The Seattle Times
Winner of Nine Pulitzer Prizes
Sunday, September 21, 1997 - Page updated at 12:00 AM:
"(...)
On a paved road nearby, a white-and-silver bus barrels by in a cloud of dust. The bus is evidence that people work at Area 51.

The workers say that nothing could leave the base, and that's why everything was burned. Some men had to scramble into the pits after the ashes cooled to ensure complete incineration, increasing their exposure to toxins, according to the lawsuits.

No compensation

The widows' outrage started because of $300. About 10 years ago, Robert Frost, who was foreman of the sheet-metal workers at Area 51, became so ill he missed a week of work. By then his face and body were scarred by scales and red welts. His legs buckled when he tried to walk.

Frost filed a claim for lost wages; his employer, Reynolds Electrical & Engineering (Notations: https://www.osti.gov/opennet/servlets/purl/16004414-mjWMdc/16 , http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML0314/ML031480271.pdf , http://digital.library.unlv.edu/objects/nts/1095 , http://www.nwtrb.gov/meetings/1992/nov/reeco.pdf and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EG%26G , Denglisch), fought it.

By the time a hearing was held in 1990, Frost was dead of a liver disease that doctors associated with exposure to smoke containing dioxin and dibenzofurans, chemicals found in plastics and solvents. But the compensation claim was denied after a company superintendent testified that no burning occurred at Area 51.

Frost's widow, Helen, was furious. She wanted to file a wrongful-death claim, but lawyers told her there was nothing to be done.

She found a Washington watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, that was willing to investigate. She knew of several other widows and workers. One was her husband's good friend Wally Kasza - a guy so tough he worked up at Area 51 until he was 69, when he became too sick to go on.

Wally and "Frostie," as friends knew him, were union brothers in Local 88. Now their widows are united in their scorn for the federal government, lending their names to the lawsuits Frost vs. Perry (against the former secretary of defense) and Kasza vs. Browner (against the EPA administrator). (...)"
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19970921&slug=2561602

"(...)
EG&G has shared operations responsibility for the NTS with Livermore Labs, Raytheon Services Nevada, Reynolds Electrical and Engineering (REECO) and others. (...)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EG%26G

http://www.pogo.org