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Town hall addresses parents' contamination concerns

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Malia Jenkins
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Concerned parents gathered into a room looking for information and a friend in arms to calm their fears for their children's safety.

Brig. Gen. James Hecker, 18th Wing commander, held a town hall meeting Jan. 28 to discuss the discovery and excavation of 30-gallon barrels from the Okinawa City soccer field. Also in attendance was a panel of experts from bioenvironmental, civil engineer group and medical group to answer questions from concerned community members.

The general opened the town hall, not as a commander, but as a fellow parent - admitting his mistake in not sharing information about the barrels earlier and giving the audience his full attention for however long it was needed.

The meeting lasted two and a half hours, the general's brief taking only 30 minutes, as parents lined up at the mic to voice their concerns about finding a way to document their children's attendance to Bob Hope and Amelia Earhart Intermediate School in 2013-2014 due to the barrels found in close proximity to the school.

"Are we setting up something at the clinics to have documentation in our children's files that this specific incident may be the cause of any future illness and they were at Kadena during this time frame?" a parent said. "Nowhere in medical records does it say an individual's child attended Bob Hope or AEIS."

Other concerns ranged from health related issues, testing their children's blood or tissue, to cases of former Kadena residents with medical conditions.

"There are a lot of members on the Facebook page that was created by parents getting medically evacuated from the island due to sudden cancer and other illnesses," explained one of the parents at the meeting. "Are you reaching out to the families to dig deeper into their medical history to see if these barrels may be the cause of their illness?"

Those in attendance wanted 100 percent security that there children were safe, that it's Ok to play at the playground and allow them to go to school.

The general and panel of experts, did their best to answer questions and ease concerns by discussing the area's safety, the tests conducted on samples from the soil, air and water, the history of the location and future actions.

Kadena bioenvironmental personnel explained that a series of samples from the soil and air were taken around Amelia Earhart, Bob Hope and Kadena Elementary Schools, and that no contaminants were identified. Hecker explained that although the testing came back below Environmental Protection Agency standards, he knew parents would not be satisfied with that answer.

To further ease concerns, he asked for an additional round of more stringent soil and water compliance sampling in the area. Those samples would be collected during the first weekend in February and could take up to a month to be analyzed, he said.

Some parents later recommended publishing a policy letter stating parents would be notified of any situation that involved the safety of their families or children, even if leadership doesn't believe there is a threat.

One parent said, "Thank you for taking responsibility as a parent for not notifying us sooner. Is there going to be some kind of policy change? Cause while I'm willing to take you on good faith that you'll be more upfront in the future, how are we going to know that whoever replaces you will be as forthcoming with information unless there is an actual policy on the books saying parents will be notified when something happens?"

Hecker assured parents that they will be notified immediately in the future and the implementation of a policy letter would be discussed. His team of experts will also be providing any new information to the community through every possible avenue and will research any unanswered questions.

It was also stressed that, although host nation officials have full control of the site and are conducting a full investigation of the barrels, Kadena will remain fully informed of the investigation every step of the way.

"Our kids are our number one priority, and we are doing everything possible to stay abreast of new information and address our community members' concerns," Hecker said. "I want to assure you that I am fully focused on this issue and all evidence points to these barrels posing no threat to the people on Kadena Air Base, and specifically to the students and employees at our schools."

The 18th Wing will ensure as any new information becomes available, it will be distributed through Facebook, the schools and any other venue available. This is not a one-time sharing of information, but part of an ongoing dialogue we hope to participate in over time, Hecker said.

Community members with questions or concerns can contact the 18th Wing Public Affairs Office at DSN 634-3813, commercial telephone 098-961-3813 or through the commander's hotline at email address, 18wg.cchotline@us.af.mil.

To watch the entire town hall, click here for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3, or watch them embedded below.