NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WBEN)....Carolyn and John Johnson mince no words when they talk about reports that their Fox Avenue house's backyard is loaded with radioactive contamination.
"There's a lot of words we can use and angry is just one of them," John Johnson said.
The Johnsons are one of four Town of Niagara homeowners - all located along Fox Avenue and Chester Road - whose homes and yards have been deemed to be the center points for dangerously high levels of radioactive materials dating back decades.
It was discovered during a series of state Department of Environmental Conservation tests conducted during the past three years.
The Johnsons have lived in their house for 36 years and no inkling of what was buried in their back yard.
"I've been sick.. we've lost dogs to cancer and no one told us anything," Carolyn Johnson said.
When the Johnsons had their house built, a geological survey was done and nothing showed up.
"It was clean, or so we thought," Carolyn Johnson said.
The Johnsons were among the more than 200 people who went to the Niagara Falls Convention Center Monday night to hear from DEC and Environmental Protection Agency officials about the discovery of the long-buried radioactive materials.
The mood bounced between angry, suspicious and frustration.
"This is hard on all of us," lamented Michael Moytka, whose Fox Avenue house - like the Johnson's - is considered ground zero.
The findings add a new chapter to Niagara County's unwanted legacy of chemical issues disrupting neighborhoods.
Carolyn Johnson, grew up in the Love Canal neighborhood.
Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino said he is concerned, especially given the Niagara County legacy.
"It is always something we have to brace ourselves for," Restaino said.
Restaino was one of just a handful of Niagara County elected officials to attend Monday's session.
"Let's follow the science and ask all the questions that need to be asked," Restaino said.
As for the Johnsons, they are staying put in their Fox Avenue house - mainly because they have nowhere else to live.
"They (the state) offered to put us up one night in hotel," Carolyn Johnson said. "What good is that going to do? What about my dogs and cats or my fish tank? "
Lack of definitive answers fueling frustration, anger homeowners say.
Lack of definitive answers fueling frustration, anger homeowners say.
