Wikis
Quiz
Map
| Crestwood, Illinois | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County: | Cook | |||||||||||||||
| Township: | Worth | |||||||||||||||
| Mayor: | Robert Stranczek | |||||||||||||||
| ZIP code(s): | 60445 | |||||||||||||||
| Area code(s): | 708 | |||||||||||||||
| Population (2000): | 11,251 | |||||||||||||||
| Density: | 3,682.3/mi² (1,419.6/km²) | |||||||||||||||
| Area: | 3.1 mi² (7.9 km²) | |||||||||||||||
| Per capita income: | $21,995 (median: $45,813) |
|||||||||||||||
| Home value: | $131,127 (2000) (median: $122,700) |
|||||||||||||||
| Website: | www.villageofcrestwood.com | |||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
Crestwood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 11,251 at the 2000 census. In April 2009 the Chicago Tribune reported that for 20 year the city had been using for the city's drinking water a well which was contaminated with toxic chemicals.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 3.1 square miles (8.1 km²), of which, 3.1 square miles (7.9 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (1.61%) is water.
As of the 2000 census[2], there were 11,251 people, 4,685 households, and 2,759 families residing in the village. The population density was 3,682.3 people per square mile (1,419.6/km²). There were 4,805 housing units at an average density of 1,572.6/sq mi (606.3/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 92.46% White, 4.52% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.73% Asian, 1.04% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.68% of the population.
The top five ancestries reported in Crestwood as of the 2000 census were Irish (29.4%), German (23.8%), Polish (19.8%), Italian (12.0%) and English (4.8%).[3]
There were 4,685 households out of which 25.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.1% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.1% were non-families. 36.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 3.02.
In the village the population was spread out with 21.2% under the age of 18, 8.0% from 18 to 24, 30.8% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 85.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.1 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $45,813, and the median income for a family was $56,030. Males had a median income of $41,448 versus $31,455 for females. The per capita income for the village was $21,995. About 2.2% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.6% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.
The Windy City ThunderBolts of the independent baseball Frontier League play at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood.
The Mayor is Robert Stranczek, son of former mayor, Chester Stranczek. Chester retired in October 2007, and it was then announced that Robert would be taking over his father's role as mayor.
Crestwood's government rebates to its residents a portion of their property and other municipal tax payments.[4]
Crestwood is in Illinois' 1st congressional district.
Crestwood is home to the Illinois National Guard 2nd Battalion 122 Field Artillery, Company G, 634th Brigade Support Battalion, 108TH Signal Company, 633D Personnel Service Detachment, Early Entry Element, 108TH Brigade Troops Battalion, with soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In April 2009, the Chicago Tribune reported that the water from a well used to supply residents with drinking water had been contaminated with chemicals (including two linked to the known carcinogen perchloroethylene) from dry cleaning solvents. Despite warnings from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 22 years earlier, Crestwood village officials sent annual assurances to residents that their drinking water was safe.[5]
The story reported that in 1986, after the Illinois EPA had told them that Municipal Well #1 was contaminated, Crestwood officials had promised to start drawing all of their water from Lake Michigan, and to use the contaminated well only in emergencies. Instead, the well remained in use until December 2007. In 2007 the well was tested by the Illinois EPA for the first time in 20 years. The EPA also learned at that time that the well was still in regular use. Residents were not notified of the contamination by the EPA or by the village.[5]
Although the Illinois EPA claimed that they discovered the "illegal and secret" use of the well in late 2007, they never notified the residents of Crestwood that they had been drinking contaminated well water for more than twenty years.
It was the work of two private citizens who became "whistleblowers" that brought the scandal to the attention of the public. Chicago WLS TV Channel 7's Paul Miencke reported on May 4th 2009[6] that "the story started with a man, Tim Janecyk, who was angry with police and politics in Crestwood after his wife was arrested for leaving their child in the car while she put money in a Salvation Army kettle in 2007." Miencke went on to say in that report "Janecyk joined forces with Tricia Krause, a woman who has spent years trying to convince others that something in Crestwood caused her children to develop cancer." Congressman Bobby Rush wrote about Tricia Krause in a press release "The government is supposed to protect its people but in this case it appears the Village of Crestwood did the complete opposite," Rush said. "Tricia Krause is an American hero for being brave enough, strong enough and persistent enough to expose this environmental travesty and get justice for the people of Crestwood."[7]
Janecyk had been looking into rumors that the Village of Crestwood had been mixing contaminated water into the drinking water supply in early 2008. It was a somewhat cryptic posting on an internet website, Topix.com,[8] on July 24th 2008 that affirmed the validity of his suspicions concerning the secret use of the contaminated well. The posting read "Is it just me or does the Crestwood tap water taste like its half city water and half Well water."[8] The identity of this poster or their intentions has never been made public. Janecyk learned about Tricia Krause's efforts to explain the illness' of her children who were all born in Crestwood when he did a Google search using the words "Crestwood cancer" and he contacted her to begin a months long collaboration to expose the use of the well. It was Krause's efforts that established proof of the subterfuge when she aquired documents through a number of Freedom of Information Act requests that showed without a doubt that the village was using the contaminated well to provide drinking water for the residents.
Both Janecyk and Krause contacted the Illinois EPA a number of times to point out that the village was secretly using the contaminated well to obtain drinking water for the residents. Ultimately Janecyk became discouraged when the Illinois EPA staffer he had been talking to, Shabu Vazha, claimed that it was legal for Crestwood to use the well.
The whistleblowers then turned to the media and tried unsuccessfully for several months to get a local newspaper to publish the story. After that setback Janecyk and Krause then provided environmental reporter Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune with their documents and evidence of the village officials wrongdoing. Hawthorne investigated Crestwood's actions and then wrote the article "Poison in the Well" which was published on April 19th 2009.
Micheal Hawthorn wrote on April 21st 2009 "Governor Pat Quinn is demanding answers from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency about why residents of south suburban Crestwood weren't notified that the village had pumped drinking water contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals for more than two decades. Quinn directed his senior staff to conduct a thorough review of the EPA's actions in Crestwood. Among other things, the governor wants to know why the agency didn't invoke a 2005 law requiring the state to issue a notification when residents could be exposed to soil or groundwater pollution." Hawthorne made the point that "Quinn championed the right-to-know law while he was lieutenant governor."[9]
Publicly, the Illinois EPA states that they had discovered the use of the contaminated well at the end of 2007, the Illinois Department of Public Health issued a statement more than nine months later only warning the public concerning the use of private wells in the area.[10] The statement issued by the IDPH on August 13th of 2008 said "The Illinois Department of Public Health is advising residents who obtain their drinking water from private wells in the Crestwood area to test their water for possible groundwater contamination. Routine testing of the city’s municipal water wells by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) indicates contamination could be present in the area’s private wells." Even though the Department of Public Health states that the Illinois EPA told them about the contaminants found, at this time, neither the Illinois EPA or the Department of Public Health notified the residents that they had been drinking water from the contaminated municipal well for more than twenty years.
Though the Illinois Department of Public Health warned the residents of Crestwood in their press release of August 13th 2008, that "The risk of adverse health effects depends on the level of contaminants in the water and the length of exposure" and that "Long-term exposure to this chemical may increase the risk of liver and kidney damage" they not only never suggested that the residents who drank from the contaminated municipal water supply for more than two decades should be concerned, they specifically told the residents of Crestwood that "Although the contaminants were found in Crestwood's ground water, Crestwood now receives all of its water from Lake Michigan, which meets U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, so those using the public water supply are not affected."
It is unknown whether or not the Illinois EPA actually told the Illinois Department of Public Health at this point that they had evidence that Crestwood had been using the contaminated well as a public water source for more than twenty years.
Based on information presented in their statement of August 13th 2008, it was clear that the Illinois Department of Public Health knew that long term exposure to the contaminants found in Crestwood's well water presented a danger to the health of the residents of Crestwood.
A Chicago Tribune article from December 29, 2009 accused the Illinois Department of Public Health of withholding information on the carcinogenic effects of the village's water "Six months after state health officials declared their investigation of cancer rates in south suburban Crestwood was almost complete, they have yet to release the results. The Illinois Department of Public Health, which earlier had failed to notify Crestwood residents that their municipal water supply was contaminated with toxic chemicals, declined to answer questions about the cancer study. The agency also has rejected the Tribune's requests for cancer data filed under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act." The reporter explained "In a letter rejecting one of those requests, Damon Arnold, the state health director, had said the study would be released to the public in July (2009). Now agency officials say it won't be officially available until sometime next year (2010), leaving residents guessing if their decades-long exposure to carcinogen-laced tap water contributed to health problems."[11] "When the Tribune requested the same data, state health officials said granting the information would violate patient privacy rights. That ruling came despite a 2006 decision by the Illinois Supreme Court that ordered the department to release similar information to another newspaper, the Southern Illinoisan."[11]
The Tribune article further elaborated on the Illinois Department of Public Health "This isn't the first time the state Public Health Department has withheld information related to Crestwood. The agency previously failed to tell residents they had been drinking contaminated water for years, despite a 2005 right-to-know law requiring the department or the state EPA to notify citizens who could be exposed to groundwater pollution."[11]
According to their mission statement on the website[12] of the Illinois Department of Health, the IDPH is responsible for "Protection of food, water, air and environment."[13]
Douglas P. Scott,[14] the director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the beauracracy that had regulatory oversight of Crestwoods water system published a statement concerning Crestwoods water supply on April 20th 2009. The statement is on Crestwoods village website[15] In that statement Scott said that even though the well water that Crestwood used was contaminated that "the health of the public was never at risk" and he went on to say that their use of the well was illegal. Scotts comment that the "health of the public was never at risk" was premature as the scope of the contamination and the contamination itself were at that point unknown to the officials and his comment contradicted the opinion of the Illinois Department of Health in their press release from August 13th 2008 (as of January 4th 2010 the Illinois Department of Health refused to release a study of cancer cases in Crestwood that their director claimed was "almost complete" in July of 2009). This caused public outrage and resulted in accusations of a "cover-up" by the Illinois EPA.
At the town hall meeting held later at the Oak Forest Hospital by Congressman Bobby Rush, Doug Scott admitted that he could not say with any certainty that there would be no negative health effects on the residents who drank the contaminated water and when pressed to answer the question "would you let your children drink this water" Scott remained silent and refused to answer the question.
"The Illinois EPA has cited Crestwood twice for violating environmental laws, once for using the contaminated well and again for repeatedly telling residents that all of their tap water was treated lake water."[9]
In an April 8th 2009 editorial[16] the South Town Star Newspaper said "The people of this region have been shortchanged by a government agency entrusted with their welfare. And they are rightfully angry that the very people meant to protect them appeared to have simply stood by while their Crestwood village officials worked to poison them through neglect, ignorance, greed, stupidity, evil or all of the above." The South Town Star editor called for a federal investigation of the Illinois EPA and their failures "the federal government must investigate how far the IEPA went, and how far it should have gone, to protect the public."
U.S. Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), who represents Crestwood, sent a letter to the U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson demanding a federal investigation. "This was a deceitful act and someone must be held accountable," Rush said in a statement.[9]
 An angry resident (L) confronts Mayor Robert Stranczek (R) |
In a contentious meeting in April of 2009, according to an article on Chicago Breaking News[17] "an outraged and skeptical standing-room-only crowd shouted him (Crestwoods Mayor Stranczek) down and demanded to know why local officials secretly used a polluted well for more than two decades."
At the meeting the village's mayor Robert Stranczek was pressed on his motive for using the water from the contaminated well. "Sitting next to an attorney, Stranczek denied that the well was used to save money. "If it was a money issue, we would have been running 20, 25, 30 percent well water," the mayor said.
Later statements by the Illinois EPA would show that the village actually did get more than twenty percent of its drinking water from the well.
Asked why the village did not inform residents of the tainted well two decades ago, the mayor (Robert Stranczek) said "there were no violations" at that time."
The Chicago Breaking News article[17] also reported on a meeting held later that day by Tricia Krause, an environmental activist and one of the contaminated water whistleblowers at a church in the neighboring village of Palos Heights. Congressman Bobby Rush, himself a cancer survivor, spoke at that meeting. "U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), whose district includes Crestwood, spoke to about 300 people at a church in neighboring Palos Heights. Rush said he sent a letter to United States Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa P. Jackson[18] demanding the federal agency come to Crestwood to hold public meetings, investigate the village and test to ensure the drinking water is safe. Rush called the actions of Crestwood officials "atrocious," "shameful" and "criminal." Congressman Rush called US Attorney General Eric Holder from his seat at the meeting and pressed him to open a United States Department of Justice investigation into the actions of the Crestwood officials.
On April 20th 2009 Congressman Rush called for a federal investigation on the Village of Crestwood to determine if civil or criminal charges are warranted against the municipality after learning more than 51 million gallons of toxic water annually was knowingly pumped into citizen’s homes for more than 20 years. The action resulted in a raid nine days later in which more than a dozen federal agents raided city facilities and seized documents.[19]
Journalist Gregory Tajeda of the Chicago Argus said in an article he wrote on April 21st 2009 that "Crestwood’s tainted water “cover-up” is not a surprise to political observers."[20] Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune in an article he wrote on June 10th 2009[21] alleges that there was "a systematic coverup of Crestwood's routine use of its tainted well."
In a letter that he sent to all of the residents and business owners in Crestwood, dated April 22nd 2009 and posted on the village's website [22] the current Mayor Robert Stranczek admitted "For years until 2007, well water, treated by chlorine, was periodically incorporated into the village water supply during times of high demand."
On April 23, 2009, WBBM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Chicago, reported that a class-action lawsuit had been filed on behalf of thousands of residents. The lawsuit was filed against the Village, its mayor (Robert Stranczek), and the mayor's father and predecessor, Chester Stranczek.[23]
[24] The South Town Star Newspaper reported "A total of 15 EPA agents, state police investigators and members of the U.S. Coast Guard’s investigative service unit arrived at 9 a.m. and combed village offices for records until sometime around 5 p.m."[25] Reporter Nathaniel Zimmer said "Speaking in the vestibule of village hall, EPA Special Agent in Charge Randall Ashe said the agents were searching for “any evidence of crimes that may have occurred.”[25]
A US Government UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter provided "air support" during the raid.
The authorities spent the entire day removing boxes of paperwork and computer equipment and taking statements from employees of the village.
 Special Agent Randall K. Ashe of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency speaks on the phone during the agencies execution
of a search warrant on the village hall at Crestwood
Illinois. |
 Crestwood's Mayor Robert Stranczek makes a short statement while
federal agents raid his office. |
 Whistleblower Tricia Krause speaks with Special Agent Randall K
Ashe of the US EPA during the raid on village hall in
Crestwood. |
 Agents remove boxes of files and computer equipment from
Crestwoods water department. |
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, wrote on its[26] website in May 2009 that "When the 2007 illegal use of the well was determined in December of 2007, the Illinois EPA began enforcement action by sending a Non-Compliance Advisory letter to Crestwood advising against future use of the emergency back-up well found to be contaminated stating, "the use of Well #1…is a clear violation of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act[.]"
Congressman Rush hosted a town hall meeting at the Oak Forest Hospital on Saturday, May 9th 2009 where he questioned the USEPA, IEPA & CDC on the Crestwood Water contamination situation. "Crestwood residents rally for justice, determine next steps" was the title on Congressman Rush's press release promoting the meeting.[27] The official press release stated "On Saturday, May 9, U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush (IL-01) will host an urgent town hall meeting from 12 noon. to 2 p.m. where he will question the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on why the Village of Crestwood continued to give its residents contaminated tap water despite being warned the source of the water was polluted with a cancer-causing toxin." The press release continued to detail Congressman Rush's concerns "participants include USPEA representatives Tinka Hyde, director of the water division in Region 5, and Thomas Poy, chief groundwater and drinking water branch of the agency: IEPA Director Douglas P. Scott, Chief Toxicologist Dr. Tom Hornshaw and Deputy Manager, Division of Public Water Rick Cobb; CDC Senior Environmental health Scientist Mark Johnson of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Citizens will also have the opportunity to question government officials."
A May 5th 2009 article in the Chicago Tribune posted on Senator Durbins website[28] reported "As federal authorities conduct a criminal investigation of Crestwood's secret use of a polluted well, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is urging government health experts to study whether anyone got sick from drinking the water. Durbin, the Senate's assistant majority leader, sent a letter this week to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry that nudges federal and state health officials to at least attempt to answer those difficult questions." The Tribune article said that "The Illinois Democrat cited "the uncertainty surrounding the level and duration of exposure" to Crestwood's contaminated water and noted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "cannot say with certainty that these levels would not cause adverse health effects." The article went on to point out that "Durbin's call for a federal health investigation comes as other members of Congress are accusing the disease registry of consistently underestimating health risks at other polluted sites."
Comissioner Frank Avila[29] of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) a long time clean water advocate wrote on his blog[30] on May 7th 2009:
"Though the case in Crestwood is more dramatic and immediately dangerous than most environmental issues, the lack of accurate and clear public information is an unsettling trend. I believe that government officials who hold information regarding environmental hazards from the public should have to answer for their dereliction of duty." Avila goes on to write "Until we begin assigning true accountability to the people who hold this vital public information, until we begin making clear statements that environmental dangers should always be public knowledge, nothing will be done and we will be left with no recourse, just a blind hope for honesty."
On June 1st 2009 the Chicago Tribune reported "Legislation inspired by a controversy over tainted water in Crestwood went to the desk of Gov. Pat Quinn today as House lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to ensure citizens are notified when their drinking water is contaminated. The state legislation also would make it a felony to provide false information to environmental enforcement officials."[31]
On June 9th 2009 House Bill 4021 passed in the Illinois General Assembly. "Attorney General Lisa Madigan today applauded the General Assembly’s passage of legislation that requires prompt notification to all users when drinking water is contaminated. Madigan worked with Governor Quinn and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to draft House Bill 4021, which amends the Illinois Right to Know law. State Rep. Frank Mautino[32] (D-Spring Valley) and State Sens. Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest) and Emil Jones, III (D-Chicago) sponsored House Bill 4021." Attorney General Madigan said “We need to make sure that what happened to Crestwood residents never happens again in Illinois, The law needed to be strengthened to protect public safety and to restore public trust.”[33]
The Chicago Tribune Newspaper reported on June 10th 2009[21] that
"Chester Stranczek (former mayor of Crestwood) in particular boasted that he ran Crestwood like a business. He attracted national recognition for pinching pennies, rebating property taxes and maintaining the lowest water rates in Cook County. Using the well, located under the village water tower off 127th Street, enabled officials to cut back on their purchases of lake water and freed them from expensive testing of the well. Chester and Robert Stranczek also signed annual "consumer confidence reports"[39] required under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Each report, as well as notices they published in a local newsletter, claimed that all of the village's drinking water came from Lake Michigan." Michael Hawthorne who authored the article wrote "In an April 24 interview with the Tribune, (Robert) Stranczek acknowledged he has known about the use of the well since at least 1997, when he became a village trustee. He was appointed mayor in 2007 when his father (Chester Stranczek) retired."
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a fifty eight page lawsuit against the Village of Crestwood, Robert Stranczek the current mayor, Chester Stranczek, Crestwood's former mayor and Frank Scaccia, the former director of the water department on June 9th 2009. The suit alleges that the officials not only knew that the water was contaminated and still gave it to the people of Crestwood, but also that the officials named lied to the state, the federal government and the people of Crestwood as many as 122 times. Madigan seeks a fifty thousand dollar fine against each party and an additional ten thousand dollars per occasion of dishonesty. All of the named parties have already admitted to the fact that they used the water from well number one. Madigan insists this is the first step in a long process and does not rule out criminal charges.
“Crestwood officials violated the public’s trust and the laws designed to protect public health. Through this lawsuit, we are seeking to hold these officials accountable for their conduct and to make sure that this does not happen again in Illinois,” Madigan is quoted as saying in a statement.
"Madigan’s office is currently investigating the actions of the Village of Crestwood regarding the use of a contaminated well as a source of drinking water. The office is working to determine what the village did, what the village knew, and when the village knew it, as well as which environmental laws were violated. The office is also working to identify the source of the contamination."[33]
“A safe water supply is absolutely critical to the health and safety of the people of Illinois,” added Madigan. “The bill passed by the General Assembly strengthens the law and will help to keep our drinking water safe.”[33]
US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who obtained the federal criminal search warrant to raid the village's offices has still not made public any federal criminal charges as of June 12th 2009.
Special Agent in charge of criminal investigations, Randall Ashe of the United States Environmental Protection Agency stated in front of television news cameras and reporters on the day that the offices of Crestwoods public works were raided that "this is the first time in history that the United States EPA has obtained a criminal search warrant on another government agency."[34]
An article reposted on a website called "SierraActivist" [35] (originally written on 2.14.2003 by Richard Boyd of The Times-Picayune newspaper) commented on the EPA Special Agent: "When Randall Ashe or any of his six agents show up, it is too late for one more chance; it's time to pay the piper for committing serious environmental crimes. Ashe and his agents carry weapons, have arrest power, can obtain search warrants and conduct secret surveillance, and work with federal or state authorities in prosecuting individuals and companies that commit environmental crimes. "When we show up, it is too late for more compromise, more negotiating, more one-more-chance to do right," Ashe said. "We show up when it is time to make the case, collect the evidence, get the search and arrest warrants, and proceed with criminal prosecutions."[36] Special Agent Ashe's attitude towards environmental offenders is summed up in a quote from a USEPA news release from 2.5.09 [37] EPA Special Agent in Charge Randall K. Ashe said, "People who cheat on environmental laws to save money need to know that we will investigate them and prosecute them to the full extent of the law."
According to a June 25th 2009 report by Chicago's WGN radio:
Illinois' Governor Pat Quinn, reacting to public outrage, signed a bill into law in August of 2009 addressing many of the legal issues that grew out of the contaminated water scandal in Crestwood. WLS TV's Paul Miencke reported on August 23rd 2009 [39] "Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill Sunday that he says will help ensure Illinois citizens have safe, clean drinking water. The bill is designed to prevent future incidents like the water contamination discovered earlier this year in south suburban Crestwood, Ill. For years, Crestwood village officials told townspeople that all their water came from Lake Michigan exclusively, when records showed that Crestwood was co-mingling its lake water with water from a village well that had shown levels of a known carcinogen. The governor has signed a law that will require water suppliers to notify all their customers if tests reveal any contamination with their water supply. In Crestwood's case, the EPA had long ago told the village that the well in question had problems, but Crestwood didn't tell residents. Under the new law, water suppliers have five days to notify all of their customers of any problems."
Commenting on the law just signed by Governor Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan said "They certainly weren't telling people who were drinking that water, brushing their teeth with that water, cooking with that water, showering with that water, that the water had contaminants in it. That is simply wrong, and it needs to end."[40]
According to Miencke "The state EPA, because of the Crestwood issue, is changing one aspect of its water testing. There are more than 1,000 communities in Illinois that deliver water that they first purchase from someone else, another community or supplier. The EPA has always done its water quality testing at the supplier. Now, it will test at the distribution point."[40]
In the July/August 2009 issue of "Illinois Issues,"[41] author Bethany Jaeger reports that "because village officials reported that the well served only as an emergency backup, it wasn’t required to be tested. And the state relies on an honor system for such reporting."There was no federal requirement. They (village officials)knew what they were doing," says Rick Cobb, deputy manager of the state EPA’s Division of Public Water Supply.[41] The department (IL EPA)detected vinyl chloride in Crestwood’s well in September 2007. Less than two months later, Crestwood maintained that it still did not draw water from the well. The story changed on August 21, 2008, when Frank Scaccia, the former water supply operator, told officials that the village did, indeed, supplement Lake Michigan water with well water.
Frank Scaccia’s attorney, Bill Seith of Total Environmental Solutions in Oakbrook Terrace, says his client “is certainly very interested in making sure that everybody is properly informed.”[41] According to information posted on the firms website, Bill Seith, Scaccia's attorney, was previously the Deputy Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.[42] Seith, in his own words said he has "more than 10 years (experience working)at Illinois Attorney General’s office, Environmental Bureau, where he worked for more than four years as chief.[43] "As a former Deputy Director of Illinois EPA, William Seith, oversaw that Agency’s Office of Community Relations."[44]
"On September 11, 2009, the Deratany Firm, located in Chicago, Illinois, filed a proposed class action lawsuit on behalf of Plaintiffs who represent a class of the many residents, past residents, and employees of Crestwood, Illinois who were harmed by the contaminated water" according to the firms website.[45] The lawsuit claims that "An EPA test performed in 2007 found that the well’s water was contaminated with twice the legal limit of vinyl chloride, a chemical linked with cancer that is considered dangerous at any level of exposure."[45] The firm also states that "Among other allegations the complaint alleges that the Village of Crestwood, Chester Stranczek, the past mayor of Crestwood, and Robert Stranczek, the current mayor of Crestwood acted negligently and/or with a reckless disregard for the health and safety of the Plaintiffs."[45] "The class action is brought on behalf of many Crestwood residents who have suffered serious and continuing injuries and even died. The Deratany Firm plans to fight aggressively for the rights of these residents of Crestwood who have been harmed and injured."[45]
This is the first lawsuit to mention "employees" of Crestwood.
On October 9th, 2009 the Illinois EPA on its website [46] released test results for the groundwater near the well that Crestwood used to obtain drinking water for its residents "The concentration of vinyl chloride found in the bedrock’s groundwater between 39 and 49 feet below ground surface averaged 55.7 parts per billion (ppb), ten times the concentration Illinois EPA found in the PWS well 3 years ago (5.4 ppb). This water contains twenty five times more of the toxic compound vinyl chloride than is allowed in drinking water by law.
Michael Hawthorne, the environmental reporter for the Chicago Tribune newspaper who broke the story about Crestwood's secret and illegal use of the contaminated well in 2008 wrote in an article from December 29th 2008 [47] that "Six months after state health officials declared their investigation of cancer rates in south suburban Crestwood was almost complete, they have yet to release the results." Even though Hawthorne and the Chicago Tribune had filed at least two FOIA requests for the details and data from the Illinois Department of Health study he was denied the information by the agency who stated "patient confidentiality" in their refusal to divulge the contents of the study. The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled in a similar case that the release of such study infoormation does not violate patient confidentiality in any way because the patients cannot be identified by the information personally. As of January 4th, 2009 the Illinois Department of Health has refused to release the study which is presumed to show whether or not there is an identifiable link between cancer cases in the village of Crestwood and consumption of the contaminated water.
An article in the SouthTown Star newspaper on January 3rd, 2010 [48] by Maura Possley reported that the attorneys for Chester Stranczek had filed a motion in front of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Mary K. Rochford [49] to argue that the former mayor, who is now eighty years old, is not fit to testify in any of the many civil trials before the court at this time because he suffers from Parkinsons dementia.[50] According to the article it is expected that the courts decision in this matter will set a precedent for all of the civil lawsuits and the anticipated criminal charges against Stranczek.
During the hearing on January 13th 2010, Chester Stranczeks attorneys presented as a witness Dr. Cindy Zadikoff,[51] an assistant professor of neurology specializing in movement disorders at NorthWestern Memorial Hospitol. According to Maura Possley of the SouthTown Star Newspaper [52] "Dr. Zadikoff examined Stranczek in August and October. The doctor testified that his wife reported that Stranczek, when they returned from their Boca Raton home to their Crestwood house, would forget where the bathroom or bedroom were." The same article goes on to say that "Plaintiffs attorney Burton Weinstein[53] ( a partner at the Chicago law firm of Baskin, Server, Berke & Weinstein ) questioned whether Stranczek could exaggerate symptoms or fake his way through her exams to try to indicate he was unfit to testify. Weinstein also referred to reports from Stranczek's former doctor of him having less-severe memory loss and said some of Stranczek's medications were known to heighten confusion or memory loss."
The Chicago Tribune's Michael Hawthorne reported in an August 23rd 2009 article[54] "What appeared to be an obvious violation of state environmental laws became entangled in one of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's political feuds, delaying action for months. Dozens of other cases against polluters languished as well, largely because Blagojevich and his top aides refused to refer them to his archnemesis, Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan, a Tribune investigation found. Blagojevich and Madigan started out on amicable terms after they were elected in 2002. But EPA referrals of civil and criminal violations to the attorney general began to drop sharply in 2005, and fell to a record low of 114 in 2007, according to state records."
Hawthorne identified the fued between the Illinois Governor and the Attorney General as one of the contributing factors in the success of Crestwood's coverup. "The agency (the IL EPA) hasn't sent a criminal case to the attorney general in two years, records show."
The Tribune reporter noticed a concerning lack of prosecutions against environmental offenders. "By contrast, previous administrations on average referred about 300 environmental cases during most years since the mid-1980s. The EPA forwarded nearly 30 criminal violations to the attorney general in 2003, before the relationship soured between two of the state's top Democrats."
"Polluters didn't suddenly wise up and start following the law." wrote Hawthorne, "Instead, top EPA officials now acknowledge, the agency avoided sending cases to Madigan, whose office handles most of the legal work for state government."
"There were some issues between us and the attorney general, and that skewed those numbers," said the Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott, who was appointed by Blagojevich in 2005 and kept on by Quinn.
"As the conflict roiled, federal officials stepped in on some of the biggest environmental cases in the Chicago area."
The Tribune reporter pointed out "For instance, the U.S. EPA is conducting a high-profile criminal investigation into Crestwood's secret use of a community well contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals, a case the Illinois EPA tried to quietly handle informally while Blagojevich was still governor."
The June 2001 edition of the Crestwood Adviser, a village newsletter, is one of several that touts low water rates. Next to a portrait of Stranczek, it states: “… we can save you a lot of time by saying that Crestwood water has passed all the tests prescribed by the EPA during the past year. The results were very favorable, and we have safe drinking water.”[55]
When Chester Stranczek started rebating property taxes to every homeowner during the mid-1990s, the action was so unusual the National Enquirer declared Crestwood the “best-run town in America.”[55]
“I know every inch of Crestwood,” Stranczek told the Chicago Sun-Times in 1997. “I know every curb, every sidewalk, every stormwater drain. I know all the dikes. I built most of them.”[55]
Coordinates: 41°38′43″N 87°44′37″W / 41.645233°N 87.743586°W
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Search
