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Residents Overflow Meeting

BY KEVIN P. CRAVER AND JOCELYN ALLISON

McHENRY – Frank and Judith Weisheit drank and bathed in McCullom Lake well water for years without a second thought.

Doctors three weeks ago diagnosed Judith, 64, with brain cancer. Now living in Ringwood, the Weisheits are not ready to blame the water, but they were among 300 people Thursday evening who came to hear the attorney who blames it for at least three deadly brain-cancer cases.

"I would like to know if it was that," Judith said. "Because we have been in that whole area, both here and [McCullom Lake]."

The Weisheits now live two blocks from Modine Manufacturing Co., one of five companies named in lawsuits filed this week accusing them of dumping toxic chemicals into groundwater for decades and hiding it from the public.

Current and former residents packed the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in McHenry at the request of Philadelphia attorney Aaron Freiwald, who wanted to present his case and include more people in a class-action lawsuit that he filed on behalf of residents dating back to the 1960s.

"I wish I could tell you that I've been making this up or that I dreamed it, but that's not the case," Freiwald told the audience. "I think we've only touched the tip of what I'm going to tell you tonight."

Besides damages, Freiwald wants the companies to decontaminate the area, fund medical testing for residents, and pay for access to clean water.

Key to Freiwald's case are three McCullom Lake neighbors diagnosed in 2004 and 2005 with extremely rare brain cancers. Besides the class-action lawsuit, Freiwald is representing Bryan Freund and Kurt Weisenberger, who have oligodendroglioma, a rare malignant brain cancer.

Freiwald plans to file a third lawsuit today on behalf of Franklin Branham, who died in June 2004, one month after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, another rare brain cancer.

As the meeting began, former resident Pamela Jacobs filled her questionnaire with a lifetime of health problems that she said began during her three years in McCullom Lake 30 years ago. She had unexplained headaches in the village and since has fought breast cancer, and her husband began having seizures at age 33.   (Click here to view video from the meeting.)

"I don't know if it's related or not, but I wanted to come in case it is," said Jacobs, now living in McHenry.

Freiwald said recent sample well tests did not show signs of contamination. That came as little consolation to sheet metal worker Joe Zakrocky, who said his family had had health problems since moving to town 11 years ago.

He also worries for the value of his newly built home. The new well he drilled in February now is used only for quick showers since hearing about the lawsuits.

"It feels like the value of my house just plummeted massively," Zakrocky said. "It feels like the house is worth nothing."

Former village Trustee Doug Youmans said the lack of contaminants in recent samples was a good sign and that most people should not worry about their health.

"I'm not worried about my well, and I'm not worried about the lake," Youmans said. "I'm worried about the people who were drinking the water 20 years ago."

Frank Weisheit worries about his wife, who underwent surgery at Northern Illinois Medical Center and soon will begin chemotherapy.

"I'm hoping for a home run," he said. "I've been married 42 years. I'm hoping for a home run."

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