A 13-year-old boy’s death from leukemia is changing the stakes in a Fifth Ward cancer case.
The City of Houston is now being sued for first time along with Union Pacific.
Image source: dolcefino.com
Press release
The family of 13 y/o Corinthian Giles has sued Union Pacific and the City of Houston over his death from leukemia. Benzene, a carcinogen specifically linked to leukemia, has been discovered in excess of safe levels in the soil, groundwater and public sewers near Giles’ home.
Giles family joins thousands of residents suing Union Pacific Railroad Company for contaminating their properties and groundwater with creosote, and other toxic chemicals used at Union Pacific’s rail yard located in Houston’s Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods.
The State of Texas has been investigating cancers and adverse health effects in connection with contamination from the Union Pacific site. Just six months before Giles’ death, a cancer cluster was confirmed in his neighborhood, specifically identifying high rates of the same type of childhood leukemia Giles died from.
Giles was raised just two blocks from the Union Pacific site and a contaminated City of Houston right of way. Union Pacific and the City have known about the contamination for decades but failed to warn residents of the risks or clean it up.
Image source: dolcefino.com
“Children are dying from contamination that has been spreading for decades. Enough is enough. Union Pacific and the City of Houston need to accept responsibility and take action to remedy this tragedy immediately,” says Giles’ attorney, Jason Gibson of The Gibson Law Firm.
The case is “Latonya Payne, et al. v. Union Pacific Railroad Company, et al.,” Cause No.2021-72319, in the District Court of Harris County, Texas.
The City of Houston wants to keep critical safety information about the coronavirus pandemic a secret. Wait till you find out one of the reasons why.
Dolcefino Consulting asked for records on any events or locations where contract tracers found community spread. It was part of our investigation into any real evidence Houston bars had been linked to coronavirus outbreaks. We didn’t ask for patient information, just locations, like the huge protest rallies downtown and other large gatherings.
The City of Houston Legal Department and the City Attorney are now refusing to tell you where coronavirus outbreaks have happened. Why? One reason, according to the City, is Homeland Security.
“The release of this information could alert a criminal or terrorist to potential vulnerabilities in the Cities emergency response plan to COVID-19,” said City Attorney Rebekah Wendt. Wendt went on to claim that the release of certain information could “allow a criminal or terrorist to have intimate details concerning the City’s evolving plans to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and allow them to exacerbate COVID-19 and future disasters.”
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is also keeping the contact tracing results a secret, even though the taxpayers are the people footing the bill. In the span of just two hours, the County Health Department claimed they had no records of congregate settings related to the coronavirus. An hour and a half later, the County Health Department did admit that they had records but claimed that they were too busy with the spread of the coronavirus to tell us where the coronavirus was spreading.
“On one hand we have a statewide order and a local order telling us that we have to wear masks to wear masks to control the spread of the coronavirus and we are spending millions of dollars to try to keep people safe but meanwhile our local government won’t tell us which places we need to avoid,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting.
“The public has every right to evaluate how the government is handling this pandemic and the City of Houston and Harris County Health Department should be ashamed of themselves.”
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