Nixon administration officials and appointees, out of sheer relief that concealing E. coli levels in the Lake of the Ozarks never got anyone sick, have been telling everyone there was never a health risk. As it turns out, they may have been very wrong.
When the news about E.Coli-Gate first emerged, The Source saw the need to end the dangerous involvement of politics in water safety tests. But it appears that the Nixon administration may have already done its damage.
A source in the DNR’s staff has told us that an eight year old girl, who swam in the Lake of the Ozarks in the same time frame as the E.Coli-Gate tests, is recovering after a difficult battle with an E. coli infection. To protect her and her family's privacy, we can't make more specific details available, but we’re told that she is in good medical hands.
We’ve received tips that a number of other people have gotten sick as well, but this is the most severe case reported to us so far.
If this is true – and we’re hoping it isn’t - it is the worst possible outcome. The girl and her family have our deepest sympathies, and the best thing we can do is make sure that this will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Knowing the consequences, what the Nixon administration did was more than morally reprehensible. It goes beyond words to know that they exposed children to a serious health risk for the sake of politics, and then tried to cover it up.
During the period we’re told that the girl visited the lake, more than half of the tested areas exceeded safe levels, and several had higher E. coli levels than the testing equipment was capable of measuring. DNR Director Mark Templeton, restored to his post as of today by Jay Nixon, has told the public that there was no "health risk" as a result of concealing the tests. Yet the lake tested far above what the EPA says is safe.
That a situation was created where this report is plausible demonstrates the terrible consequence of the Nixon administration's politics. While they were trying to convince the public, in the face of all reason, what they did 'wasn't that bad' - an innocent child may have been struggling with a terrible illness.
The willingness of the Nixon Administration to jeopardize public safety, its attempts to obstruct outside investigations and refusal to hold anyone responsible for their actions has proved that it is incapable of reforming itself. They need to be stopped before this could happen again.
When the news about E.Coli-Gate first emerged, The Source saw the need to end the dangerous involvement of politics in water safety tests. But it appears that the Nixon administration may have already done its damage.
A source in the DNR’s staff has told us that an eight year old girl, who swam in the Lake of the Ozarks in the same time frame as the E.Coli-Gate tests, is recovering after a difficult battle with an E. coli infection. To protect her and her family's privacy, we can't make more specific details available, but we’re told that she is in good medical hands.
We’ve received tips that a number of other people have gotten sick as well, but this is the most severe case reported to us so far.
If this is true – and we’re hoping it isn’t - it is the worst possible outcome. The girl and her family have our deepest sympathies, and the best thing we can do is make sure that this will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Knowing the consequences, what the Nixon administration did was more than morally reprehensible. It goes beyond words to know that they exposed children to a serious health risk for the sake of politics, and then tried to cover it up.
During the period we’re told that the girl visited the lake, more than half of the tested areas exceeded safe levels, and several had higher E. coli levels than the testing equipment was capable of measuring. DNR Director Mark Templeton, restored to his post as of today by Jay Nixon, has told the public that there was no "health risk" as a result of concealing the tests. Yet the lake tested far above what the EPA says is safe.
That a situation was created where this report is plausible demonstrates the terrible consequence of the Nixon administration's politics. While they were trying to convince the public, in the face of all reason, what they did 'wasn't that bad' - an innocent child may have been struggling with a terrible illness.
The willingness of the Nixon Administration to jeopardize public safety, its attempts to obstruct outside investigations and refusal to hold anyone responsible for their actions has proved that it is incapable of reforming itself. They need to be stopped before this could happen again.
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