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Justice for victims of local oil spills Chemicals found on our
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We begin as a family back in April of 2002. Our son Charles was a two month old infant, when an executive from bell fuels came to knock on our door. We didn't have a clue as to how that knock would change our lives in such a fundamental way! We were asked to sign an access agreement that the IEPA had requested bell fuels, inc for "sampling activities" along various neighbors properties. The agreement was between the three parties being Bell fuels, the IEPA and Bascor Environmental, inc. The tests were to perform direct push soil borings using special equipment, collect and analyze soil samples, and to backfill the boreholes. They were then "according to the IEPA", to perform any sampling or follow up work which may be required by them. We contacted the IEPA"S toxicology department and was told "verbally" that our son would have to consume over seven pounds of dirt, but in the same breath advised not to allow him to play in the backyard, garden? I ask what did that mean? On one hand we were told from the beginning that none of this mess was an "immediate threat to our child's health"??????What about potential long term health affects??????? We then contacted two reputable real estate attorneys that said factually we cannot put our home up for sale, cannot rent it out, and would obviously have to disclose any environmental contamination on a potential seller's agreement! Now I ask," would anyone in their right mind purchase a home having this knowledge?" The stigma, the insecurity of the American dream ,your home has just been "contaminated environmentally and the value was brought down to zero. Your home is your security, happiness, your safe and happy haven to enjoy with your precious family. We ask can anyone put a price tag on any human life? When we agreed to sign our original access agreement, we were told by our legal counsel that we had no choice according to state law. We didn't realize the fiasco that would follow. We started our own research as to what these contaminants were, the potential "long term affects of exposure and the emotional, physical, and financial pain this has caused our family, and our other neighbors on KEDVALE. By the way our first legal counsel dropped our case in chancery court(no potential for a jury trial) without our knowledge even! This was after about two years maybe more ,of precious time wasted. Now comes October 25TH 2002. This letter received by Bell Fuels inc, a partial statement in this letter and I quote" One chemical compound ,benzo(a)pyrene,was detected in the soil sample at a concentration Greater than the IEPA'S standard for residential land use." This letter scared us to death!. Since this whole fiasco had started I have been on an antidepressant, anxiety medications, allergy meds, nausea, insomnia, shall I say anymore? This is just my individual personal affects. I have also watched health deteriorations of some of our elderly neighbors. During the time of hiring new legal counsel (without God forbid) our statute of limitations running out, we quickly hired new legal counsel. In the past two years especially, everyone has been emotionally, physically, and financially affected by the inaction and negligence of the city and state. Emotionally this has been the largest and draining battle . The time that this has taken from our families to gather information and to try to get the governmental bodies and the oil corp. to do the right thing. We are human beings ,and taxpaying citizens that should have had the proper help and protocol followed so that this horrible situation wouldn’t happen to another American family again. We are supposed to be constituents and have our rights according to the law of our land. “We The People". We have only wanted to be treated with dignity and the basic choices of the right things and the difference between the wrong things, which can come in many forms, such as sweeping us and the situation under the carpet, the lack of accountability, and the total passing the buck back and forth from the city, the attorney general, the IEPA, down to our local alderwoman, and even in our own community. We have attended various town hall meetings, local community association meetings, and it seemed that no one cared, no one seems to keep their word on ending this utter nightmare. Physically, the drain of constant worry about potential serious health risks after being exposed to these contaminants . The long term affects on the elderly and the young children especially. We have literally asked,” Do we have to have terminal illnesses for any real action to get us all out of here? Financially the effects have been near devastation for our family personally. The almost six years now that we haven’t been able to sell our home rent it out, being personally held hostage between the oil corp., the IEPA, Legal counsel ,etc that we are very near to having to file bankruptcy! We have other neighbors as well that are obviously stuck in limbo and cannot get on with any of our lives, while the passing the buck ,inaction, and the time involved in the bureaucracy of it all. NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT! We regardless of what action will be taken to end this (hopefully by the right thing being done for all the neighbors involved, whom are either in denial, don’t feel they have the time, strength, and taking the courage it takes to demand the final proper action to be taken immediately. In this life we have found that you need to be your own advocate. Our family has been tossed from one person to the next and in full circle back to the same person or governmental body over and over ,with no action. We can understand why the other neighbors find it easier to accept the official line.We all should have been properly notified, vacated from our homes and relocated, while the correct protocol, testing,, the common courtesy of regular consistent truthful correspondence and updates, regarding (We have lost count now when it comes to so called remediation)???? The risks have been astronomical. The overwhelming constant stress of it all, it never goes away. You may try to go on living a “normal life;”. We ask how? Our Plight continued, February 2008. Here I am, My family in one room in England. With no money, Here's Why? I had to leave. It was in Feb 2008, My husband left the previous month to be with his dying mother in England. There I was sitting in my empty front room with the heating cut off just about to walk out the door, waiting for a friend to take me to the airport. Thinking to myself, " What the hell did I do to deserve this?" I was always a good citizen mother person. Why me??? Why did I have to lose everything because of someone else's mistakes? Wondering why over the last 7 years I have had to cry almost every day? Walking out of my house for the last time never to see it again. Looking back at a system that really doesn't care about people like me. All I had to look forward to is the hope that Justice would in the end prevail. Justice that has eluded me for such a long time. It was a bitter moment, a gut wrenching feeling of utter hopelessness. Those last moments I will never forget, my son saying goodbye to his room, my daughter leaving everything she has ever known, walking though my home for the last time, thinking of all those memories over the years. Now a empty place void of life. A heartbreaking emptiness that was deafening. Thinking what choices I have.... I cant stay, I cant go. I had to join my husband in the safety of his sister's home in England. The only thing I had left was my husband's family. The point of no return. I had been living on hope for years that this law suite would be over soon. No more college funds left for my kids, savings, credit, good will from Friends and neighbors. I had to borrow the airfare. Nothing left but to leave. All the suffering needed to cease. All my dreams where shattered. What was I to do??? I never wanted charity. I just wanted fairness and Justice. Flying over the Atlantic ocean, I must have cried almost all the way. Thinking of what my kids had to go through to get to this point. What would come next for them? Where would they now end up? All of my dreams for my children fading away seeming further and further from me. Uncertainty will never be understood until being put in the most incredibly unbelievable situation. The sadness of it all will never leave me. And I know will now be another issue to haunt me. Also wondering, have I been a good mother? A good example? When my 18 year old has to constantly re-assure me. Humiliation immediately took over. Having to see my neighbors acting like it was all nothing. Having to be scared for them as well as their own children. Reminding myself of what this contamination has done to my own family. The long term health risks and not knowing what is to become of us. Having to leave this neighborhood, feeling the stigma of people looking and pointing at my home. It has been known to some as the warmest, kindest, and most welcoming home they have been to. And something along the line made it now void of laughter and happiness. It is now considered dirty, diseased, and an unhappy place. Not a day went by when our situation was not all consuming. It was a topic of discussion from dawn until dusk. There was nothing else. Every day we would sit with our neighbor, hoping and discussing our situation. Praying for someone to come to our rescue and for our situation to be recognized, not just for us, but for others in our position. Angry every day is an understatement. Being ignored by the city, our government representatives, to be cast aside as NOTHING. I mistakenly thought the laws would protect us, that this wouldn't go on in America today. I was painfully mistaken. And even now I still have hope as month after month, in and out of court, waiting for an end to my nightmare. Hoping and praying that they might to the right thing, and END THIS! Remembering now, sitting and talking with my neighbor, Dolfin Kheyo, about our horrible situation, I have realized that all of our precious time together was wasted. As now, my mother figure and the grandmother figure to my children, is very sick and may not survive to see justice in the courts. She is in and out of the hospital and dying without us to be there and help her through. I also know it is not just the cause of her illness, but the stress from dealing with this situation. She is still there, in and amongst the contamination. Punished again!!! Living in England has not been easy. Paul's mother died in April, My LAST ROCK HAD GONE! At least I could talk to her about my problems and she would make me feel better for it. I felt my life was cursed. This last year has been tragic. Losing my home, country, mind, business, and all I've known though the mistakes and blatant misgivings of others. People that took advantage of me while I was in depression..How can they live with themselves? This first year in England has also been hard for my family. We're living on good will and selling any jewelry and personal belongings we had left. All gone!! Still waiting for Justice. My son crying and constantly saying when are we going home mummy. The law suit still in the Chicago courts. I have written to so many Politicians, Environmental groups and so many others. I have lost count. Its like screaming for help in the dark. But nobody is listening. Now the creditors are picking the bones. My house is gone. How will I ever be able to put the pieces back together? I want to come home. But to what? How will we live? Where will we stay? Who acually Cares? My story is as bizarre to me as I think it would be to you. I now ask you, what happened to the America I love? Where justice is just a word? Where money talks, (and believe me if you don't have money there is no justice.) Only the bitter pill of disappointment and shame. Update: My Story. 1st May, 2009 Back In Chicago Here we are back in Chicago. Could not stay in England, UK Government said I had to leave. So here I am. Now living next to my contaminated house. In Dolfin's contaminated house. We had nowhere else to go. Update October 15th 2009 It is today October 15th and CBS NEWS will be interviewing myself and another neighbor with contamination. My son Charlie will be home for the interview as well. I thought it important to let everyone know exactly what our lives have been like since we have been back in Chicago. I ask you to think about the word HOME and how powerful and full of emotion that word is and what it means to us all, to any human being. home is where the heart is and mine is still broken, more importantly my son Charlie's ,a seven year old innocent lovely boy whom hasn't had a proper home in almost three years now. He deserves better than this. I deserve better than this, my Godmother and the other neighbors deserve better than this. You see living with our Godmother in one room, no autonomy, struggling emotionally and financially still, living RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO THE HOME,OUR BELOVED HOME THAT WE LOST! Can you even imagine the pain and frustration in our hearts? Watching my son look at a for sale sign and crying "Mommy why can't we live in our old house again? This isn't fair. Literally living with watching others look to buy our old contaminated home. The one that we produced so many precious memories in. I find it ironic that after all these years, finally, a news organization is beginning to tap into a story that has been ignored. Up until today, the politicians locally have shown ignorance and a total lack of responsibility towards the well being of their own constituents! As a mother, for me I find their behavior SICKENING. That is putting it mildly. I have been by the grace of GOD alone, holding on for my family and our justice ,while being pushed from pillar to post, I had been screaming out onto deaf ears.. I would only hope and pray that with our justice system being the best in the world, and I really do have faith and know that it still is, I just don't want this to ever happen to another family and or person again. Lawsuit Information and Contact details. Our Address: 6037 North Kedvale Ave Chicago Illinois 60646 To look up our case go to http://www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org Division Name Law. Plaintiff: Jennifer Lubeck Case Number 2006-L-009845 We would be grateful for any help. Email Me, Jennifer Carter at jalcarter@yahoo.com or on facebook search under Chicago's Dirty Little Secret and join our group. By Phone (224) 545.7800 Our Son Charlie. Symptoms our son has experienced Chest infections regular nose bleeds eating disorders sleep disorders iron deficiency eye infections(pink eye, conjunctivitis) skin irritationsEmergency room visit to Advocate Lutheran General's Hospital, Park Ridge, Il December 18TH 2006 |
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