Text Fwd: Sick and Dieing Former Fed and Nuke Weapons Plant Workers in KC meet & organize to get Gov. compensation

* Texts sent from Ann Suellentrop and forwarded by Frank Cordaro on Nov. 26, 2010

NBC Action news
Former Bannister Federal Complex employees looking for compensation,
new audit adds to the numbers
Nov. 20, 2010
By: Beth Vaughn

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - A government audit of the Bannister Federal
Complex has given birth to a number of new compensation claims. The
findings expand who may have been contaminated by the toxin Beryllium.


The General Services Administration at Banister denied they had ever
found the toxin on that side of the building. Only a concrete wall
separates the GSA from Honeywell, the area of Bannister where nuclear
bombs are manufactured.


New tests are being run for the toxin Beryllium, depleted Uranium and
chemical vapors.


In the meantime, sick workers are finding paths to compensation from a
group called Cold War Soldiers. Barbara Rice worked at Bannister for
31 years. She explains, “We were book keepers, we were accountants,
pay roll clerks and secretaries."


Working in what's now called the General Services Administration, Rice
never had access to the side of Bannister used for the making of
nuclear bombs.


However, she says there was always speculation of contamination, “For
years, a lot of us had speculated of strange things that had happens
on our side of the building from collapsing ceiling tiles filled with
mold, to a water main break that required us to destroy our clothes."


Now, her husband suffers from Neuropathy, a disease that damages the
nervous system, and at least 60 of her co-workers are dead.


Saturday, at a town hall meeting, Donna Hand from Cold War Soldiers
said the recent audit is a launching point. Hand said, “That confirms
that these workers were exposed to these toxic substances on both
sides and they need to get the compensation that's due to them that
Congress has already passed.”


The filing process is lengthy. Hand says it takes medical examinations
and proof from doctors that the illness was contracted at work.


She adds specific details about the job you were doing when you got
contaminated are vital as well, “What did you do whenever you were
soldering? Where were the fumes at? What were you doing when you used
that E.B. Welder?" For some, so much time has passed that their time
at Bannister is a distant memory. Hand says that makes the claim
filing process tough.


Only a small percentage of claims filed are approved. Hand says at
most 15% are awarded compensation. However, the money set aside for
Department of Energy workers doesn't cover employees like Rice. Her
job is covered under the Federal Employees Compensation Act which
doesn’t include illnesses due to toxin or chemical exposure. She says
she’ll file for FECA compensation as well as compensation from the
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Program Act.


She expects to be denied from the first because of the act’s
limitations and the second because her job title wasn't listed as a
DOE job.


Rice says she’ll apply for both to send a message to the government
that real people need real help. She says, “There have been over 100
people who have died that shouldn't have.” Her fight is dedicated to
her husband, those friends who are long gone and those who suffer
everyday.


Since NBC Action News began its investigation of the Bannister Federal
Complex more than a year ago, the list of dead workers has risen to
130.
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See also

FOX 4 Web Producer
November 21, 2010
Workers Learn About Compensation for Bannister Federal Complex