wfn.org | Lawsuit filed against exterminators

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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 (334
notes).

Note 334 by UMNS on Sept. 18, 1997 at 16:43 Eastern (2665 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Green	522(10-71B){334}
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	Sept. 18, 1997

Pesticide victims file lawsuit
against exterminating company

by Kathy Kruger Noble*

	HARPER, Kan. (UMNS) -- Three people who believe their  continuing health
problems resulted from pesticide contamination of Harper United Methodist
Church here have filed a $2 million lawsuit against the exterminator.
	The Rev. Lee Louderback, Paula Kastler and Angela Thurston, are seeking
$500,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages from
Orkin Exterminating Company of Atlanta, Ga. The suit was filed earlier this
month in Wichita.
	Randy Rathbun, a Wichita attorney specializing in environmental issues and a
member of East Heights United Methodist Church, said it will be at least a
year before the case is tried.
	Louderback was the pastor, Kastler, the custodian and  Thurston, the church
secretary, when temporary teenaged workers drilled into air ducts and poured
pesticide into them while treating the church for termites in the summer of
1995. The holes were to be drilled into the foundation.
	The three say they continue to have health problems and medical expenses
caused by the pesticide that circulated through the church's heating and air
conditioning system for a year before it was identified last fall.
	The church building was closed Dec. 22, 1996.
	Orkin has acknowledge that the misapplication contaminated the church with
chloropyrifos, the pesticide's active ingredient, which is toxic to humans.
The system kept recirculating the toxin.
	All three -- as were other church members -- were exposed to the chemical
whenever they were in the building. Louderback's exposure was especially heavy
because the chair he sat in while working at his computer was over an air
vent.
	In July, Orkin reached an out-of-court settlement with the Harper church
trustees to do all cleaning, repairs and refurbishing required to restore the
church to its condition before the spill. That work, begun in late July, is
continuing.
	The Harper United Methodist Church-Orkin settlement also will pay for testing
to assure the church building is safe and covers attorneys' and consultants'
fees.
	The 262-member congregation now meets in the Seventh Day Adventist Church it
has used since its own building was closed and rents office space in downtown
Harper.
	The congregation hopes to return to its building by Christmas but knows it
may be spring before the work is completed.
	# # #
	* Noble is associate director for communications of the Kansas West
Conference.

 

 

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