An °)()(unprecedented°+/- opportunity

To the Editor:

We were bamboozled, again. Hoodwinked, hornswaggled and flim-flammed.

Mr. Peronard and Co. hijacked the CAG for six months leading up to a dog and pony show touted as your °)()(unprecedented opportunity°+/- to direct EPA°Os actions. Granted, he carefully engineered which facets of the cleanup you would comment on and even made up your comment forms. I told you before that all you had to do was sign those forms. When the forms were printed, your signature was actually left as °)()(optional.°+/- Paul has already received over 10,000 of those forms signifying overwhelming support from Libby residents for his actions, whatever they may be. All respondents said °)()(shower us with asbestos, we eat the stuff.°+/-

There were only three issues presented on this comment form, they are as follows. Should EPA seek public input or just shove the cleanup down your throats? Can you tolerate more contaminated contractor trucks spilling asbestos through your town? Creeks or golf course?

Understand that all of these questions have already been decided before the meeting of °)()(unprecedented opportunity.°+/- EPA is required by law to seek your input, that is why we hold CAG meetings. Those trucks are going to continue to spread asbestos through town because it would be political suicide for Paul to halt the house mess-ups. I almost said cleanups. The creeks had been mysteriously funded out of some magical pot we weren°Ot aware of before the meeting started. The golf course, the only issue of contention, the main issue of economic importance, has been canceled.

It is easy to see that the golf course wasn°Ot canceled due to lack of funds, it was politics. Remember the mayor°Os gift, the gift that keeps on giving? The mayor has a huge interest in the golf course and it is creating problems for Cabinet View Country Club. Mr. Peronard is under great scrutiny regarding profiteering since he and the mayor engineered the fiasco at the Export Plant. Now, Mr. Peronard has publicly admitted that groundskeepers and golfers, including high school teams, have been exposed since the EPA identified this known source of exposure in 2002. This has the potential to destroy CVCC now that OSHA, Gayla and her trial lawyers have that information. EPA has left CVCC swinging in the winds of a litigation hurricane. EPA had an obligation to respect CVCC°Os privacy rights, but because of city involvement with Federal funds, those rights took a back seat. Grace executives smile and nod approvingly.

This meeting was never about public input, and lack of funding has never been the real issue. EPA has never had a site where they could demonstrate health concerns like Libby, Montana. Never. Anywhere. That is unprecedented. All Paul and his bosses have to do is ask for funding and the money will flow. The issue is can this project move ahead and actually protect human health? The cure may be worse than the disease.

Mr. Peronard published a website profile when he came to town. He laughed then about translating his complex findings to simple folks °)()(who prefer yes and no answers.°+/- Ted Linnert, our Community Involvement Coordinator, gives lessons to EPA personnel on how they have manipulated the process in Libby through °)()(socialist marketing°+/- and actually brags about loading the CAG with °)()(the usual suspects.°+/- You have been duped by design because EPA took the attitude that buying community leaders was easier than working toward community acceptance. This is known as the °)()(Grace Strategy.°+/- Watch the Grace indictments carefully and see the correlation°Os in EPA actions.

It has never been more important for honest people whose only interest is the betterment of this community to be involved in the CAG. Please attend the follow up meetings, second Thursday of every month, where we actually have °)()(unprecedented opportunity°+/- for comment. Let°Os show EPA that °)()(divide and conquer°+/- tactics won°Ot work in the town known for working together to eliminate, real, local problems.

D.C. Orr

Libby A6P5