Item Information
Title
“Alumni, graduate student arrested for PCB protest,” September 23, 1982, The Chronicle, Durham, North Carolina
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Type
still image
Identifier
https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/items/show/7417
Text
The Chronicle
78th Year, No. 20 Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Thursday, September 23, 1982
Alumni, graduate student arrested for PCB protest
by Peggy O’Driscoll
Four Duke alumni and one Duke graduate student were arrested Monday and charged with impeding traffic while protesting the dumping of PCB-contaminated soil in Warren County.
Lee Field, Mary Margaret Graham, Grace Nordoff, Ruffin Slater and Ruth Ziegler were among 155 protesters taken to jail for blocking the entrance to the landfill site where PCBs spilled along North Carolina highways in 1978 are being dumped.
Field, an anthropology graduate student, said about 200 protesters marched 2 miles to the dump entrance. State troopers began arresting people as soon as they sat or lay down on the road.
Protesters were taken to a Warrenton jail where they lined up for mug shots and booking. Each person was issued a formal charge and a date for court appearance. Most of the protesters were released on their own recognizance, without posting bond.
Four women, including Zeigler, and eight men volunteered to spend the night in jail. Their bond was posted Tuesday by the Concerned Citizens of Warren County Against PCB, a coalition of local residents, Nordhoff said.
Field, Nordhoff and Graham said they attended the march because they believed the PCB dumping was unnecessary and unfair. Field said the state is “conducting the experiment to see how much PCB will leak into the water table and what effects it will have on the people.”
Incineration or bacterial detoxification of the contaminated soil would eliminate the danger of PCB, polychlorinated biphenyl, but would cost the state more, Field said.
Nordhoff said Gov. Jim Hunt “is saying that Warren County people have less right to a healthy environment than other North Carolina residents.”
Graham, who has been arrested before on charges of civil disobedience, said, “Other protests I have attended have been symbolic--we knew that we were not going to stop the arms race by sitting on the steps of the Pentagon--but not this. Field described the protesters as not radical, but traditional, conservative, middle Americans who had become conscious of the threat to their homes and lives.
County residents welcome protesters from outside, Nordhoff said. “I didn't know if it was my place to March for their cause,” she said, adding that the residents had the attitude that “whoever wants to show that they care, can.”
Field said, “There were lots and lots of state troopers with shiny metal helmets that looked like something from a science fiction movie.” The troopers carried billy clubs.
“People around me were getting roughed up. Their arms were pinned behind their backs, and a trooper was pressing his thumbs behind one woman’s ears,” Graham said.
Field said his wrist was twisted by a trooper, and he saw a woman picked up by her belt. “Most people said they weren't mistreated; The police didn't seem angry or sadistic, as people have told me cops often are at protests,” he added.
See PCB on page 5
[photo caption] PHOTO BY THADDEUS HERRICK
Duke graduate Ruth Ziegler was arrested at PCB protest.
78th Year, No. 20 Duke University, Durham, North Carolina Thursday, September 23, 1982
Alumni, graduate student arrested for PCB protest
by Peggy O’Driscoll
Four Duke alumni and one Duke graduate student were arrested Monday and charged with impeding traffic while protesting the dumping of PCB-contaminated soil in Warren County.
Lee Field, Mary Margaret Graham, Grace Nordoff, Ruffin Slater and Ruth Ziegler were among 155 protesters taken to jail for blocking the entrance to the landfill site where PCBs spilled along North Carolina highways in 1978 are being dumped.
Field, an anthropology graduate student, said about 200 protesters marched 2 miles to the dump entrance. State troopers began arresting people as soon as they sat or lay down on the road.
Protesters were taken to a Warrenton jail where they lined up for mug shots and booking. Each person was issued a formal charge and a date for court appearance. Most of the protesters were released on their own recognizance, without posting bond.
Four women, including Zeigler, and eight men volunteered to spend the night in jail. Their bond was posted Tuesday by the Concerned Citizens of Warren County Against PCB, a coalition of local residents, Nordhoff said.
Field, Nordhoff and Graham said they attended the march because they believed the PCB dumping was unnecessary and unfair. Field said the state is “conducting the experiment to see how much PCB will leak into the water table and what effects it will have on the people.”
Incineration or bacterial detoxification of the contaminated soil would eliminate the danger of PCB, polychlorinated biphenyl, but would cost the state more, Field said.
Nordhoff said Gov. Jim Hunt “is saying that Warren County people have less right to a healthy environment than other North Carolina residents.”
Graham, who has been arrested before on charges of civil disobedience, said, “Other protests I have attended have been symbolic--we knew that we were not going to stop the arms race by sitting on the steps of the Pentagon--but not this. Field described the protesters as not radical, but traditional, conservative, middle Americans who had become conscious of the threat to their homes and lives.
County residents welcome protesters from outside, Nordhoff said. “I didn't know if it was my place to March for their cause,” she said, adding that the residents had the attitude that “whoever wants to show that they care, can.”
Field said, “There were lots and lots of state troopers with shiny metal helmets that looked like something from a science fiction movie.” The troopers carried billy clubs.
“People around me were getting roughed up. Their arms were pinned behind their backs, and a trooper was pressing his thumbs behind one woman’s ears,” Graham said.
Field said his wrist was twisted by a trooper, and he saw a woman picked up by her belt. “Most people said they weren't mistreated; The police didn't seem angry or sadistic, as people have told me cops often are at protests,” he added.
See PCB on page 5
[photo caption] PHOTO BY THADDEUS HERRICK
Duke graduate Ruth Ziegler was arrested at PCB protest.
Original Format
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