Throughout her 30s and 40s, she struggled with fertility problems. Then, in , she felt a burning sensation in her pelvic region. When a urinary tract infection started to bleed, Paula reluctantly made her way to the emergency room. Doctors informed her she had non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Now, at 58, her face is so devoid of fat you can see her jaw muscles working to smile.
Formerly tight-fitting rings slip off her fingers. Her bones look as if they might snap. She's lost so many white blood cells that she has to be quarantined in the hospital.
A mere cold could kill her. The cancer pattern would repeat itself in the next two generations of Square grandchildren. But this wasn't a horrible fate befalling a single family. Residents keep mental ledgers of the sick. Patty Nurmi died of brain cancer in her 30s.
Marilyn Merrill Nixon's father died of lung cancer. Yolanda Square also died of brain cancer. Mike Nelson's mother succumbed to breast cancer. Doctor Frank Sailors has treated many of these people. When the studious physician first opened his practice in , his first two patients were from Fairport Nursery Road.
Both complained of ordinary ailments, leg pain, and unrelenting coughs. Both had advanced stages of cancer. One had contracted myelogenous lymphoma, the other lung cancer. She had never smoked. He's been treating the residents of Fairport Nursery Road ever since. Something, he believes, is causing these cancers -- something environmental. Joan Michelbrink's mother and aunt both died of breast cancer. When Joan was 22, she too found a golfball-size lump in her breast.
The first lump was benign, but the next one wasn't. She had both breasts removed. Terrified, Michelbrink fled to Arizona, hoping her children would be saved. They weren't. Son Tim was a teenager when he had the first acorn-size lump removed in his leg. Over the next 20 years, he'd have 8 more removed.
Daughter Jackie was in her early 20s when she had two tumors removed from her breasts. Doctors found 26 cysts in daughter Rebecca's thyroid. Chemical companies are quick to argue that with so much cancer in one family, the problem must be genetic. But medical experts counter that there must be an environmental problem to spark such genetic abnormalities. When Bruce Molholt, a retired U. In the s, the company was surpassed by superior rivals like Dow and Monsanto. As a last attempt at survival, it merged with Shamrock Oil of Texas.
In , the company closed its Ohio operation and moved to Dallas. Its departure devastated Fairport Harbor. Diamond Shamrock, later bought out by Maxus Energy, sold off pieces of its land to other chemical companies. By the '80s, workers were more worried about vacated jobs and absent health care than the noxious fumes and chemical ponds the company left behind. In , officials found cancer-causing chemicals like mercury, cyanide, and hexavalent chromium in the same water that Fairport Harbor residents used for play.
Hexavalent chromium is the substance Erin Brockovich famously found polluting the water in Hinkley, California. But aside from fencing off the area, the EPA did nothing with these findings until 12 years later, when it finally realized that having cancer agents in the water is probably not a good thing.
In , the EPA lobbied to have the area placed on the federal Superfund list. Residents weren't happy about the designation. Besides, the designation would be of little help. In the 13 years prior to , only of the 1, Superfund sites were actually cleaned.
But there was a way to release the site from the list. Successor companies to Diamond Alkali -- like Maxus Energy and Tierra Solutions -- could finance their own study for cleanup. Since the companies had inherited responsibility, it seemed only right that they pick up the tab.
Yet there was a glaring downside to the deal. The cost of cleanup would be massive, so they had a huge incentive to downplay whatever they found -- or avoid finding it at all.
The Ohio EPA maintains it still had final say, but scientists weren't happy. But even with an incentive, it was hard to cover up the nightmare on Fairport Nursery Road. A study showed there were still "elevated levels of hexavalent chromium" migrating toward the Grand River. It also found "elevated levels" of arsenic, benzene, and thallium in the water. If you were looking to poison someone, this land offered one-stop shopping.
The most hazardous finding was from a one-acre landfill, hidden about feet from the Erie shoreline, where Diamond Alkali officials stored , gallons of waste. In these steel barrels sat large quantities of hexachlorobenzene -- known to cause liver, kidney, and thyroid cancers, and banned in the U.
To barricade the toxins, the landfill was covered with a inch clay ceiling and a layer of topsoil. By the end of the '90s, the study was complete, but most of the multimillion dollar cleanup hadn't started. Maxus and Tierra wouldn't pick up the full check, since other companies had operated on the site at various times.
So the state filed suit against every company with potential liability for failing to launch a cleanup. Nothing was getting done. But in , Todd Davis waltzed into the picture. The head of Hemisphere Developers in Beachwood, Davis is known for redeveloping brownfields.
In the '90s, he refurbished Toledo land surrounding a Chrysler facility and converted a contaminated rail-maintenance yard in Collinwood into a Jergens plant. In , the lawyer-turned-developer bought 25 acres on 80th and Kinsman, with plans to turn the blighted area into an industrial park. Once it was completed, Davis belatedly realized what most had known from the start: Businesses weren't rushing to relocate to the ghetto. So Davis enacted the kind of deal Sam Miller made famous.
Though such deals are routine in Cleveland, Miller and other city fathers are protected by status and beneficent political contributions. Davis was a nobody here. He was crucified in The Plain Dealer. Senator George Voinovich, conspicuously silent on Miller's many deals, demanded a federal investigation.
Davis insists there was nothing nefarious about his sale. It was a "completely and unbelievably inaccurate portrayal by The Plain Dealer ," he says. He'd started communicating with city officials about relocating CMHA headquarters back in , he claims. But around Cleveland, his name is still cursed. The same cannot be said in Lake County, where officials revere the man who brought IMG and has also assumed the majority of the cleanup costs -- and potential profits -- of the planned resort.
Today, about one-sixth of the cleanup is complete. Workers have carted off thousands of yards of contaminated dirt to a landfill in New York and have imported over a half-million yards of clay to cap the worst spots.
They've also drawn up strict housing codes, ensuring that hotels and housing units will be built on stilts, so that chemicals can't seep in through basement floors. Guests won't be allowed to use groundwater. And to make sure the dirt surrounding the landfill doesn't spill into the lake, they've erected erosion barriers to stop it. Hike through nearly six miles of trails by mature woodland trails comprised of beech, maple, oak, tulip and hemlock.
Harborcam at Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park. Camera rotates between two views every two minutes. Bald Eagle cam, Wildlife Center.
Live images from the bald eagle enclosure at the Kevin P. You may catch a glimpse of Apollo, our permanent bald eagle resident, bathing or using his foraging skills to get a food reward from the latest enrichment item placed in his enclosure or from a trainer. Remember…wildlife is just that, wild and unpredictable, so you may not see him from time to time, but have patience each time you look.
When you rent a cabin, mini cottage, motel room, or the lake house rest easy knowing they are impeccably clean and well furnished rentals. We are your relaxation destination, a romantic getaway with a heated outdoor pool and private beach access when you descend our grand staircase and walk along the natural shoreline.
Mini-Cottages each have a front porch with Adirondack chairs. Perfect for the couple looking to cozy up. Motel Rooms include a comfortable chair or loveseat so you can drift away in that book you've put off reading. Romantic Suites have a front porch and are the closest to the bluff overlooking the lake. Beach Glass Bungalow has a front porch with ceiling fans.
The great room features gas fireplace with large couch that converts to a queen size sofa bed. Annie's Retreat has a private deck overlooking the pool and playground. Great views of the lake from most windows and a leather couch that converts to a queen size pull out.
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