Thursday, March 15, 2001

The Dispatch's Feb. 24 article "EPA whistle-blower gets job back'' is good news for the students at River Valley schools and for the residents who have worked so hard to protect their health. I hope Paul Jayko now will be able to conduct the kind of investigation that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency so desperately wanted to prevent.

That said, I find it frightening that, in the meantime, the students at River Valley will continue to go to school on top of a military toxic-waste dump. The Ohio EPA has conducted a shoddy and lackluster investigation that borders on a cover-up. In light of the Jayko case, it is clear that any assurances the agency gives about the students' safety are not to be trusted.

The high leukemia rate among River Valley graduates, as well as the continual discovery of more and more carcinogens at dangerous levels, indicate that these students are at risk, and the only way to eliminate the risk is to remove the students to emergency facilities immediately. Gov. Bob Taft, who has remained silent for far too long, has the power to do just that, and I urge him to take action.

Mark Minett

Oberlin

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