Re: Cherry Farm Story [1] - Tonawanda NEWS Saturday, Feb. 27, 1999, by Robin Cooper. It certainly was refreshing to see that someone in the WNY area (besides F.A.C.T.S and a few concerned citizens) has the foresight to think ahead about the future.

Stephen Brady, Niagara Mohawk [2] public affairs manager, in discussing Niagara Mohawk's willingness to help the state and town officials with the park, made a very interesting comment. "The issue is not selling the land," Mr. Brady says. "It's in 10,15, or 20 years from now when someone puts a backhoe in the wrong place (at the farm) and someone gets sick. We will remain responsible for that." This runs parallel to the position that F.A.C.T.S takes on the entire radioactive cleanup now being done by the US Corps of Engineers (USACE).

Residents are being told that the PARTIALLY decontaminated land will have deed restrictions and will be used only for industrial uses. Sounds great, except for the workers of child-bearing ages. Further, what about 100 or 200 years into the future? Deed restrictions and industrial use only parameters will be forgotten. As more residential areas are needed, industrial sites will be leveled and turned into residential developments.

Why listen to facts from F.A.C.T.S.: Some will say why listen to F.A.C.T.S? They're just being alarmists. After all, the government agencies dealing with the problem tell us that everything is fine - or will be fine when the cleanup is done.

F.A.C.T.S.' documentation has been gathered from well-known leading experts on the issue of health-related problems being caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. According to these experts, there is no threshold below which genetic damage will not occur.

PRESENT CONCERNS: People in the Riverview section are concerned about the cancer and other medical problems that arc prevalent in the area. The same goes for residents of the Sheridan Parkside Courts. In the F.A.C.T.S. database there are names of 200 plus workers from the Linde/Praxair worksite who either have contracted cancer or have died from the effects of cancer. I am not saying that ALL of the cancers were caused by long-term exposure to low-level ionizing radiation but, on the other hand, I've yet to see any proof from government agencies stating that these high incidences of cancers ARE/WERE NOT caused by this exposure.

WNY is supposed to have the highest rates of breast cancer and multiple sclerosis in the nation. Would the fact that from Lackawanna to Lewiston the areas were heavily industrialized at one time be a reason for these problems? Remember, when the large corporations shut down, large amounts of toxic wastes, heavy metals and radioactive contamination were left behind. No one seems to take that into consideration.

It appears that the local politicians, land developers, and yes, even the local residents, have little or no concern for their own future generations. Wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth will be no solution to the future problems.

FUTURE CONCERNS:

The Native American peoples have the right idea. xxxxxx When there are problems affecting their residents, they consider not only the immediate effects, but also take into consideration how the problems may affect the future seven generations.

We owe it to the future unborn generations that we not leave them a legacy of mutations, cancers and other health problems. We have to show the future generations that, yes, we did care and that, yes, we did resolve the problems to the best of our God-given abilities.

Remember, as Chief Seattle said "We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children."

(Mr. Finch is editor & co-webmaster for F.A.C.T.S. (For A Clean Tonawanda Site), Inc. The FACTS web site may be accessed at: http://members.aol.com/factsofwny

EDITOR'S NOTES:

[1] Cherry Farm - Local site originally owned by the Cherry family. It is located near the south Grand Island bridge. For years, it was used as a waste disposal site. Toxic materials, heavy metals and slightly radioactive fly ash were among the many wastes deposited here. In recent years, the site has been remediated and will be turned into a park and recreational area. (?)

[2] Niagara Mohawk - Local electric utility company.