| NoSoup |
04-30-2004 10:52 AM |
Not sure if you guys remember this, but 4-5 years ago there was a High School that was evacuated, the HASMAT team was called in, and several students nearly died due to Mercury Poisioning. A Local McDonalds was closed down due to contamination, the entire Lamers Bus line was closed due to contamination, a nearby bowling alley was closed due to contamination, and 2 houses were demolished due to contamination....
It happened in Green Bay, WI - I was a student in that highschool, one of my friends was one of the people that nearly died from ingesting a tiny amount of mercury due to the residue left on a spoon that had apparently touched the mercury...
Just took a look, here's a story, although some of the facts seem to be incorrect, such as my class was at the school until 8:30pm, as we were not allowed to leave the classworm, but this is pretty much the main story....
Quote:
On March 5, 1999 Green Bay East High School students playing with mercury caused a health hazard that sent four people to the hospital by ambulance and forced 88 students into decontamination showers. In all, 20 people were treated at St. Vincent hospital's emergency room and released. The four people treated at the hospital suffered from symptoms such as irritated eyes and nausea. Their conditions were caused by mercury acting as an irritant, not as a poison. One was taken to the hospital because she swallowed a small amount of mercury.
A fourteen-year-old girl stole the mercury, approximately five fluid ounces, from the school's Science Lab. One student stated that another student showed him a bottle of mercury and they played with the substance by letting it roll on their skin. Other students who got hold of the mercury squirted it at students from a small bottle. Throughout the course of one day the chemical spread throughout East High, a student's home and Riviera Lane's bowling alley.
The students in the building when the spill was discovered at 1:30 p.m. were held in their classrooms until firefighters could determine the extent of the spill. Once that was established, they released students, but only after asking them if they had handled any mercury. Students who handled the mercury or were found to have it on their clothes had to strip and place their clothes in plastic bags. They were told to shower and were given sweat pants, sweat shirts, and bedroom slippers that staff bought at a discount store. The last students were sent home by 6:30.
The principal for East High spent Sunday, March 7, 1999 answering questions from about 25 parents and teachers who called to ask when the school may reopen and when students could collect belongings that were contaminated with mercury. She told them that most of those belongings, including anything porous such as book bags, shoes, clothes and coats were destroyed. "I had to tell a lot of people they weren't getting their stuff back, things that are nonporous like drivers' licenses and credit cards could be dipped in acid and cleaned, but shoes and bags had to be destroyed."
On March 10, 1999, East High was back in session. Classes resumed after air testing revealed no lasting mercury contamination from a spill that forced classes to be canceled for two days. Some of the mercury taken from East High School was spilled on the lanes of a local bowling alley, threatening to cancel a state tournament planned for that weekend. Students had filled holes in the bowling balls with mercury and rolled them down the lanes. About nine students were exposed to the mercury, along with a newspaper photographer who arrived to cover the event. The hazardous materials response team checked ten lanes and 450 pairs of shoes.
Another related mercury incident occurred on Wednesday March 10,1999 at the 1300 block of Cherry Street where a resident found two splotches of mercury on the sidewalk outside his home. Yellow fire line tape and barricades were used to block off the area. Fire officials at the scene speculated the 14-year-old girl who originally took the mercury from the school last Friday spilled the mercury on the sidewalk. The spills were along the same path that she would have taken to her house.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS OF THE SPILL
The owner of Riviera Lanes expects his expenses from the mercury spill to be around $35,000 for cleanup costs and equipment replacement--109 pairs of shoes at $18.00 each and a lane stripper costing $4,000 - $5,000.
Superior Special Service's bill to decontaminate Green Bay East High School after a mercury spill was $172,104, and when all the bills are totaled, the school district's cost to clean the spill topped $200,000. The costs were boosted because much of the decontamination was done at night and over the weekend when workers earn higher overtime wages. Had the cleanup been done from 8a.m to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays it would have spanned about a week and a half, forcing the district to keep the school open longer at the end of the year.
The decontamination process included picking up the mercury with special equipment, washing down the contaminated area with a nitric acid solution, using a special chemical that eliminates mercury vapors and washing everything down again. The bill from Cardinal Environmental, the company that did the air monitoring tests for mercury, was about $10,000.
The total costs will likely go higher as additional bills from the police and fire departments and several students' families could be filed with the school district. How much of the bill will be paid by the district and how much will be paid by insurance remains to be seen. No one would comment on if the district will seek compensation from the girl who took the mercury or her family. The girl has been referred to juvenile authorities and could be charged with theft and criminal damage to property.
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Link Here
I suppose I can finish the story for you, at least the parts that I am aware of. The total costs far exceeded what is mentioned in the story, the girl's parents were indeed required to pay for it, but filed bankruptcy to avoid the tremendous debt, and the girl, as far as I know, was not charged with anything... |
