Who: BHS Alumni and Rep Bill Galvano
What: Town Hall Meeting
When: Friday, October 26th, 2007 from 2- 4 P.M.
Where: Dolphin Room at Blake Medical Center
2020 59th ST W
Bradenton, FL 34209
(941) 792-6611
Please make plans to attend! If you have any questions please feel free to email me!
Galvano hosts forum for Bayshore cancer stories
By DONNA WRIGHT
dwright@bradenton.com
BRADENTON --
Rep. Bill Galvano wants to hear from former students and faculty who feel they have been sickened by toxic exposure at the old Bayshore High School.
Galvano will host a town hall meeting on the alleged Bayshore cancer scare from 2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 26, 2007 in the Dolphin Room at Blake Medical Center.
"The purpose of the meeting is to gather firsthand accounts of the illnesses my constituents claim are connected to the site," Galvano said.
An alumni group, led by Cheryl Lumsden Jozsa, says 33 former students, who attended Bayshore in the 1990s, have died from rare forms of cancer.
"We also know of 45 cases of cancer survivors or people currently with cancer," Jozsa said Tuesday. "That's at least 78 people who attended that school who are either dead or sick." Jozsa's group believes the deaths and illnesses are related to a leak in an old fuel tank that was removed from the campus when the school was torn down in 1999. Jozsa said she is grateful for Galvano's support. "It's great that he is helping us," she said. "He has been working with us for more than a year. I am sure there will be a good turnout."
To date, none of the records the Herald has reviewed from the state, county or the school board indicate any type of toxic spill that presented a health risk.
But neither the former students nor Galvano are convinced all the data on the site has been reviewed.
Galvano has asked the Department of Environmental Protection to gather all of its records on the site. He has made the same request from Manatee County school district.
"We are trying to stay on top of this on a daily basis," Galvano said. "The town hall is a fact-finding event. It's not about reaching a conclusion. My goal is not to have a session of cross-examination or a controversial meeting."
Galvano has invited the school board to attend.
Michael L. Moore, an Orlando attorney engaged by Jozsa and other former students, said Tuesday that he will attend.
"I think my clients are pleased that people are making this a bigger issue than it has been in the past," Moore said. "People are now paying attention to their cries for help. And their cries for help are related to what has happened at Bayshore in the past. I hope Rep. Galvano can help us get the answers."
No legal complaints have yet been filed, said Moore. "We need to first nail down the source," he said.
The fact that so many former students have died and so many others are ill indicates they experienced something in common, Moore said. "At this point the one thing they shared in common seems to be their attendance at Bayshore High School," he said.
Moore is also looking beyond Bayshore for possible links among the sick students. "We are being careful at this point in placing blame on any entity or individual," Moore said. "It would be irresponsible for us not to look at other common denominators."