Some East Palestine residents question if their village will ever recover from the explosive train derailment and its contamination. Others see the community as more resilient.
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — This hamlet was once known as a factory town. When the pottery and tire makers closed, it became a bedroom community for steel mills and an automotive plant. More recently, families have called it a quiet haven offering good schools and a reasonable commute to and from Pittsburgh. Then came the Feb. 3 train derailment, and, days later, the enormous black cloud of burning chemicals.
In East Palestine, residents are just starting to seek answers. Hundreds of them packed a town hall this week, shouting questions and venting their frustrations to state and local leaders. Ben Terwilliger was among those who thought better to just stay home, stay patient and conserve energy for the fight ahead.“I don’t have any illusions this is going to resolve itself anytime soon,” Terwilliger said. “I’m in it for the long haul.
Residents flock to high school football games — despite their losing record — and to a spacious park, with its walking trail and public swimming pool that Terwilliger said often draws more vehicles with Pennsylvania license plates than Ohio ones. Many who grow up in town stay, or if not, return to raise families, Smith said. Shops at the heart of town, long hurt by the rise of malls, Walmart, the internet and the covid-19 pandemic, had been seeing a resurgence of commerce, Stewart said.
He lives with his wife, Kristy, another lifelong East Palestinian, and their two teenage children, on the north side of the tracks. This week, a view of the towering black smoke out their front windows was replaced by a parade of tanker trucks coming to haul contaminated water away from the derailment site.
But across the tracks, the disaster is too much for Jenna Catone to bear. The single mother wonders what level of contamination has poured into the windows of the house where she and her 9-year-old son live. It directly faces the crash site.
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Ohio train derailment: East Palestine residents worry rashes, headaches may tie to crash chemicals'I make $14 an hour. Where am I supposed to go?' said Audrey DeSanzo, who lives about half a mile from the derailment with her two grade-school-age children. 'I don't want to be here now with my kids.'
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Ohio train derailment: East Palestine residents worry rashes, headaches may tie to crash chemicals'I make $14 an hour. Where am I supposed to go?' said Audrey DeSanzo, who lives about half a mile from the derailment with her two grade-school-age children. 'I don't want to be here now with my kids.'
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Ohio train derailment: East Palestine residents worry rashes, headaches may tie to crash chemicals'I make $14 an hour. Where am I supposed to go?' said Audrey DeSanzo, who lives about half a mile from the derailment with her two grade-school-age children. 'I don't want to be here now with my kids.'
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Ohio train derailment: East Palestine residents worry rashes, headaches may tie to crash chemicals'I make $14 an hour. Where am I supposed to go?' said Audrey DeSanzo, who lives about half a mile from the derailment with her two grade-school-age children. 'I don't want to be here now with my kids.'
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Ohio train derailment: East Palestine residents worry rashes, headaches may tie to crash chemicals'I make $14 an hour. Where am I supposed to go?' said Audrey DeSanzo, who lives about half a mile from the derailment with her two grade-school-age children. 'I don't want to be here now with my kids.'
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EPA chief provides update on air following East Palestine derailmentEAST PALESTINE, Ohio — (EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) -- As the cleanup and investigation continues into the freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, concerned residents have been pushing government officials for more answers on the state of the surrounding environment.
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