Trial begins in Umatilla case
Help delayed until hours after chemical exposure, workers say

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PORTLAND -- Three of the several dozen construction workers who say they were poisoned by sarin while working near a chemical stockpile at the Umatilla Chemical Depot described a chaotic scene in which they were not offered any medical assistance for nearly two hours.

The testimony yesterday came during the first day of a non-jury trial pitting the Army against about three dozen workers who suddenly fell ill on Sept. 15, 1999. Many still suffer from symptoms they developed then.

The Army plans to use an incinerator to destroy the nearly 4,000 tons of chemical weapons -- including sarin, VX and mustard -- stored at the depot near Hermiston, in northeastern Oregon.

The plaintiffs' attorney, James McCandlish, said during opening statements that the Army was wrong to immediately rule out chemical poisoning and was negligent for relying on its civilian contractor, Raytheon, to handle the sick workers.

He also said the Army didn't react quickly enough to the medical emergency, thereby increasing the workers' chemical exposure and worsening the long-term effects.

McCandlish said the Army did not begin testing for chemical agents until three hours after the incident and then waited another 90 minutes before testing the areas where the workers fell ill. Sarin can disperse in as little as 30 minutes, he said, making it impossible to discount chemical exposure.

"They ruled out a chemical agent prior to even doing testing," McCandlish said. "No government employee went to the site and performed an evaluation of signs and symptoms."

Three plaintiffs -- David Bosley, Brian Zasso and John Tucker -- described how on the morning of Sept. 15, dozens of workers inside the half-finished incinerator building began gasping for breath, vomiting and coughing and raced for the open doorway. Some had to be dragged or carried out by others, they testified.

Zasso and Tucker said they went to the first-aid station but for two hours did not receive any medical attention despite repeated demands to be taken to the hospital.

"It was the first time ever in 30 years of construction experience that I was denied medical care or made to wait for medical care," said Zasso, a steamfitter.

But government attorneys said yesterday they were only required to provide medical assistance if they determined chemicals were the cause of the workers' illness. All non-chemical emergencies at the construction site were to be handled by Raytheon under a pre-construction agreement.

Raytheon, now called the Washington Demilitarization Group, was dropped as a defendant after reaching an undisclosed settlement with the workers earlier this year.

The Army immediately ruled out chemical agent, said James Brennan, attorney with the Department of Justice. Army employees had entered four bunkers that morning for routine checks and found no leaking weapons.

That work concluded at least 35 minutes before any workers showed symptoms, Brennan said.

Army employees working in street clothes next to the stockpile didn't show any symptoms while construction workers did, he said.

"The Army, knowing what its operations were on that day, knew that this incident was a localized event at the construction site and not related to any chemical incident," Brennan said.

During cross examination, government attorney Henry Miller said what affected Tucker couldn't have been sarin because Tucker wrote in a Sept. 16 statement that he smelled an "acidy or noxious odor" -- and sarin is an odorless gas.

The first phase of the trial, which is expected to take two weeks, will determine whether the Army was negligent. The second phase would determine any damages.