wfn.org | Pesticide Clean-up

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (254
notes).

Note 253 by UMNS on Aug. 1, 1997 at 16:21 Eastern (11698 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                           441(10-65-71B){253}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Aug. 1, 1997

Kansas church, extermination company
reach agreement; pesticide cleanup begins

by Kathy Kruger Noble*

     HARPER,Kansas (UMNS) -- The clean-up of pesticide
contamination at Harper United Methodist Church here finally is
underway.
     Church trustees and a local exterminating ompany reached an
agreement in mid-July to "put the church back to where it was
before the pesticide spill," said the Rev. Lee Louderback, former
pastor.
     Dollar amount of the settlement cannot be released, but
Louderback said it will pay for clean-up and repairs.
     The settlement, reached out of court, also covers "all of the
testing that had to be done and will have to be done," Louderback
said, "as well as consultant and attorneys' fees."
     Now senior pastor of Mulvane United Methodist Church,
Louderback served Harper through last June. The contamination
occurred in July 1995. He was asked to continue working on the
settlement because of his familiarity with the situation.
     Settlement negotiations between the exterminators and
Louderback and Paula Kastler and Angela Thurston continue. Kastler
is current church secretary; Thurston is the former secretary. All
three have health problems believed to be the result of breathing
the pesticide that was introduced into the heating and air
conditioning system. The spill occurred while the church was being
treated for termites.
     Temporary workers drilling holes to apply a termite pesticide
containing chlorophyrifos accidentally drilled into heating and
air conditioning ducts. The oil-based pesticide then was carried
throughout the building.
     The spill was not discovered until the summer of 1996 when a
worker from another exterminating company entered the church and
smelled the chemical.
     In December 1996 United Methodist officials of the Kansas
West conference closed the church after services on the morning of
Dec. 22. The closing was a severe blow to the 262-member
congregation, which had returned to the renovated sanctuary in
March 1996 after being out of it for nine months while extensive
repairs were made to the roof. 
     "There was almost an audible sigh of relief," said the Rev.
Jerry Calvert, current Harper pastor, after church trustee Emerson
Stewart announced to the congregation July 20 that a settlement
had been reached. 
     "The church got what we asked for," Stewart said. "We asked
to be put back like we were before it happened. We got money
enough to do that. We have no ill feelings as far as the
settlement is concerned."
     Except for "a clapping of hands," Calvert said, "we decided
to save the celebration until we get back into the new refurbished
building."
     Since the church was closed, the Harper congregation has
worshipped in a Seventh Day Adventist Church and rented office
space.
     The congregation hopes to return to its building by
Christmas, but the clean-up may take longer, Louderback said. It
begins with a "supervised stripping of the building," under the
auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various
environmental companies.
     The actual "washing or cleaning process will begin" after the
building is stripped to a certain point, he explained.
      Clean-up includes laying new floor and carpet, painting,
polishing and replacing duct work, furnaces and ceiling and floor
tiles. 
     "Then they will be checking all the heating and air
conditioning systems to make sure that they are perfectly clean,"
Louderback continued.
     Clean-up also means replacing hymnals, library materials,
music, carpet, upholstery of pews, banners and paraments.
"Everything goes," Louderback said.
     Difficult as the past seven months have been for the church,
Louderback said the support of United Methodists and other
Christians have sustained the people. "It has been phenomenal the
way Christendom, but especially the United Methodist Church, has
responded to me personally as well as to the Harper United
Methodist Church." 
     Cokesbury declared the church a disaster area within an hour
of learning about the problem and provided free Sunday School
curriculum, certificates, record books, a limited number of Bibles
and hymnals and other materials.
     "The connectional system works," Louderback said. "We've had
offers from individuals who are United Methodists with expertise
in this field, including those who own pesticide companies, who
have offered us information, technical and moral support."
     Louderback also has been in ministry with others affected by
pesticide contaminations. He has talked to physicians, teachers
and many other individuals, "linking them with resources, praying
with them, just being pastoral to them."
     The experience has made Louderback and his wife, the Rev.
Linda Louderback, leery of using chemicals. "We use a lot more
natural products," he said. "I bought ant traps, but I'm not going
to spray for them. I'm not going to spray inside the house."
     At the same time, he agreed with Stewart and others that the
major problem was not with using a chemical pesticide but with its
misapplication.
     "What the Harper church was exposed to," he explained, "is
one of the most dangerous (chemicals) if used in an inappropriate
way. If it had been administered properly, put four feet below the
ground like it was supposed to be, everything would have been
fine."
                              #  #  #

     * Noble is the director of communications for the Kansas West
Annual Conference and editor of Crossfire, the conference's

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Green                           441(10-65-71B){253}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470              Aug. 1, 1997

Kansas church, extermination company
reach agreement; pesticide cleanup begins

by Kathy Kruger Noble*

     HARPER,Kansas (UMNS) -- The clean-up of pesticide
contamination at Harper United Methodist Church here finally is
underway.
     Church trustees and a local exterminating ompany reached an
agreement in mid-July to "put the church back to where it was
before the pesticide spill," said the Rev. Lee Louderback, former
pastor.
     Dollar amount of the settlement cannot be released, but
Louderback said it will pay for clean-up and repairs.
     The settlement, reached out of court, also covers "all of the
testing that had to be done and will have to be done," Louderback
said, "as well as consultant and attorneys' fees."
     Now senior pastor of Mulvane United Methodist Church,
Louderback served Harper through last June. The contamination
occurred in July 1995. He was asked to continue working on the
settlement because of his familiarity with the situation.
     Settlement negotiations between the exterminators and
Louderback and Paula Kastler and Angela Thurston continue. Kastler
is current church secretary; Thurston is the former secretary. All
three have health problems believed to be the result of breathing
the pesticide that was introduced into the heating and air
conditioning system. The spill occurred while the church was being
treated for termites.
     Temporary workers drilling holes to apply a termite pesticide
containing chlorophyrifos accidentally drilled into heating and
air conditioning ducts. The oil-based pesticide then was carried
throughout the building.
     The spill was not discovered until the summer of 1996 when a
worker from another exterminating company entered the church and
smelled the chemical.
     In December 1996 United Methodist officials of the Kansas
West conference closed the church after services on the morning of
Dec. 22. The closing was a severe blow to the 262-member
congregation, which had returned to the renovated sanctuary in
March 1996 after being out of it for nine months while extensive
repairs were made to the roof. 
     "There was almost an audible sigh of relief," said the Rev.
Jerry Calvert, current Harper pastor, after church trustee Emerson
Stewart announced to the congregation July 20 that a settlement
had been reached. 
     "The church got what we asked for," Stewart said. "We asked
to be put back like we were before it happened. We got money
enough to do that. We have no ill feelings as far as the
settlement is concerned."
     Except for "a clapping of hands," Calvert said, "we decided
to save the celebration until we get back into the new refurbished
building."
     Since the church was closed, the Harper congregation has
worshipped in a Seventh Day Adventist Church and rented office
space.
     The congregation hopes to return to its building by
Christmas, but the clean-up may take longer, Louderback said. It
begins with a "supervised stripping of the building," under the
auspices of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various
environmental companies.
     The actual "washing or cleaning process will begin" after the
building is stripped to a certain point, he explained.
      Clean-up includes laying new floor and carpet, painting,
polishing and replacing duct work, furnaces and ceiling and floor
tiles. 
     "Then they will be checking all the heating and air
conditioning systems to make sure that they are perfectly clean,"
Louderback continued.
     Clean-up also means replacing hymnals, library materials,
music, carpet, upholstery of pews, banners and paraments.
"Everything goes," Louderback said.
     Difficult as the past seven months have been for the church,
Louderback said the support of United Methodists and other
Christians have sustained the people. "It has been phenomenal the
way Christendom, but especially the United Methodist Church, has
responded to me personally as well as to the Harper United
Methodist Church." 
     Cokesbury declared the church a disaster area within an hour
of learning about the problem and provided free Sunday School
curriculum, certificates, record books, a limited number of Bibles
and hymnals and other materials.
     "The connectional system works," Louderback said. "We've had
offers from individuals who are United Methodists with expertise
in this field, including those who own pesticide companies, who
have offered us information, technical and moral support."
     Louderback also has been in ministry with others affected by
pesticide contaminations. He has talked to physicians, teachers
and many other individuals, "linking them with resources, praying
with them, just being pastoral to them."
     The experience has made Louderback and his wife, the Rev.
Linda Louderback, leery of using chemicals. "We use a lot more
natural products," he said. "I bought ant traps, but I'm not going
to spray for them. I'm not going to spray inside the house."
     At the same time, he agreed with Stewart and others that the
major problem was not with using a chemical pesticide but with its
misapplication.
     "What the Harper church was exposed to," he explained, "is
one of the most dangerous (chemicals) if used in an inappropriate
way. If it had been administered properly, put four feet below the
ground like it was supposed to be, everything would have been
fine."
                              #  #  #

     * Noble is the director of communications for the Kansas West
Annual Conference and editor of Crossfire, the conference's
newspaper.

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