternity house. A citizen tip led Lincoln Police to the Alpha Tau Omega house, 1433 R St, Monday, Ofc. Katherine Finnell said. Police investigating more than a dozen reports of missing holiday decorations over the weekend received a tip that there were numerous stolen Christmas decorations in the fraternity house. The names of the five men ticketed for theft or possession of stolen property were unavailable Hiesday because of problems accessing police reports. ATO President Reed Anderson said the five men involved all live in the house, but they were acting individually. “We can't control all the actions of our members all the time,’’ Anderson said. ATO could impose house sanctions on the men, but Anderson said the fraternity would wait until police and the university’s Office of Judicial Affairs complete their investiga tions. “They were each individually cited, but the house was not involved at all,” said Anderson, who plans to meet with Judicial Affairs and Greek Affairs later this week. The stolen lawn ornaments and other items were loaded into a Lincoln Police pickup truck Monday morning. Finnell said the stolen deco rations have been returned to four of the victims, but quite a few of the decorations have not been matched to their rightful owners. Anyone who has lost holiday decorations in recent weeks should call Lincoln Police at (402) 441-7204. Secret Service questions DN about opinion piece Faculty ponder grade bill SENATE from pagel an absence. The policy also says instruc tors should do everything they can to accommodate students who need to miss class. Senators also got an update on upper-level administration searches from David Brinkerhoff, acting vice chancellor for aca demic affairs. Brinkerhoff said he expected the new College of Fine and Performing Arts dean to be selected in the next week. Finalists have been chosen for the positions of Vice Chancellor for Research and the College of Law dean, Brinkerhoff said. As for the hunt for UNLs new chancellor, Brinkerhoff said the search committee “seems to be proceeding on schedule.” But UNL’s prioritization process isn't moving as quickly as anticipated, Brinkerhoff said. Hie process, which identifies UNL’s academic strengths, requires the input of faculty, staff and administrators. Interim Chancellor Harvey Perlman, Interim Vice Chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Edna McBreen and Brinkerhoff have met with the college deans twice, Brinkerhoff said. A report of their findings was supposed to be released some time this week, but Brinkerhoff said it probably won’t be until the first or second week of January. “We’d just as soon take a little longer and make it right,” he said. BY BRADLEY DAVIS A column in Tuesday ’s Daily Nebraskan, which included what was interpreted as a threat on President Clinton, sparked a Secret Service investigation. Columnist Karen Brown, in a satirical piece on the opinion page, included in her column a plea for Clinton to grant executive clemency to political prisoner Leonard Peltier Peltier was imprisoned in 1975 for allegedly killing two FBI agents. Some have said the evi dence that connected Peltier to the murders was fabricated. In her column, Brown said she would shoot the president in the elbow if he didn’t release Peltier. U.S. Secret Service agents from Omaha said they were alert ed to the column by a University of Nebraska at Kearney professor. The agents questioned Daily Nebraskan Editor Sarah Baker, General Manager Daniel Shattil and Opinion Editor Samuel McKewon. They also contacted Brown, who said she made the comment about the president in jest The Daily Nebraskan removed the column, and all feedback posted in response to it from the newspaper Web site. Committee mum on search for chancellor CHANgUOR from page 1 Rowson did say committee members are reviewing the cre dentials of Ma number of candi dates." Rowson said the committee is looking for certain qualities in candidates, such as a knowledge of Nebraska and experience in higher education. "There's no hard and fast way to do it," Rowson said. Association of Students of the University of Nebraska President Joel Schafer, a mem ber of the committee, wouldn't comment on how the search process is going. “From the very beginning, we’re told the search is a confi dential process,” Schafer said. “We need to respect the confi dentiality of die candidates." Downtown apartment building starts on fire BY JOSH FUNK Three families had to be relocated Tuesday night after firefighters battled a downtown apartment fire for more than an hour. The fire appeared to start near a heating element near the roof around 9:45 p.m. before burning up into a tight space between the 1724 L St. apart ments’ original flat roof and the peaked one added later, Deputy Fire Chief Arnold Hart said. No injuries were reported. The location of the fire com bined with the freezing condi tions made the task of ensuring the fire was out difficult, Hart said. r " 'in . “It got up into that attic void, and it was a real small space to work in,” Hart said. When firefighters tried to reach the fire through the ceil ing of a third-floor apartment, they ran into the hard barrier of the original roof. Hart said that forced firefighters to climb the icy roof and use a chainsaw to access where the fire was. While firefighters checked to make sure the fire was com pletely out in the roof, water draining from their hoses was already turning to ice in the parking lots around the build ing. Many of the building’s resi dents relocated to the service station next door to stay warm. But residents gathered in the gas station said they had prac ticed this drill before when a first-floor apartment in the same building caught fire three winters ago. Steve Andel, who has lived in the building five years, said that he was asleep in his first-floor apartment when the fire started. MI was asleep on the couch and (awoke to) the officer just pounding on my door,” Andel said. Damage from the fire was centered in two third-floor apartments. 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