That "secret society" -- the "Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" -- are better known as the Shriners: the sinister cabal of midget car-driving, fez-wearing, children's hospital-sponsoring, pancake breakfast-running glorified Rotarians.

But when you put it that way, they don't sound nearly as sinister.

Address update:Having dealt with the EPA (Rochlin & O'Dell), Ruston council, Tacoma council (Manthou), L&I and yes...the man with two faces, Mr. Mike Cohen we we moved away from Point Ruston's dust plume.
To say there is a old boy network / cover up is an understatement. The EPA's ignorance was unreal!
It got to be just too unsafe for my small child so we left.
I love to hear Cohen sugar coating things now: Pathetic!

Karma seem to be a real thing in this case and I'm loving every minute of it from afar.

Ruston has one good thing going for it finally: A smart Mayor that will benefit the town.

This is the piece that I've been waiting for the Trib to run, but they are still in love with his advertising dollars.

MB Tallman

"Matta tried to convince Diamond to hire laborers from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters."

There are NO "laborers" in the United Brotherhood of CARPENTERS.

Carpenters are a skilled trade - many of whom are the product of 4 years of vocational education.

Laborers are unskilled workers who sweep up the jobsite and do other unskilled task.

"Laborer" is not, and never has been, a generic term for "construction worker"!

Laborer is a very specific job title, referring to a very specific group of unskilled workers on a construction site.

Carpenters are NOT "laborers"!

The jewel of the Pacific Northwest. Mr. Cohen is so visionary to see the potential in this modern urban village. Incidentally, not a single claim against ASARCO has ever been proven but plenty of retirees lived into their nineties and one still living just turned 100 years young.

I should know born in Ruston virtually under the stack one block away from the main plant and still enjoying life at 75 playing golf three times a week. That was in 1934 the heyday of the smelter and during the War when it operated around the clock seven days a week helping the USA and it's allies to victory.

I was priveleged to be there and feel sorry for those who are falsely the victims of fear and anxiety. Still attend Ruston council meetings posting on:
http://www.rustoninsider.blogspot.com/

Jim Wingard

ps. Incredible article with meticulous preparation and accuracy on all sides.

"Allegedly, Matta tried to convince Diamond to hire laborers from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters."

"Laborers"?

There are NO "laborers" in the United Brotherhood of CARPENTERS.

We are a union of skilled CARPENTERS who went through a 4 year vocational education program.

Laborers are the unskilled workers who, among other tasks, clean up after us.

"Laborer" is NOT a generic term for construction worker.

"Laborer" is a very specific job title for unskilled construction workers.

Skilled apprentice trained craftspeople, like, in this case, carpenters, are not "laborers" - so please call us by our proper craft name, or if you can't do that, use the generic "construction workers".

But do NOT call me and my brother and sister carpenters "laborers"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sounds like short man complex.

Kiley's story is an engrossing tale of toxic greed. I live in downtown Omaha, just blocks from the Missouri River shore and the site of a former Asarco lead-spewing refinery. When the plant and its encrusted smokestacks were demolished several years ago, the dust containment plan seemed about as reckless as the plant's 100-year history of dumping sludge in the river. (The EPA filed a $400 million lawsuit against Asarco for lead clean-up across the eastern side of our city.) Today, the site has been capped and is now a park and marina where trees cannot be planted, as their roots would pierce the protective layer. I was horrified at the idea initially, but the containment did allow a rebirth of some very scenic real estate. Of course, Ruston's arsenic (vs. Omaha's lead) does mean a still higher threat to safety.

While laborer is also a highly specific job title, it also means "one who labors". I appreciate your argument, but that doesn't make the word any less correct in this context.

Man, so much for "workers unite"...

Good story -- here's what I take away from it: The project sounds like a decent idea that my turn out to be a good re-use of some messed up land. The activists and construction workers sound like they have some good points that seem to stem from a mix of lax oversight by Cohen, sleazy subcontractors, and lazy/maybe slightly corrupt government officials. No one sounds villainous though... Ruston should get annexed to Tacoma -- the little town makes Tacoma sound functional!

Hello? Build on a Superfund site? Love Fucking Canal?

Rich stupid people, come here and prepare to die.

Jee-zus Kee-rist.

Excellent article. It feels like it belongs in Newsweek, not in The Stranger.

Excellent article. It feels like it belongs in Newsweek, not in The Stranger.

From the article: "According to King County Public Health, soil around Puget Sound averages 7 parts per million (ppm) of arsenic. The strictest state standard for arsenic says residential areas should not exceed 20 ppm and industrial sites should not exceed 200 ppm."

We have now answered the question posed by the MS billboards. It's the soil.

Wench,

In a construction context, Laborer has a very specific meaning.

And it's not a generic term for "construction worker".

It's a job title.

Carpenter is also a very specific job title.

I wouldn't go to Mr Kiley's office and call him a "secretary" - because he's a reporter, and while those are both white collar jobs, there is a huge difference between a secretary and a reporter (and "secretary" is NOT a generic term for "white collar worker", it's a specific job title).

Well, I would like to know which unions that the Cohens have busted? I only ask becuase currently every contractor that Im aware of onsite is a Union contractor. I might add that the Cohens are Private developers, so there is NOTHING obligating them to work with Unions. Why are we treating the Cohens like they are the ones who poluted Ruston? They are the ones trying to fix it! Every worker out there is getting a very livable Union wage (I have raised a family of 5 on a single union income). They also have reached out to Veterans and provided direct access to employment for them. I get the feeling people would rather look at the old Asarco stack rather then making an improvement (and containing the soils). Come on people think about it.

GREGORYABUTLER,
If it is so negative to call a carpenter a laborer, why do they keep trying to do their 'unskilled' work? In fact, don't they try to do EVERYONE'S work?

There is a reason why the carpenters union is the only one NOT on the Point Ruston site.

As to the site itself, the Cohen's do not deny the charges brought forth. They have done everything in their power to make it right and safe for their workers. If it was that unsafe, the union would have pulled all of their workers from there.

http://villageofjoy.com/chernobyl-today-…