Anniston Star
July 17, 2003

Protective equipment out of reach for many residents

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
07-17-2003

Marilyn Thomas sits Wednesday with Vernisha, 12, and 2-year-old Nocholas, two of her seven children, at their home in western Anniston. Photo: Kevin Qualls/The Anniston Star.

It's not that Marilyn Thomas doesn't want her children to have masks and duct tape and an air filter - all the equipment the government is giving out to protect residents in case of an accident at Anniston's chemical weapons stockpile.

It's that she can't reach it.

Thomas is a single mother of seven children. Vernisha has affectionate hugs for strangers. Another daughter can say "thank you," and "you're welcome," in sign language.

But, the family does not have a car. That makes the several-mile trip from their home in a public housing project on Cooper Avenue to the distribution center at McClellan nearly impossible.

To obtain the equipment, all eight must go to the center, spend at least a half hour in training, and carry back heavy, bulky gear, including an air filter the size of a mini-fridge.

"People don't want to give you a ride to the grocery store with just three of us," said Thomas, 31. "So we know we can't get a ride out there.

"Half of them don't care in Cooper Homes," she said, gazing from her stoop down the row of identical brick buildings. "I do. I'm concerned."

At a public meeting Tuesday night, western Anniston residents hurled heated questions at officials who came to talk about the chemical weapons incinerator and groundwater contamination, as well as PCBs.

The Army has 2,253 tons of deadly chemical weapons stored in concrete igloos at the Anniston Army Depot, and hopes to begin incinerating them within weeks.

A depot worker asked why she didn't know what to do if an accident occurred during work hours. A resident shouted out a question about a 1968 incident in Utah, where the military accidentally killed thousands of sheep with nerve agent.

And activists spoke vehemently about the need to reach people who don't have the means to get their protective equipment. About 15 percent of Anniston households don't have cars, according to the 2000 Census.

When David Baker, executive director of Community Against Pollution, asked how many people had picked up their gear, less than half raised their hands.

"A lot of people don't have cars," Baker said in an interview. "A lot of people don't have a license. If they even had a car they couldn't go out."

Baker said CAP had asked Calhoun County's contractors to open a second distribution center closer to western Anniston, perhaps in the former Anniston Star building on West 10th Street. The group had also submitted a plan to bus residents to McClellan. Both were turned down, Baker said.

"I have tried to convey to them how important it is for them to reach out to the people rather than the people reach out to them," he said. "It's a great deal of people that don't have [equipment]."

There is a program in place - though perhaps little-known - for getting people to the distribution center and returning them home with their equipment.

"We've always had a transportation program," said Phillip Harris, director of the equipment training and distribution center at McClellan. "If they call in and we determine that they genuinely have no transportation we put them on a transportation list."

The list goes to a local limousine company that calls the residents and sets up a pickup time, Harris said.

They try to bus people in groups, he said. Contractors have transported about 45 people since distribution started in the spring. Harris said.

Asked if she would want to participate in such a program, Thomas said, "Of course."

She said she is worried about the stockpile and worried about the incinerator.

"We're just worried, period," she said. "We go through a lot here. I just said, I can't get out there, and just asked the Lord to help."

Residents can call the distribution center at 256-241-0058.

Sara Clemence covers environmental issues for The Anniston Star. Contact her at 256-235-3547 or sclemence@annistonstar.com.