|
This document is also available as a PDF. AKRON BEACON JOURNAL
CANTON TO INSPECT BUILDING
OFFICIALS DENY POLITICS PLAYING
ROLE IN KEEPING STATE OFFICES
DOWNTOWN
Friday, June 12, 1998
Section: METRO
Page: B2\
By George W. Davis, Beacon Journal staff writer
Illustration: MAP: Beacon Journal map showing the location of the state
office building The Canton Health Department is to reinvestigate claims by some state agency
employees that the downtown office building in which they work may be
"sick" and causing them to be sick as well.
Meanwhile, city, state and federal officials denied the accusation of a woman
who says she works in the building and that politics are involved to keep the
offices downtown. That worker and another who complained Wednesday said anonymity was
necessary to protect their jobs. Robert E. Pattison, the city's health commissioner, said staff members are
working with supervisors and Tri-State Realty, the building's owner, to get
into the basement and other secured areas as early as today to re-evaluate
health conditions. He said inspectors would take samples of mold -- and anything else they might
find -- to help determine whether conditions have changed since an inspection
two years ago found no problems. The offices are in the three-story former Stern & Mann department store at
the northwest corner of Cleveland Avenue Northwest and Tuscarawas Street
West. The state has nearly 100 workers in the Department of Human Services,
Bureau of Rehabilitative Services and the Rehabilitative Services for the
Visually Impaired on the first two floors. Nobody is working in the basement,
but Family Services Inc. is on the third floor. Agency authorities already have said they are working to move Rehabilitative
Services personnel to another downtown Canton location within three to four
months. Human Services also is looking for another location, a representative
confirmed Wednesday. 1 of 3 7/25/99 6:50 PM NewsLibrary Document Delivery http://newslibrary.krmediastream.com/cgi...cument/nl2_auth?DBLIST=ak98&DOCNUM=33460 The worker said she saw mushrooms growing from damp carpet in the
basement more than a year ago. After that, the basement was closed off and
workers were moved. The potentially deadly stachybotrys mold and other
fungi were found in the basement a year ago, according to a federal inspection
report that surfaced last month. The worker also says she objects to the location of the building because it is
unsafe for workers. Some, she said, have been approached for sex as though
they were prostitutes. Others, she said, have been followed to their cars and that at least one worker
had been threatened at knifepoint and another arriving for work had tripped
over a person sleeping in the doorway. Canton police said they couldn't look up specific reports without a name or
approximate date but couldn't recall any such incidents being reported. Saying she was speaking for several co-workers, the woman asserted that
some were questioning possible political connections involving Mayor Richard
D. Watkins, U.S. Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Navarre, and state agency
administrators to keep the workers downtown. They questioned, too, whether such a connection had anything to do with a
federal agency microbiological analysis of the building in March 1997 that
didn't surface until last month. "We want to be in Belden Village because we'd feel safer there," the woman
said. If workers were to move to the Belden Village area of Jackson and Plain
townships, they would not have to pay Canton's 2 percent income tax unless
they lived in the city. They also could save hundreds of dollars in parking fees
by moving from the downtown. An angered Watkins challenged the woman's accusations. "I'll meet with them,
I'll talk to them, but I won't address any claims without meeting with them in
person. As far as tripping over people in doorways, that's bull. And anybody
being challenged at knifepoint, tell me about it. "I don't put anything under the rug. And I'm not going to sit here and let some
unnamed person make allegations concerning the city that they won't
substantiate to me in person." Regula, like Watkins, denied any "political connection" for keeping the offices
downtown. A Regula spokesman said that "neither the district nor the Washington offices
have been contacted by the city of Canton, Tri-State Realty, the Bureau of 2 of 3 7/25/99 6:50 PM NewsLibrary Document Delivery http://newslibrary.krmediastream.com/cgi...cument/nl2_auth?DBLIST=ak98&DOCNUM=33460 Rehabilitative Services or the employees. Had the employees contacted Mr.
Regula, he certainly would have made an inquiry on their behalf." Robert L. Rabe, Rehabilitation Services Commission administrator in
Columbus, termed the latest allegations "ridiculous." All content © 1998 AKRON BEACON JOURNAL and may not be republished without
permission. All archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper library system from MediaStream Inc., a
Knight-Ridder Inc. company. 3 of 3 7/25/99 6:50 PM |
| Search |
| Mirrors |