Headlines
We Complained for Years
04/27/2006
BY MICHAEL GIBBS
Northwest Herald reporter Jillian Compton contributed to this story.
McCULLOM LAKE – Jane Savalick has degenerative arthritis, three of her brothers have died of cancer, and another brother and sister have or had cancer.
Savalick, who also has a nephew and niece with cancer, a sister-in-law with cancer and a niece who died of cancer, does not believe the diseases are a coincidence.
She believes that they were caused by toxic chemicals that a lawsuit alleges have been leaked into the 
groundwater by the former Morton International facility in Ringwood, which is located about a block from where the siblings grew up off Barnard Mill Road.
"We complained about that plant for years," said Savalick, 72, who now lives in McHenry. "They were dumping chemicals in ponds for years. It is my belief that these leaking chemicals were the cause.
"My brother eventually owned my parents house. It was home. It was where our roots were. It was very emotional when he did sell the house last year."
Philadelphia attorney Aaron Freiwald has filed two lawsuits and plans to file a third against five local companies located 1 mile north of McCullom Lake that he says leaked toxic chemicals into the area's groundwater.
The companies are Morton International, Rohm and Haas Chemicals LLC, Huntsman, Huntsman Polyurethanes and Modine Manufacturing Co.
All the companies' facilities in question are located in Ringwood, except for Modine's, which is based in McHenry. Huntsman leases its Ringwood operations from Rohm and Haas.
McCullom Lake Village President Jeanne Hansen said wells tested on four properties on McCullom Lake Road, near where the complaints live or previously lived, found the water to be safe. However, she said she did not know who tested the wells.
"The village does not test wells," Hansen said. "They are private wells. All I am saying is that apparently the wells were tested recently and there were no chemicals in the water, with the exception of a little bit of fluoride.
"I definitely think [the lawsuits] will affect property values in McCullom Lake. The attorney saying there is a problem with the water stigmatizes the village."
The first lawsuit is on behalf of Bryan Freund and Kurt Weisenberger, who have been diagnosed with rare brain cancers the lawsuit said have been caused by "the spilling, leaking and dumping into the air, soil and groundwater massive quantities of highly toxic chemicals ... that invaded the air and water supply of these men's homes."
Freund lives at 4821 McCullom Lake Road, McCullom Lake. Weisenberger previously lived on the same street and now lives in Wonder Lake.
The second lawsuit was filed on behalf of all current and former McCullom Lake residents dating back to the 1960s, which includes the occupants of about 500 homes, who might have been exposed to the toxic chemicals, Freiwald said.
The lawsuits are seeking monetary damages and the funding for future medical testing.
A third lawsuit will be filed by the end of this week on behalf the family of Franklin Branham, 63, who lived on McCullom Lake Road for more than 20 years. Branham was diagnosed with brain cancer in May 2004 and died in June 2004, Freiwald said.
"The most glaring problem we see is the situation with the brain cancers," Freiwald said. "The strongest connection we have between these people is these facilities.
"As we continue to investigate and gain access to more documents, we will add more [plaintiffs] to the lawsuit."
Freiwald said his law firm received information from the Illinois Department of Environmental Protection Agency that showed Morton, bought by Rohm and Haas Chemicals parent Rohm and Haas Co. in 1999, dumped liquid chemical waste into a landfill at the company's site, 5005 Barnard Mill Road, between 1962 and 1975.
At the same location in 1978, a railroad tank-car spill released a large amount of dichloroethylene, a toxic chemical commonly used to make plastic food wraps, the lawsuit states.
Freiwald said it was not until 1985 that Morton discovered that groundwater below its site included high concentrations of dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride, a gas commonly used to make PVC piping.
Morton did not begin to rectify the system until 1991, when it installed a groundwater remediation system that never worked effectively, according to the complaint.
Rohm and Haas officials said they were not responsible for the plaintiffs' cancer.
"We take these allegations very seriously," said Syd Havely, a Rohm and Haas spokesman. "We are sympathetic with the plaintiffs, but we see no basis for linking their illnesses in any way to operations at our facility.
"We will continue to assess these claims and respond appropriately."
A spokesman for Modine said the company "never comments on litigation."
A Huntsman spokesman said the company cannot comment on the lawsuit because it has not seen it.
Weisenberger and Freund did not return calls seeking comment.
Ringwood Village President Rick Mack said Rohm and Haas has been a good corporate neighbor over the years.
"They test the wells adjacent to the plant," he said. "They are proactive in their approach to monitoring environmental problems.
"But these are serious allegations. They should be investigated."
Hearing about the lawsuit Wednesday, Sharon Patefield wonders if contaminants could have triggered the rare blood disease that killed her brother three years ago or the stroke the debilitated her mom two years ago.
The stroke baffled doctors, Patefield said. Her mother, Lile Davidson, never smoked or had other health problems at age 66, Patefield said.
"They're on vacation and wham, she had a stroke," said Patefield, who lives in Genoa City, Wis., but helps care for her mother.
Her parents and brother bought homes in McCullom Lake in the early 1990s. Her parents use bottled water for drinking and cooking, because the household well water smells like rotten eggs and includes charcoal-like black specks.
Patefield said they have been suspicious of the specks, although they never sought tests to determine what they were.
Across the street, resident Anna Marie Berg said she planned to attend the a town meeting hosted by Freiwald, the plaintiff's attorney, Thursday before forming any conclusions.
Berg, who moved to her lakefront home 10 years ago, was surprised lawyers didn't inform village residents before filing the lawsuit.
"Obviously, they don't file a lawsuit unless there's something somewhere," she said. "But, we'll find out what it's all about."
Aaron Freiwald, the plaintiff's attorney in a lawsuit accusing local companies located 1 mile north of McCullom Lake of leaking toxic chemicals into the area's groundwater, will be meeting with former and current McCullom Lake residents at 6 p.m. Thursday at the McHenry VFW Hall, 3002 W. Route 120, McHenry. For information about the lawsuit, log on to www.layserfreiwald.com.
Defining the toxic chemicals allegedly involved in the lawsuit:
Vinyl chloride, trichloroethene and dichloroethylene are volatile organic compounds considered to cause cancer.
Source: Glenn Ellis, an associate attorney in the office of Layser & Freiwald in Philadelphia