For immediate release Dec. 29, 2010

Contacts: Ann Suellentrop, 913-271-7925; Donna Hand, 608-921-9940; Wayne Knox, 678-575-2172

New hope.

That’s what’s dished up at town hall sessions and one-on-one consultations for current and former employees of Bannister Federal Complex (BFC) at Bannister and Troost. The workers say contaminants at the complex have made them and/or their family members sick, and they need help getting compensation from the federal government.

Help will be on tap at a town hall session sponsored by the KC Peace Planters* Jan. 8 at St. Paul School of Theology’s library, 1535 Van Brunt Dr., Kansas City, Mo., from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. After the town hall, experts will give one-on-one consultations from 1:15 to 4 p.m. for the workers and family members of deceased workers.

At the Nov. 20 town hall/consultation event, about 70 BFC workers completed forms concerning their work-related illnesses and received advice. The information pertained mainly to employees of the Kansas City Plant (KCP) at BFC; KCP workers make and order non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons. The Jan. 8 gathering will address concerns of workers on the General Services Administration (GSA) side of BFC, as well as concerns of KCP workers. Lawyer Randy James of Lee’s Summit, Mo., will advise GSA-side employees about using the Federal Employees Compensation Act to seek reimbursement and then, if denied compensation, to seek legal recourse. “It’s a tough, up-hill battle,” says James, who has represented clients in cases against big corporations and the government during his 30 years as a trial lawyer.

“Knowledge is power,” says Barbara Rice, who works on contract on the GSA side of BFC, formerly was a full-time employee there, and plans to participate in the Jan. 8 gathering. “Events occurred on the KC Plant side, with accidents involving contaminants like Promethium and beryllium, and we’ve all been affected—our health, our selves, and our family members. More knowledge will give us more power to petition legislators and other authorities” to try to gain compensation, Rice says.

Assisting employees from the KCP side of BFC will be Wayne Knox of Atlanta and Donna Hand of Tampa, Fla.—the president and vice president of Cold War Soldiers, which represents clients in cases related to nuclear weapons production. At the KCP, says Knox, “deliberate misrepresentation about the exposure of workers has occurred. People were not informed of the radioactive materials they worked with or the chemicals and all the associated hazards. The KCP health and safety officials were not provided the training, nor the instrumentation, to detect the radiation their workers were exposed to.”

Knox adds, “By mining and disposing of materials for nuclear weapons, and by building, testing and maintaining nuclear bombs, we have killed more Americans than the Japanese we killed by dropping the bombs on them.”

*KC Peace Planters is a coalition including PeaceWorks-KC (its founder), Physicians for Social Responsibility-KC, East Meets West of Troost, The Recipe LLC, Holy Family and Cherith Brook Catholic Worker Houses, KC’s Loretto Peace & Justice Network, and Benedictines for Peace. For info: Ann Suellentrop, 913-271-7925.