The environmental trial of two Elk City, Oklahoma city officials has ended in a guilty verdict. According to a press release issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on Monday a federal jury found City Manager, Guy R. Hylton, Jr. and building superintendent, Chick Arthur Little guilty of negligently allowing the release of asbestos. The case stems from the city's 2003 renovation of the old Elk City Railroad Depot. The depot, originally built in the early 1900's, contained asbestos insulation. Pursuant to evidence presented at trial, Hylton and Little knowingly used inmates from the Elk City Work Center to remove the asbestos without providing them with the proper protective clothing or adequate safety measures, negligently releasing asbestos into the air and exposing the inmates and the public to a hazardous, cancer-causing material. The jury also found Little guilty of lying to investigators about the disposal of the asbestos. Both defendants were found not guilty of illegally disposing of asbestos. A sentencing hearing for Hylton and Little will take place in approximately 90 days. Hylton could receive up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 while Little faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

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Union Carbide, one of several defendants named in an asbestos suit brought by Tennessee man James Weese, recently sought to have the case removed from Madison County, Illinois to federal court. Asserting a government contractor defense, Union Carbide claims that it was a government contractor from the 1940's to 1984, acting under an officer or agency of the United States, during the time of the plaintiff's alleged exposure at an Oak Ridge, TN nuclear weapons facility. Weese claims that he worked as a pipefitter, laborer and welder in various locations including Illinois, from the early 1940's through the early 1990's. Diagnosed with mesothelioma in March 2007, Weese filed suit in Madison County Circuit Court on June 27th against 118 corporations inlcuding Alcoa, CBS, Discount Auto Parts, Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Goodyear, Honeywell, Ingersoll-Rand, Pabst Brewing, Sears, and Union Carbide, claiming that during the course of his employment he was exposed to toxic asbestos fibers in the products he was working with and around. Among other things, Weese claims that defendants included asbestos in their products even when adequate substitutes were available and failed to provide the proper safety instructions for handling and working with asbestos, and that defendants knew or should have known of the dangerous effects of asbestos. Union Carbide is further seeking to have the federal court stay the proceeding as it tries to have the case transferred to MDL court.

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ILLINOIS/August 17/--A former East St. Louis, Illinois city councilman was sentenced Monday by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois to fifteen months in prison and two years supervised release for the illegal removal of asbestos, after pleading guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Clean Air Act and one count of failure to notify authorities prior to asbestos removal. According to an EPA press release, Charles Powell, Jr., owner of Powell's Demolition Co., was hired to renovate a 12-story building in East St. Louis in 2002. Powell set out to remove the asbestos from the building without providing workers with the necessary protective gear, failing to wet the asbestos prior to removal as required by the EPA, and failing to properly label the waste materials for the waste hauling company. Powell also neglected to notify the EPA prior to the removal work.

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A permit for removal of asbestos at the former site of the Green Mountain Race Track in Pownal, Vermont was granted for August 20th and 21st. A bulk sampling taken in July from thirteen horse barns and one bathhouse revealed the existence of asbestos in a stable bathhouse but none in the barns. The owner of the property, Progress Partners, Ltd., filed paperwork with the state verifying the absence of asbestos in the stables, which have already been demolished. According to the Vermont Department of Health, the asbestos can be contained in the bathhouse; it will be removed by David Mack of Catamount Environmental and transported to A&L Salvage Inc. in Lisbon, Ohio.

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Being a caregiver for a loved one suffering from mesothelioma or other medical issues is a difficult job. At times it can be overwhelming and tiring, these times are when the caregiver need to take care of him/herself. Reviewing the Caregiver’s Bill of Rights can remind us of our needs and ways to address them.

Caregiver's Bill of Rights

by Jo Horne
Author of Caregiving: Helping an Aging Loved One

I have the right:
To take care of myself. This is not an act of selfishness. It will enable me to take better care of my loved one.

I have the right:
To seek help from others even though my loved one may object. I recognize the limits of my own endurance and strength.

I have the right:
To maintain facets of my own life that do not include the person I care for, just as I would if he or she were healthy. I know that I do everything that I reasonably can for this person, and I have the right to do some things for myself.

I have the right:
To get angry, be depressed and express other difficult emotions occasionally.

I have the right:
To reject any attempt by my loved one (either conscious or unconscious) to manipulate me through guilt, anger or depression.

I have the right:
To receive consideration, affection, forgiveness and acceptance from my loved one for as long as I offer these qualities in return.

I have the right:
To take pride in what I am accomplishing and to applaud the courage it sometimes takes to meet the needs of my loved one.

I have the right:
To protect my individuality and my right to make a life for myself that will sustain me when my loved one no longer needs my full-time help.

I have the right:
To expect and demand that as new strides are made in finding resources to aid physically and mentally impaired persons in our country, similar strides will be made toward aiding and supporting caregivers.