Relocate them all now

Save Our Backyards hosted a press conference Thursday at Pomeroy and John Streets in the Town of Niagara to call for State and Federal agencies to conduct community-wide immediate relocation.

“We are not asking the government for a favor,” Lexi Hawk, one of four homeowners already relocated said. “We are asking for a solution to a problem we did not create.”

The press conference was led by Jackie Medcalf, executive director of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice which was founded by Lois Gibbs of Love Canal fame.

Medcalf came to town for the meeting from Texas, where she is based, and was the keynote speaker at a community meeting held at Frontier Fire Hall in North Tonawanda Tuesday.

“These families should not have to wait until before scientists answer every question before being relocated,” Medcalf said.

Hawk, her husband and daughter, Carolyn and and John Johnson and two other couples were all relocated last month after testing revealed sand using Thorium 232 also known as monozite.

The saga moved from an aerial survey of radiation to a truck-mounted survey as well as site samples. Officials from the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Environmental Conservation have been front and center in the investigation but slow-playing every step of bureaucracy possible rather than embracing the crisis with sincerity.

“Imagine what it feels like when your home is in the course of fear” Hawk said, “to wonder what you expose your family to by being outside. This is the reality of many people in this neighborhood.”

The trauma for Hawk is raw anytime she stops at her former residence to collect mail.

“My baby girl screams and cries that she does not want to be here” she said. “She wants to go to our new house. I know she won't remember this, but emotional trauma when you're young affects you already become an adult.”

Medcalf was in town for a short time but is based out of Texas. You can learn more about the organizaton she works for at chej.org