Article: Let's get the Evans family out of hell

Here is an exchange between Mike Thornton, an activist who runs layofflist.org, and Joanne Evans, whose family has been tortured for four years by Westar Energy, with the complicity of the authorities--municipal, state and federal.

For more background about how the Evans family has been poisoned and oppressed:

http://markcrispinmiller.com/2009/12/a-family-poisoned-and-oppressed-in-kansas/

Mike's email to Joanne is at the bottom here, and Joanne's reply is just below. Read hers first, both to get a fuller sense of the nightmare that her family has been put through, and, second, to get--and USE--the contact info she's provided.

I don't have to tell you that this situation is horrific, and completely unacceptable. So please make every effort to protest what's happened, what is happening now--and what will happen if we don't all act: Westar plans to spray that property again. And no-one will do anything to stop it, unless we put the fear of God into these monsters.

MCM

Michael,

Thank you so much for writing. I will take you up on your offer to speak up against what's happening to us.

Here are a couple of thoughts: Could you write, or call, the Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC), and protest Westar's conduct?

Here's the KCC's website:

http://www.kcc.state.ks.us/about/index.htm

Their email address is public.affairs@kcc.ks.gov, and their phone number is 785-271-3100.

People can also write to them at this address:

Main Office
1500 SW Arrowhead Road
Topeka, KS 66604-4027

We also ask that people contact Emporia's City Attorney, Blaise Plummer, at (620) 343-4251

and/or bplummer@emporia-kansas.gov, to express their outrage that our family has not been protected.

After Westar dup up the dirt next door (during this last expansion) and brought in an industrial vacuum that went into the ground sucking up who knows what, we all got sick. We asked the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) for an air monitor or a ground-level

ozone monitor--and they said "no."

I am now on oxygen and our son's platelets dropped to 1, and he was bleeding out through his skin and eyes and mouth. And now he has this strange immune problem. He also cannot sleep, nor can we, because of the noise. No one in this town listens to us but rather tells us we should be "good Christians."

We have spent thousands trying to shield our home from the radiation and noise next door. I fear we have just put a band-aid on a gashing wound.

Seeing our son hooked up to IV's, and now under the care of oncologists, hematologists and immunologists, has broken my heart. This boy is so very bright and was eligible for university at age 14. Our oldest daughter had a brain tumor and had surgery, she is now disabled and will be at the mercy of others with no way to defend herself. This burden has been so heavy and has given

me a deep understanding of the anarchist mind.

Please keep us posted if anyone responds to your support of our situation.

Joanne

----- Original Message -----

From: Mike

To: Joanne

Sent: Saturday, December 26, 2009 4:56 PM

Subject: How can I help?

Dear Mrs. Evans,

I was sickened to see how your family and neighborhood is being ruined by corporate greed and municipal malfescence. It's disheartening that you have to live with a corporate neighbor that thinks more of power than the people it's harming. Your city is also to blame for playing the corporate game with no regard for its citizens.

I belong to a small noise group called http://www.noiseoff.org/that is involved with noise issues. I sent them a link to the story that I read on Mark Crispin Miller's site.

Your situation reminds me of the Erin Brockovich movie where she finds out how a local utility was polluting the well water of many local residents.In fact, I see that Ms. Brockovich has a web site where you can try and contact her: http://www.brockovich.com/contact/general.htm

If there is something I can do to help, such as writing a letter or calling a local official, I'd be glad to help. It's time that we start standing up to the powers that be, so we can get a fair shake.

I read an article recently where it's discussed how both corporations and government act to suppress any type of civil action of disobedience. It's a telling tale of how we have stopped fighting for what is right: http://www.alternet.org/story/144529/are_americans_a_broken_people_why_we've_stopped_fighting_back_against_the_forces_of_oppression?page=entire

I was once an ardent Democrat, but I have seen over the past 20 years that both major political parties are in the hip pocket of the rich and the corporations. We need third and fourth political parties that are designed to help the citizen and not just the corporation. Until that time, I will be fighting the good fight for individualjustice. I try to do my part at a blog I created about unemployment: http://www.layofflist.org/

I wish you and your family good fortune with your fight and don't give up, since there are many more on your side than you might think.

Michael Thornton

Rochester, NY