Glasgow critical of Exelon

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March 16

By Kim Smith 

Herald News Staff Writer

GODLEY — Storage tanks containing 100 million picocuries of radioactive tritium on Braidwood nuclear plant properties are a disaster waiting to happen, State’s Attorney James Glasgow said at a community meeting Wednesday night. 

“Nuclear plants are supposed to be built to withstand earthquakes. Yet the wind blew down a berm, allowing the 200 gallons of tritium-laced water to spill out of a storage container,” said Glasgow, one of several Will County officials concerned over tritium spills. 

The power company Exelon has been using containers on a temporary basis to store contaminated water that once was discharged through a pipe into the Kankakee River. The company stopped that practice after elevated levels of tritium were found in November. 

On Tuesday, Exelon reported the spill, but the company maintains that no contaminated waters left its property. 

The U.S. environmental Protection Agency has established an upper limit for tritium concentration in drinking water of 20,000 picocuries per liter. 

“With the tornado season upon us, I fear for what could happen if a twister grabbed up one of those containers and hurled it at a store full of people,” Glasgow said. 

Glasgow said he will be asking for a court order to get Exelon to fulfill a promise to supply bottled water to residents who fear their water is contaminated. He said a good public relations person would have immediately picked up the phone and ordered 20 semi-trucks full of bottled water to the village. 

“It is an insult to us that the water is not here,” Glasgow said. 

One of the problems Glasgow faces is that county and state officials do not have jurisdiction over nuclear power plants. He urged residents to contact U.S. Sens. Barack Obama and Dick Durbin with their concerns over the safety of residents around the Braidwood nuclear plant, which actually is located in Braceville. 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a federal agency, is the only entity to which the power plant reports. 

Glasgow said his office and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan will make a major announcement today in Chicago. 

Theodore Hogan, a consultant in the process of being hired as a public health expert by Will County, passed out information on the latest plan the county has come up with for testing drinking wells based on information and concerns gathered by residents on the county Web site. Testing could begin as soon as next week. 

“We are using a lab based in Iowa. One of the things we heard was residents did not want to use the same lab used by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency,” Hogan said. 

This first phase of testing will include testing for tritium, bacteria and nitrates, Hogan said. A second phase will include testing for diesel fuel. 

If residents are not home when the health department comes to their doors, they will be left notes with information on whom to contact. More information on the testing is available at www.willcountyhealth.org . 

Some residents questioned whether the Will County Health Department had jurisdiction over Godley homes in Grundy County. Others seemed upset that no Grundy officials attended the meeting.

Violation notice for Exelon

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March 2

By Kim Smith
Herald News Staff Writer

The power company Exelon has received a second notice of violations at its nuclear power plant in the Braidwood area, part of the state’s investigation into radioactive water spills. 

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama wants to force nuclear companies to immediately report all leaks of radioactive substances. The Illinois Democrat announced plans for such legislation Wednesday. 

Regarding the state action, Exelon can be fined up to $10,000 per day for each violation. The enforcing office is the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which has been looking into spills of the radioactive isotope tritium at and around the Braidwood plant, which actually is in Braceville. 

The spills recently were reported by Exelon to have occurred in 1996, 1998 and 2000. 

“This is above and beyond the first letter of a violation,” said Bill Buscher, IEPA technology project manager for the Braidwood plant. 

“This is another part of our investigation into the same spills that we have been discussing.” 

The violation notice letter specifically identifies violations of environmental regulations around vacuum breakers 4 and 7 and on the west side of the turbine building. A map of the area is available on the IEPA Web site at www.epa.state.il.us (under “community relations,” hit “fact sheets,” and scroll down to “exelon-braidwood”). 

The first violation notice, sent by the IEPA on Dec. 16, was for an area surrounding vacuum breaker 3. 

Obama’s proposal 
The fact that the public or other government agencies were not made aware of the spills has been the cause of controversy.

On Wednesday, Obama said he soon will introduce legislation that would require nuclear companies to inform state and local officials if there is an accident or unintentional leak of a radioactive substance as soon as the problems are discovered. 

Under current federal laws, such notifications are not required. 

“If potentially hazardous materials are released into the environment, then those families living in the affected communities deserve to be notified immediately,” Obama said. “As more about these leaks comes out years later, it’s clear that relying on the federal government or a corporation concerned about protecting its image to disclose this information is not enough.” 

In Will County, the state’s attorney’s office is investigating the reasons why Exelon waited several years to disclose the leaks. 

Recently, Exelon admitted to finding elevated levels of radioactive material in water leaked from the Dresden nuclear power plant in Grundy County and at the Byron nuclear plant near Rockford. Last, week, groundwater tests in a Grundy County test well showed levels 25 times higher than the federal standard of 20,000 picocuries per liter for drinking water. That standard is set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

“This is about the public’s right to know today, not eight years later,” Obama said. 

Exelon, leaders debate
Exelon officials have admitted on several occasions that they have made mistakes in the past. Recently, Exelon said it would help defray the costs of bottled water after the health department recommended that residents uncertain of their water quality should use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, R-Morris, is against the use of any public funds to bail out the power company, the congressman said in a letter to John Rowe, Exelon’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. 

“I believe Exelon bears the sole responsibility, both logistical and financial, to ensure local residents have a clean and reliable drinking water source,” Weller said. 

Weller said Exelon should pick up the estimated $12 million tab to bring water and sewer lines into the nearby village of Godley because it would go a long way in restoring public trust and confidence. 

He also said the power company could pay for Godley to be hooked up to nearby water systems in Braidwood or Wilmington, or to its own private facility. 

Craig Nesbit, Exelon spokesman, said the system used by the company is not large enough to serve the nearly 300 homes in need of an improved water system. Nesbit said Exelon is not responsible for all of Godley and Reed Township’s water problems. He said most residents rely on shallow-point sand wells that can be infiltrated with fertilizers from farm fields, road run-off and septic systems. 

Exelon officials said no high levels of tritium were found in private drinking wells that were tested.

Guilty Verdict in 1992 Slaying

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February 11

By Stewart Warren Herald News Staff Writer
JOLIET — For the second time, a jury found a Joliet man guilty Friday of a 1992 gang-related murder. 

Rene Martinez, 29, could be sentenced to 60 years in prison for the crime. 

“We are very happy that the jury arrived at the correct verdict,” said Will County Assistant State’s Attorney John Connor, the lead prosecutor on the case. 

On Nov. 28, 1992, Martinez was 16. Accompanied by two other teens, he was in a white pickup cruising Joliet’s East Side. When they saw a car occupied by people who they believed were rival gang members, Martinez rolled down a window started shooting. 

Leonard Myers, 37, suffered a gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead later that day at Silver Cross Hospital. 

Martinez’s first was convicted during a March 2002 jury trial. But he wore a “stun belt” during the proceedings. In the past, the security device was used in the Will County Courthouse to prevent certain defendants from causing problems or fleeing during a trial. 

In case of emergency, a sheriff’s deputy can push a button on a remote control to deliver a shock. 

Martinez later filed an appeal because he had to wear one of the belts during his trial. The higher court then ordered a new trial. 

The second trial began Monday and ended Friday. 

Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow also was pleased by the guilty verdict. 

“I want to compliment John Connor, Dant Foulk and Jim Long for their hard work. Any time you have to retry a case, it is always more difficult than the first time,” Glasgow said. 

He also praised Joliet police Lt. Jim Stewart for his tireless work on the case. 

“He always went above and beyond getting evidence we needed for this trial. He’s been doing this his entire career,” Glasgow said.

Will County Vows Investigation of Radioactive Spills

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February 10

Will County State’s Atty. James Glasgow has launched an “aggressive” investigation of radioactive tritium spills at a nuclear power station at the county’s southwest tip, he said Thursday.

His office is collecting scientific data on the contamination and plans to meet with the Illinois attorney general’s office, which has expertise in enforcing the state Environmental Protection Act, Glasgow said.

Assistant State’s Atty. Phil Mock of the civil division disclosed the probe at a meeting of a County Board committee as it discussed four tritium spills between 1996 and 2003. The spills contaminated groundwater in the area and were not disclosed publicly until recent weeks.

The committee recommended authorizing the county Health Department to put together a groundwater-testing plan for the area surrounding the plant, which is in Reed Township.

Committee members also discussed helping the area build a water-delivery system that would eliminate the need for shallow wells used by residents.

“The long-term solution is, we need to find a source of safe, affordable drinking water for the people in the area,” said County Board Chairman James Moustis (R-Frankfort).

County Board Executive Larry Walsh, a Democrat, added: “The magnitude of what we are looking at is going to be huge, but it’s something that needs to be looked at, and it’s a problem we can handle, I believe.”

At the meeting an executive for Exelon Nuclear, the Exelon Corp. business unit that runs Braidwood Generating Station, again apologized for the way his company dealt with the spills.

“We did not handle this well,” said Thomas O’Neill, vice president of regulatory affairs. “We need to do a better job of communicating to you all.”

By working with governments and residents to provide information and mitigate contamination, Exelon aims “to try to earn back the trust we have lost in this instance,” he said.

In recent weeks the company has disclosed four spills of tritium, a byproduct of nuclear generation that can enter the body through ingestion, absorption and inhalation.

Exposure can increase the risk of cancer, birth defects and genetic damage, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers it one of the least dangerous radioactive substances, in part because it leaves the body relatively quickly.

The first spill, of about 250,000 gallons of effluent containing tritium, happened in 1996, O’Neill said. In each of the next two spills, in 1998 and 2000, about 3 million gallons of effluent containing tritium was spilled. As a result, groundwater east of the plant recently was found to have a tritium level nearly 11 times higher than the federal limit. A 2003 spill left groundwater at the Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve, east of the plant, with a recent tritium level about 50 percent higher than the federal limit.

All four spills resulted from malfunctioning vacuum breakers along the 5 mile-long line that carries effluent with tritium to the Kankakee River, where it is dumped at levels below federal limits, Exelon officials said.

O’Neill said a clay layer in the earth prevents tritium from going into a deep aquifer. In recent weeks Exelon announced that only one private well of the 34 it has tested in the area had above-normal tritium readings, and those readings were well below the federal limit.

But residents and anti-nuclear activists have expressed concern about the effects of chronic tritium exposure, even at levels deemed acceptable by the EPA that Illinois adopted.

Mock said the level deemed safe by the EPA “is not based on any medical standards that I know of.”

He said some states that have no nuclear plants set the acceptable limit at levels 40 times lower than the EPA.

Teen Accused of Rape Disappears

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January 26

JOLIET — A teen who has been accused of raping a young relative has disappeared. 

It’s the latest twist in a controversial Will County criminal case. 

On Jan. 8, Benyam Bereket-Ab, 20, telephoned and said he was in Ethiopia, said Zemeheret Bereket-Ab, his adoptive father. His family was stunned by the news. 

“He has become a fugitive now,” said his father, who sounded upset. 

In October 2004, the younger Bereket-Ab was arrested by Naperville police and charged with predatory criminal sexual assault. 

The alleged victim was younger than 13, and she became pregnant. DNA evidence allegedly has linked the teen to the crime, state prosecutors have said. 

Benyam Bereket-Ab was not born in the United States. He is from Ethiopia, is adopted and is not a blood relative of the victim, his father said. 

The young man has not been living at their Naperville home since he was arrested nearly two years ago. 

In June 2004, the family came home and found Benyam Bereket-Ab in the basement, a bottle of Jim Beam bourbon nearby, his father said. The young man told them later he had tried to commit suicide, his father said. But he wouldn’t say why. 

“Until that day, he was a normal young man,” his father said, adding his son never had been in any kind of trouble and earned good grades in school. 

When the family consulted a doctor immediately following the incident, he said the teen should be checked by experts. 

The teen allegedly told a doctor about the sexual assaults while at a local hospital, his father said. The doctor called police. 

When the teen made the Jan. 8 call to his home, he told family members to pick up his car at O’Hare Airport, and the vehicle was parked there, his father said. 

Zemeheret Bereket-Ab is a lawyer. As an officer of the court, he felt it was his duty to inform the Will County state’s attorney’s office of the news. 

“We are aggressively investigating this along with federal authorities,” Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow said Wednesday afternoon, adding that he heard about the situation Tuesday. 

As a condition of his bond, Benyam Bereket-Ab is not supposed to leave the state of Illinois, and he surrendered his passport after he was arrested, Glasgow said. 

Earlier this year, Chuck Bretz, the young man’s lawyer, had worked out a deal with the state. Benyam Bereket-Ab agreed to plead guilty to battery if the sexual assault charges were dropped. 

On Aug. 18, Will County Judge Robert Livas went through most of the routine legal procedure of accepting the plea. Then he seemed to change gears. 

He asked for a letter from the victim explaining that she agreed to the battery charge. “I will go through with the plea if she is saying that to me,” Livas said, according to the court transcript. 

When both sides returned to Livas’ courtroom the next day, Bretz had a letter from the victim. By then, the judge had changed his mind and decided not to accept the plea. 

When stories about the case emerged, Glasgow demoted popular veteran attorney Phil Mock, his first assistant and the office’s second in command. Mock had approved the deal. 

Meanwhile, Bretz filed a new motion in the case Tuesday. He argues that his client can no longer be prosecuted for the felony sex charge. 

“The judge allowed the filing of the misdemeanor charges (of battery),” Bretz said. “By doing so, he implicitly granted the motion to dismiss the felony charges.” 

Bretz argues that his client can only be sentenced for the misdemeanor because he already has pleaded guilty to that. 

Glasgow disagreed, however. 

“It is a baseless motion,” he said. 

Additionally, Bretz refused to comment on his client’s whereabouts. 

Although it is not yet clear if the young man truly has left the United States — for all anyone knows, he might be here in Joliet — he is scheduled to appear in Livas’ courtroom at 9:30 a.m. Monday. 

“If Mr. Bereket-Ab is not in court, we will move for a bond forfeiture,” Glasgow said. 

His parents posted $10,000 bail to secure his release from the Will County Jail.

Teen victim’s mom charged

in

January 13

JOLIET — A Wilmington woman took $10,000 to cover up the crime of a man who repeatedly raped her disabled teenage daughter for months, State’s Attorney James Glasgow said Thursday. 

“I’ve been doing this for 28 years, and I’ve never come across a case with allegations of this nature,” Glasgow said after announcing the charges against 32-year-old Kimberly Riordan. 

Riordan reportedly retained a twice-convicted sex offender to baby-sit her quadriplegic daughter. The sex offender, Larry Lee Southwood, 68, of Wilmington Township, raped the 14-year-old for the nine months leading up to his arrest Christmas Day, police said. 

Southwood paid Riordan $10,000 to keep her from ratting him out to the cops, and she went along with the deal, lying to Detective Sgt. David Margliano, Glasgow said. 

Riordan reportedly claimed she had no idea Southwood raped her daughter. She was charged with three felonies in connection with the incident — criminal neglect of a disabled person, obstructing justice and concealing a fugitive. 

During a Thursday afternoon press conference, Glasgow repeatedly told of how appalling he found the events. 

“The allegation of a sexual assault upon a child suffering from cerebral palsy and confined to a wheelchair followed by a mother accepting $10,000 to not report the sexual assault of her disabled daughter is unthinkable,” he said. 

Riordan has a son and another daughter, Glasgow said, and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services took custody of all three children Wednesday night. 

Riordan was to surrender to authorities Thursday, but took her time doing so. She did turn herself in by Thursday evening, was locked up on the charges and held in lieu of $250,000 bond. 

The whereabouts of the disabled teen’s father is not known, Glasgow said, and he might be in Mexico. It was not clear if the man fathered all three of Riordan’s children. 

The teen’s condition might have been worsened by injuries suffered in a November 2001 car wreck, Glasgow said. Riordan was behind the wheel on Sunset Drive at Hamilton Street in Wilmington when she crossed into oncoming traffic and slammed into a ditch. Her then-10-year-old daughter and her son were in the car. They were not properly restrained, officials said, and both were seriously injured in the crash. 

The daughter suffered a fractured right femur and a fractured left hip, which required surgery to repair. Her son suffered a broken jaw, which had to be wired shut during surgery. 

Riordan was charged with aggravated driving under the influence in connection with the accident. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 months probation, which ended in July. 

Riordan and Southwood met at an area truck stop, a source said, and struck up a relationship that led to the sex offender baby-sitting the teen. 

Southwood’s criminal past includes convictions for rape, attempted murder and sexual relations within families. 

He was charged with raping one victim and assaulting another victim with intent to commit robbery in 1961 in Peoria County. He pleaded the charges down to rape and was sentenced to nine years, though he served less time. 

In 1969, Southwood pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of a woman in Fulton County. He approached the woman’s disabled vehicle and asked if she needed help, according to court papers. He stabbed the woman several times, but was scared off by the approaching headlights of a tow truck the woman had called for assistance. Southwood was sentenced to 15 to 16 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. 

In 1992, Southwood was arrested for passing his daughter off as his wife. The daughter, 22 years his junior, now lives in Braidwood, but says she has limited contact with her two children fathered by her father. 

Southwood was sentenced to probation in that case. 

Southwood’s DNA was recently shipped off to be tested against samples taken from the body of Riley Fox, the 3-year-old Wilmington girl found slain in June 2004. Still, Southwood is not really on the radar, said Pat Barry, spokesman for the sheriff’s department. 

“He is not considered a suspect at all,” Barry said. 

Margliano, a member of the Channahon Police Department who also works for Glasgow’s office, specializes in sex cases and was the man who took down Southwood in 1992 for carrying on a 15-year sexual relationship with his daughter. 

“I’m just glad we could continue saving kids,” Margliano said. 

Both Riordan and Southwood were indicted Wednesday. Southwood saw two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse tacked onto the three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault he has faced since his Christmas Day arrest. Southwood is looking at up to 97 years in prison. 

Southwood’s attorney, George Lenard, said he is conducting his own investigation of the case. 

“A lot of what has been reported is in dispute,” Lenard said. 

Riordan’s attorney, Kenneth Grnacek, did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.