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Juneteenth comes amid slow change
Not everyone wants to celebrate at the Brooksville event. Some are angry about contamination at the county's public works compound.
By ASJYLYN LODER
Published June 19, 2006
It took 2½ years for the news to reach a far corner of the South, on June 19, 1865, that the slaves had been freed. Since then, Juneteenth has been celebrated, as it was Saturday morning in Brooksville, as a national day of freedom. More than 50 people gathered on the steps of the Hernando County Courthouse on N Main Street. Some came to celebrate, and others to draw attention to problems still faced by Brooksville's black community, especially the slow-moving cleanup of the county's former public works compound. Juneteenth marks the 141st anniversary of the day that African-American slaves learned that they were freed. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, with the news that the Civil War had ended. More than two years had passed since President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation abolishing slavery. At Saturday's rally, one speaker quoted Union Gen. Gordon Granger, who announced in Galveston: "The people of Texas are informed that ... all slaves are free." "If you're of African-American descent, it's something that I imagine is never far from the back of your mind," said Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent. The celebration included proclamations from Hernando County and Brooksville commemorating Juneteenth. "This is a time to celebrate and be proud of a great moment in our history," said Steve Zeledon, president of the Hernando County Democratic Club. "We have a long way to go, but we have come a long way," he said. But for others, celebration shared uneasy time with anger over the county's contaminated public works compound in the predominantly black neighborhood of Mitchell Heights. "They're not talking about what I want to hear, which is about contamination in Mitchell Heights," said Lauraette Lee, who has lived at the southeast corner of the compound for 22 years. For years, her family and her neighbors put up with dust, fumes and oily runoff from the site. Recent tests found arsenic in the dirt only feet from her yard. New tests are being done in the yards behind the compound's south fence. The results are due July 20. The county first noted contamination at the site in 1991 but failed to make cleanup a priority for nearly 15 years, a St. Petersburg Times review found. Some in the neighborhood think the contamination spread into their yards and made them sick. Lee and some of her neighbors have notified the county of their intent to sue for personal injury and property damage. "This thing could have been cleaned up a long time ago," said H. Paul Douglas of Brooksville. Glenn Claytor, who is running for the Florida Legislature, said it was about time that the county began paying attention to pollution in Mitchell Heights. "Thank God it's back on the radar," Claytor said, "because 15 years is about 14 years too late." Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352 754-6127.
[Last modified June 19, 2006, 08:22:05]
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by yoyo
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12/15/07 12:18 PM
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wow!! interesing!! I did not know that!!!
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