TENNESSEEGATE

     In 1995, I notified the attorneys representing McKee Bakery that our troops in Afghanistan were eating "dirty" Little Debbie cakes. The water used in the bakery came from wells close to the polluted Summit Landfill in Chattanooga, Tennessee. When I advised McKee, in writing, McKee's attorneys Gary Lander and Joe Davis panicked.

    Lander, former Chattanooga city attorney under Mayor Gene Roberts, already knew about the contamination. He admitted on tape that he was aware of the benzene and mercury detected in test wells at Summit. When I brought to their attention that the water was still contaminated and asked why they continued to make Little Debbie cakes using that water supply, they immediately asked Eastside Utility, headed by the Hamilton County Commission and County Mayor Claude Ramsey, to switch their water supply over to the Tennessee River. This was not the first time McKee Bakery had a problem with water from the Eastside Utility. An earlier newspaper article by McKee, admits that $100,000 worth of Little Debbie products had to be destroyed because of contamination from Eastside Utility water. Why did McKee ignore my warnings this time? Tests performed by the city of Chattanooga in 1993 had already revealed the presence of benzene and mercury - colorless, odorless and tasteless poisons that cannot be detected except by specialized instruments McKee never installed. Tests also revealed the presence of dichloroethylene, cadmium and barium - all found in the test well water a short distance from the bakeries in the Summit Landfill area. Why didn't McKee continue to monitor the situation? Why, when the Air Pollution Board requested follow-up tests for mercury at the Summit Landfill did city and state officials not comply? Why did Ramsey, and his chief of staff, in a tape-recorded conversation, agree to investigate the toxic dumping that was still contaminating the water supply but then never take action and never get back to me? Why did Mayor Gene Roberts, when I notified him of the problem, start a police investigation that has continued for sixteen years without any action? Why did the Chattanooga Chief of Police, Steve Parks, who was then in charge of internal affairs and given the task originally by Mayor Roberts to investigate the dumping and organized crime associated with it, used his position over the last sixteen years to protect and cover-up the organized crime that he was absolutely aware of?

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