4/5/2006 Deadly "Tennessee Two-Step" Keeps Leaky Landfill Away from Officials' Homes by Robert D. Bullard
Dickson, Tennessee elected officials are faced with a moral test of deciding whether to burden a black family with health risks that they are unwilling to bear themselves. Dickson County is less than five percent black. Local government officials are using tax dollars to fight a black family whose wells were contaminated with trichloroethylene (a suspected carcinogen) by the county-run landfill. The family's homestead is just 54 feet from the landfill property line. Where do the locally elected officials live? Only one Dickson City council member's home is within a one-mile radius of the landfill. Five of the eight city council members' homes are more than two miles from the landfill. The Dickson Mayor lives nearly four miles from the landfill. Dickson County officials live even further away from the leaky landfill than their Dickson City counterparts. Two county commissioners' homes are within two miles of the landfill; three commissioners live three to four miles from the landfill; and seven of the twelve commissioners' homes are six or more miles from the landfill. Two of the commissioners live more than fifteen miles from the landfill. The county mayor lives three miles from the landfill. On average, the twenty Dickson City council and County commissioners live nearly 5.5 miles from the controversial landfill and for years have had access to clean City tap water. It is unlikely that any of these men and women would allow their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, spouses, and children to drink contaminated well water for one day-and certainly not for twelve years-as in the case of the black family. Click HERE to view the full story and maps.