NCD980602163_19890823_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_Raleigh News & Observer - U.S. seeks foreclosure of firm in PCB-dumping case-OCR

1:;:1z;z~i,zlf1,~~tt:~9:~!:l1~rr~3:il~e•i'••:,:,,•··•,'.;~:···~,.~ : ".ltti~~h some coca is grown in.,rimote .. "'·········-·····"-· ... J.,mbia's major.role is _in t~:9 refining ~a,.u,,w-~~ 1. Farmer sell~ c6ca leaves, ground into paste, for an average of ;46'0 a pound of leaves. . 2. Processor spends about $2,270 a pound, including price. of coca paste, to make cocaine and sells ~ wholesale for more than $10,000 a pound. 3. Street dealer sells cocaine for more than $38,500 a pound (or $85 a gram, an amount commonly bought by users} The percent of U.S. marijuana supply from Colombia Sources: U.S. State Departmen~ Drug Enforcement Administration Embassy of Colombia, National Narcotics Intelligence Cons1.rners Committee, National Geographic R Q {e, 14}, [J . . . . · I · d &,. ,. "·. ;;» ~, ... ,. ,». ,.we 1986 1987 1988 do 8-~3-?9 Auociated Presa and Knight Ridder Tribune New, ero, known as the finance minister of· the notorious Medellin cartel, were filed with the U.S. Embassy in Bogota and with the Justice Ministry, said Col. Oscar Carmo-na, chief of the national police · force's judicial investigation divi-sion. · · [Meanwhile, · police said they arrested five suspects Tuesday night in the assassination Friday of leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan at a campaign rally, The Associated Press re-ported. Police identified them as Armando Bernal Acosta, Norber-to Morillo Charalca, Pedro Zem-brano Delgado,· Luis Gonzalez Chacon and Jubis Hazvumb.] An Atlanta federal grand jury indicted Mr. Martinez in a $1.2 ·-·····o ...... -··--------· -But the U.S. drug expert, wht spoke on the condition of anonymi ty, warned that unless the U .S request is expedited, Mr. Marti nez might be released. Under th, emergency decrees, drug traffick ing suspects can be held for sever days without charges. Mr. Marti nez was arrested Saturday anci faces no criminal charges ir Colombia. · In Washington, Attorney Gener al Richard L. Thornburgh listed , dozen Colombian drug trafficken whom the United States wants f01 prosecution in the wake of Mr. Barco's emergency decree. The 12 included the leaders of the Medellin and Cali cocaine See COLOMBIA, page BA U.S. seeks foreclosure of firm in. PCB-dumping case By C.E. YANDLE Staff wrtter State and federal-officials have initiated foreclosl!l"e proceedings :1.gainst Ward Transformer Co. [nc. in Morrisville. They say the ~ompany still owes the govern-nent about $2.9 million for remov-ng toxic PCBs dumped on more than 200 miles of state roads. A public hearing on the foreclo-sure request is scheduled for Monday in the Wake County Courthouse. If the request is ap-proved, government officials are expected to begin selling proper-ties owned by Ward Transformer until the debt is paid. Court r~cords say Ward Trans-former owes about $2.5 million to the U.S. government and about $440,000 to the state. Government officials in 1981 removed soil from about 240 miles of roadways in 10 Tar Heel counties that had been contaminated in 1978 with oil containing PCB, a cancer-causing agent. All of the oil previously had been stored in facilities at sites owned by Ward Transformer. Kathryn J. Cooper, an assistant Polish party drops power demands after phone call from Gorbachev. By FRANCIS X. CLINES \lew York Times News Service WARSAW --. Polish Commu-lists retreated Tuesday from hreats not to share responsibility n the new coa~ition government uter Soviet President Mikhail S. ,orbachev spoke to their leader or 40 minutes by phone. : . . Soori. after the talk, a spok~s-11an for Mieczyslaw · Rakowski, he Polish Communist leader, em-basized that the party was intent on "partnerlike cooperation" with Solidarity, the movement that is about to assume power in a new government after decisive elec-tion victories over the Commu-nists. Mr. Gorbachev generally en-couraged the Polish party to take part in the new government, said Jan Bisztyga, spokesman for the Polish Communists. . The · dramatic change in Ian-. guage and tone by the Polish · party leadership suggested con-cern by Mr. Gorbachev that Po-land's attempts at economic re-covery through political reform not be obstructed by party policy. After demanding substantial powers in the coalition, the Com-munists were warned Monday by Lech Walesa, the Solidarity lead-er and architect of the coalition government, to "stop rocking the boat" with "threats and black-ail" m . , The fact that Mr. Gorbachev apparently . followed this up with See GORBACHEV, page I OA state attorney general, said feder-al and state officials hoped they would not have to foreclose on Ward's headquarters on Mount Herman !load near Raleigh-Dur-ham International Airport. She said the value of a 64-acre tract of vacant land that Ward owns on Lumley Road in Durham County should at least equal the amount of money owed.by Ward. _Inside A 1985 appraisal of the property said it was worth $2.9 million. "We're going under the assump· tion that will satisfy the indebted-ness," she said. "If that property doesn't satisfy it, however, we will go after. the Ward Transformer Co. site itself." Mark E. Fogel, a Raleigh law-See PCB. page 8A -I Science/medicine A husband-and-wife team at N.C: State University has developed an alternative to some live animal experiments that mimic the effects of drugs and toxic chemicals on human skin. Page 12A. Ryan breaks record Nolan Ryan strikes out his 5,000th batter, becoming the first to reach that milestone by fanning Oakland's Rickey Henderson in the fifth inning. ~age 1B . The weather •• ___ .... _. -------tt!-1-__ !...f ---
ay, August 23, 1989 ------------------------------------------------~~
Gonzalo Rodriguez
~ities said.
,ez and the others
m a company, La
zed to launder bil-
s in cocaine profits.
>Urgh's list included
, 39, Mr. Ochoa, 40,
1a, 42. Three reputed
of the smaller Cali
.re being sought for
11 the United States-
? Rodriguez Orjuela,
~ngel Rodriguez Or-
md Jose Santacruz
Jamie Raul Orjuela
,6, an alleged Cali
er, is also on the list.
reputed members of
1 cartel are being
1bio Ochoa Vasquez, ·
11 David Ochoa Vas-·
th brothers of Jorge
Vasquez; Gustavo de
'ia Rivero, 42; and
ncada, 42. Jose Ivan
o, 37, a former police-·
on the list.
te's major business
up.
ts · ties to past Demo-
nors. He served on the
lighway Commission
late Dan K. Moore,
om 1965-69 and was
f the state Economic
,t Board under former
B'. Hunt Jr.
chairman, Mr. Davis
king to several poten-
tes.
at Mr. Davis said he
to ' include William C.
mer president of the
if North Carolina sys-
er Gov. Robert W.
:ntly president of the
unity college system;
· state Rep. John S.
rens, an Asheville law-
:ns, 56, served in the
from 1969 until 1976.
as a legislative lobby-
Hunt and later was
~r. Hunt as chairman
:rnor's Task Force on
·iving.
vens could not be
r comment Tuesday,
1vis said Mr. Stevens
it shut the door on a
nate bid.
PCB debt
leads U.S ..
to foreclose ·
Continued from page 1 A
yer who represents Ward, said the
company did not plan to fight the
foreclosure. He said Ward hoped'
the Lumley Road property would
pay the remaining debt.
"Should it not pay all that is
owed, we're in the process of
reviewing what alternatives we ·
have," he said. ·
Ward Transformer buys, re-
builds and sells electrical voltage
transformers. During the 1960s
and 1970s, many of those trans-
formers were built using PCBs, or
polychlorinated biphenyls. The
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency eventually banned the
chemical, which has caused labo-
ratory animals to develop liver
cancer and nervous disorders.
In 1978, Ward hired a business
associate, Robert J. Burns of New
York, to dispose of about 40,000
gallons of PCB-laden oil that was
stored on-site at Ward Transform-
er.
Mr. Burns and his sons disposed
of about 20,000 gallons in landfill~
in Pennsylvania and New York.·
' But the remaining 20,000 gallons
were dumped along roadsides by
· Mr. Burns and his two sons.
The EPA stepped in to remove
the toxic chemical, which eventu-
ally was stored in a Warren ·
County landfill in, 1982 amid pro-
tests from residents. They said
their county had been chosen for
the landfill site because of racial
and political considerations. War-
ren County is a small, rural
county with a large black popula-
tion.
Robert E . ."Buck" Ward Jr.,
who was president of the company
· until 1980, eventually was sen-
tenced to 2½ years in prison and
· ordered to pay a $200,000 fine for
his role in the dumping. He served
some time in a federal prison in
Connecticut.
In addition, Ward Transformer
• Lenses duplicated ~•
• Frames repaired or replaced . 8;J3-.
C I b . ·o ·2 Y ~11 _ __...._ ____ ., e e ratmg ur 0th . ear
• Eye ex.ams arranged
• Prescriptions filled
'&I-~. l)ftlld4«4. '7.e.
2038 Cameron St. (Cameron Village)
PLANNING A
SPECIAL FUNCTION?
We have private rooms for par-'
ties, banquets, rehearsal dinners
and business entertainment .
832-7060
and two other companies -Norry a year'.
Electric Co. Chicago and Liberty suppos1
Motor and Machinery Co. in Roch--or al
ester, N. Y. -were ordered in 1986 The c
to pay $3.4 million to the federal ment a1
and ·State governments. That was ·· plans . I
the amount spent .to remove and · West, a
store the oil. . . , . He ai
The bulk of the fine was aimed has file
at Ward Transformer, which was
told to pay $3.2 million. Ward was Ward's
supposed to repay the govern-the gov
ments over three years . at an · Ward's
annual interest rate of 8 percent. , ople '
The first two years, Ward had to · ·
pay 09,Iy the interest payments,
which amounted to about $200,000 ·
a year. But o~"July·fa,'Ward was
supposed to pay the balance owed
-or aboµt $2.9 million.
The company missed that pay•
ment and has shown no sign that it·
plans , to pay, ·. ,~,.µd ; Stephen A.
West, an assistant U.S. attorney.
He' added th;at Jbiie his office
has filed for foreclo~ure on all of
Ward's properties, the last t~ing
the government wants is to close
. Ward's plant,. wbere about 70
· people are empl9yed,Vii ·
. . . '.'We don't warit to).~ut down the
·. business," .'he .said·.1: :''That wo\lld
affect S()me innocent' rsons." . I
. ·'
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