Your Letters 1 Proposed Future Site of Our New Sullivan West School

Your Letters: Proposed Future Site of Our New Sullivan West School

WELCOME TO SULLIVAN WEST NILE AT LAKE HUNTINGTON

Editor:
We have a major environmental problem in the Sullivan West School District.

The Sullivan West high school site in Lake Huntington is a mosquito infested waterhole. Rumors that have circulated countywide for over two years about toxic waste and illegal dumping on and around the site appears to be true.

Having received SW Superintendent Michael Johndrow’s permission to walk the site at any time, I finally decided to do just that. Somehow, I doubt if Mr. Johndrow, BOCES Superintend Martin Handle or any of the SW [ORIGINAL] school board members ever bothered to check the site out before they acquired it.

What I discovered is that the property is SURROUNDED on three sides by major swamps and much of the actual property we own is itself MOSQUITO INFESTED swampland.

While there is a countywide "NO BURN" order to reduce forest fires, and soil in most areas has been reduced to dry powder, this property had water all over it [May 4, 2001]. Wetland signs are posted throughout this property, the mosquitoes are unbearable. Would you want your kids subjected to this?

This is serious since you can’t legally eliminate protected WETLANDS [swamps] of this size because every student and faculty member at the new high school will be continually exposed to WEST NILE FEVER which is transmitted by mosquitoes. This has been in Sullivan County already and can cause death.

There is even more public health issues involving this site. Extensive illegal dumping has taken place on this property for decades. The signs are obvious. Bottles, cans, rusted scrap metal, fifty-five gallon metal drums, commercial milk cans, the ruins of at least one old car and a separate engine, chemical containers, septic system, rusted out cans of what appears to be lead base paint [bottoms fall off when can is pick up], etc. are scattered throughout the Sullivan West Nile property for about a quarter of a mile. The litter is everywhere.

Samples of the materials found on the site were taken for laboratory TESTING. PHOTOGRAPHS were taken of the above dumping grounds.

These are just surface indicators of MAJOR DUMPING. We have no idea of what is buried UNDERGROUND or that is submerged underwater in the beaver ponds. We have had anonymous phone calls and letters recently to where things are buried and unknown contents in the containers.

From what we could see, the flags for the core sites [if any] are currently missing. Large amounts of foundation rubble and construction debris are either on or next to the property. Such materials are now considered TOXIC by state.

The SULLIVAN WEST SITE presently has three sets of ditches on all sides and down through the center to DRAIN the property. Much of this property will be under water in normal weather conditions. What happens when the property is leveled off with bulldozers and grass is seeded? Where will the massive amounts of run-off go? From what I can see it is obvious that tremendous amounts of SEDIMENT from the newly worked ground will wind up in Lake Huntington with or without catch basins.

How is an unpolluted Lake Huntington going to survive all run-offs and sediment deposits from the new site during MAJOR STORMS? This is a situation which could contaminate the lake for many years to come.

From what we see now, much of the TOXIC DEBRIS on the site will ultimately be buried under the new building or the playing fields. With water tables so high, you can expect contaminated water containing toxins and who knows what other chemicals to seep through the foundation and floors of the new buildings. That could mean different cancers, asthma reactions and other pollution related diseases for students and staff in the near future.

As you can see, we are faced with the possibility of creating a LOVE CANAL environmental hazard in our own school district with taxpayers’ money which will jeopardize the health of future generations. Shouldn’t something be done about it before it is too LATE?

Sincerely,

Tony Wayne &
Committee for Reform
Box 11
Fremont Center NY

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