A Sense of Purpose

Do you ever have days where you feel like you are led to places and people for reasons that had nothing to do with what your original agenda was when you set out?


It's almost like your original purpose had another purpose.


We set out today to help a friend that needed something they were not able to get for themselves. It led us to people we did not know who had something we needed.


Information to help our cause in Vincent.

We met a man today who lives in Alabaster, Alabama one mile from the  Martin Marietta Quarry. When asked what that was like he said; "It's awful. Especially in the spring. There is more activity at the quarry and dust is all over our place."

This man supplies health supplies, medical equipment and similar products to patients in their homes. He told us that as bad as it was for him and his wife, he had a patient he supplied equipment to who was much worse off. We asked him if he could tell us about it without violating the patient's personal privacy by revealing his name.


He agreed and this is what he said; "Our patient is 30 years old and we supply him with oxygen equipment, but he is also on a ventilator at night. He worked at Chemical Lime in Alabaster and about two months ago something really bad happened to him and some other workers. They were told to go out and clean something, but they didn't have their respirators and hazmat equipment. They didn't want to go and do it without the proper protective equipment they were required to wear, but the bosses told them to do it anyway." he said.


"They told the guys to wrap their t-shirts around their faces and go do their job."


The supervisors know this is against safety protocols, but obviously did not care. This seems to be a pattern with Chemical Lime. 


He went on to say what happened to the men, in particular their patient: "He (the patient) was burned from his face, down his throat and into his lungs so deeply from inhaling the lime dust that had been processed  that it has ruined him. He has been in and out of ICU at the local hospital and a nurse we know that works on that floor said he won't live to see 40."


A 30 year old man for all intents and purposes "murdered" by the company for failing to follow protocol. The other men suffered similar fates.


This case is in court and the company is trying to get the men to settle rather than go before a jury. We hope they do not settle and take their case as far as they can.

But the real question is: Why has this incident not been reported on in the press? We looked in the ADEM files and on the MSHA website and found nothing on this incident. If Columbiana knows are they covering for the company?


This happens far too often not only to workers, but to the communities that also breathe these toxins. In particular our children.


In Shelby County, schools that are near the quarries, are assaulted by Chemical Lime on a regular basis as the "number two polluter" to their schools.
(USA Today Special Report "Smokestack Effect, Toxic Schools" March 2010, link to the right)

This is another story that is absent form the local press.


We have file after file from ADEM e-file records on this company in Shelby County and they are habitual in their violations. ADEM is habitual in not inspecting them and making them comply. They fine them, which is profit for ADEM, but do not force them into effective compliance.

In Vincent, we are continually told that the quarry and it's ancillary businesses (Chemical Lime is a viable possible candidate for a WRQ ancillary business since Stephen Bradley, WRQ PR Rep lobbies for CL) will have "no adverse effects on the Town."


The elementary school is 4500 ft. from the quarry.


Chemical Lime is the "number two polluter" in the Calera and Alabaster schools near quarries.

"Wrap your t-shirts around your faces and go do your jobs." 

Hearing this today reaffirms our sense of purpose with this blog; Shelby County must be exposed and held accountable for what it allows industry to do to its residents. 
(**Editors note: We will check the courthouse filing on this case and attempt to reach the individual in this story. More will be posted as we find it on this.)