| Sources |
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 14 Sep 2001.
Zanley Isaiah Watson obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 26 Apr 2004.
This is the first installment of a four-part series on the Old Sevier County Landfill and how residents living nearby say it has impacted their lives. Part One, below, offers background on the landfill's history. Part Two will focus on some of the contaminants found in the groundwater around the landfill. Part Three will focus on the health effects residents believe the contaminants have caused. Part Four will focus on the community's call for action and the response of our public officials.
On March 31, the day after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, Sue Trentham of 1683 Ridge Road, sat down and made a list of neighbors who have died in recent years or are currently ill.
The longer her list became, the angrier Trentham got. She suspects the Old Sevier County landfill, built during the mid-1970s, is to blame.
Trentham believes it could not be mere coincidence that her list of victims includes her father-in-law, brother-in-law and friends who all lived in close proximity to the landfill and the home she and her husband, Warren, have lived in during the past 49 years.
Her anger and her list were precipitated by a March 28 story in The Mountain Press that described how county officials have long ignored the complaints of area residents regarding the brown, smelly liquid leaking from Phases I and II of the Old Sevier County landfill and reported that a solution has now been found to stop the leaking.
Trentham found no comfort in news of the solution - she said she and her neighbors have felt from the beginning that "the landfill was forced down our throats," and that is only one of the many reasons they have to be bitter.
Members of the community stuck together in their effort to stop the landfill, including attending numerous public meetings, but their appeals to county officials to put the landfill elsewhere fell on deaf ears.
When the fight against it failed, Trentham said those living in the area were told, "You'll never know it's here."
But the smell, the dust and the blowing trash, which have afflicted the neighborhood since the first phase of the old landfill was built, have provided more than adequate evidence of the landfill's presence.
By the mid-1980s, those living around Phase I of the landfill had a bigger issue - the quality of water from their wells.
Wells that had provided clear, fresh drinking water for years - some for 30 years or more - smelled bad, tasted worse and contained an oily film and black particles. Clothing washed in the water was stained.
Trentham said that was when she decided to take action.
"I went house to house getting a petition signed because everyone's water wells were ruined by the landfill," she said. "We wanted the city of Sevierville or the county to run city water to us."
The community took its petition to meetings in the courthouse and to the office of County Mayor Larry Waters. Trentham said the meetings sometimes "got pretty rowdy."
"We also hired a lawyer, which was a waste of money because it did not help. We campaigned for several years to get something done about the water," said Trentham.
Ben Cusick, of 820 Rainbow Road, a neighbor whose home Trentham can see from her window, was also angered by the story about a fix for the leaking landfill, specifically over a detail with which he vehemently disagreed - the current state of their now-condemned water wells.
Cusick took exception to the fact that Tom Leonard, manager of Sevier Solid Waste, had been quoted in the March 28 story as saying that although volatile organic compounds were found in monitoring wells around landfill Phases I and II in June 1997, no contamination had ever been found in springs or groundwater sampled on surrounding private lands.
Leonard has since said he thought the question was in regard to a monitoring well below Phase I and that he "didn't mean to imply that we never had any hits at these (wells being tested)." He also said, "I would go on record as saying these (11 private) locations were never tested prior to my coming on board."
Leonard became landfill manager in October 1999.
Of three springs and eight wells within a one-mile radius of the landfill that have been tested twice a year since 2000, Cusick's well has been determined by the testing firm to be "the most impacted" because of the number and amount of contaminants found.
Jeffrey Smith, a project geologist for the environmental services firm of Draper Aden Associates, of Blacksburg, Va., confirms that Cusick's well has consistently shown the same six contaminants and low concentrations since June 2000.
Leonard said he hired Draper Aden Associates in 2000 to do two things: to develop a plan to stop the liquid leaking from the landfill and to interpret data from Tri State Analytical Labs of Johnson City, a firm that has tested water from monitoring wells around the base of the landfill since before Leonard became landfill manager.
"I'm not qualified to interpret groundwater data. Most people who test the water aren't qualified to interpret it either - they don't produce reports; they just test the water and tell you what's in it," said Leonard, adding, "You need someone to administer your program, and that is what Jeff (Smith) does for us."
Leonard went on to explain that the extent of groundwater contamination can't be known without testing water wells outside the landfill, which is why Smith began testing the 11 private water wells within a one-mile radius of the landfill.
The testing of the water in groundwater monitoring wells around the base of the landfill began in 1991, said Smith. He also said he found evidence that work was done in 1991 to identify which of 20 private water wells in a one-mile area of the landfill were safe to drink and which were not.
However, Smith said he was perplexed at not being able to find any evidence in the files to confirm whether the private water wells were ever actually tested.
"In 2000 there were no records of private wells being sampled; there was hearsay that there were, but no reports," said Smith.
However, residents of the area all say they were told around late 1988 that their water was not safe to drink, yet they cannot say for certain who told them their wells had been condemned.
For two years following condemnation of their wells, residents were forced to haul their own drinking and cooking water from outside the area. Neither the county nor the cities supplied them with safe drinking water, they said.
Members of the community say they finally got some action after they threatened to sue the county and all three cities unless they ran city water lines to the community. Sevier County and Pigeon Forge ultimately applied jointly for a Community Development Block Grant on the basis of it being a "low-income area," and in 1991, city water lines were extended from Pigeon Forge to the community.
City water was made available to all the residences with no tapping fee charged; however, residents are currently required to pay an average of $15 per month for their water.
cgrimm@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 28 Apr 2004.
Could landfill have caused deaths?
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 29 Apr 2004.
Those near old landfill seek free water
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 8 Dec 1977.
Mack Hobart Tyson obituary
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 27 Sep 2011.
Wanda Sue Trentham
July 06, 1926 - September 27, 2011
Birthplace: Sevier County, Tennessee
Resided In: Sevierville, Tennessee USA
Visitation: October 01, 2011
Service: October 01, 2011
Cemetery: Mount Zion Cemetery
Wanda Sue Tyson Trentham, age 85 of Sevierville, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011, surrounded by her loving and devoted family and special friends to which she was a very caring, wonderful and faithful wife, mother, and special friend. She touched many lives and will be sadly missed by all that knew her.
Sue retired from the Sevier County Board of Education after 28 years of service. She loved her church and was a faithful and dedicated member of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, where she held many positions within the church for the past 59 years. She lived a full, productive Christian life and was blessed many times over. To God be the glory for the many good deeds she has done and contributed to her family, friends, neighbors, church and community.
Sue was preceded in death by her parents, Linda Elizabeth Duggan Tyson and Mack Hobert Tyson; two brothers, Jack Robert Tyson and Billy “Bill” James Tyson; infant sister, Charlotte M. H. Tyson; grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins; nephew, Rickey Tyson; niece, Linda Tremble; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Sarah Ogle Trentham and Jonah Trentham; sister-in-law, Georgia Trentham; brother-in-law, Zanley Watson.
Sue leaves behind her husband of 64 years, Warren Trentham; her daughter, Gayle Lovell and husband Steve; sisters-in-law, Molly Tyson and Helen Watson; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Justeen and Ben Maples; nieces, Carolyn Sue Cheek, Pat Pata and Nancy Burney; nephews, Jackie, Wayne, Mickey and James Tyson; great-nieces and nephews; great-great-nieces and nephews. Dear life-long friend, Lou Ellen Dunivan Woodson and her husband William, her daughter Brenda Hamby and her son Roger Woodson and their families, all of New Canton, Virginia. She will also be cherished and missed by many special cousins, friends, neighbors and her church family.
Our love and gratitude to: Dr. Robin Huskey, doctors and staff of Great Smokies Family Medicine; Dr. Jerry Bradley and his former staff; Dr. Stephen Dill and staff; Jeff and Emily Pettis and all the staff of Reams Drug Store; Patrick Koerick with Lincare and Covenant Hospice.
Memorial donations may be made to Mt. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, Attn: Tasha Maples, 1765 Ridge Road, Pigeon Forge, TN, 37863-7109.
The family will receive friends 5 pm to 7 pm Saturday, October 1st with her Home Going Celebration to begin at 7 PM in the West Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home with Rev. Ed Adams and Rev. Carroll Trentham officiating. Graveside service and interment will be 2 PM Sunday, October 2nd in Mt. Zion Baptist Church Cemetery. Arrangements by Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)
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