I think it’s only fair and just to actually look at the facts that escaped Mr. Ramsey in his letter in the Oct. 5 Xpress [“Don Yelton, Problem Solvent”]. I am an environmental-systems engineer with a concentration in water-quality management. I have a master’s degree in environmental-systems engineering from Clemson University and a master’s degree in biology from East Tennessee State University (where I graduated Phi Kappa Phi).
As for the political side of the issue, I was a Democrat when I first warned the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners about the problems at the CTS facility back in the ‘90s. I continued to warn of the problems later as a Republican. It would appear that, again, Mr. Ramsey is guilty of what he accuses me of doing: being blinded by a dumb view of everything being political.
It is not political that the highest concentrations of TCE are found in the samples taken under the building. The delay of over 20 years has very likely caused much more suffering and cost more tax dollars to extend water lines.
I know how much time Barry Durand and Tate McQueen have spent on pushing this issue — as has each neighbor who has gone to the commissioners, participated in the citizen’s committee, called the news media in Asheville, attended meetings with Shuler and Burr, driven to Washington, D.C., and so much more.
All of these people, myself included, are not doing this for political reasons but are doing it to clean up a horrible mess. We are not doing this for credit but when someone tries to make it political and uses false claims they must be pointed out.
— Don Yelton
Jupiter
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