Witness testifies cows died near depot

This story was published Fri, Oct 31, 2003

By Mary Hopkin
Herald Valley bureau

PORTLAND -- A Hermiston farm worker testified Thursday that twice since 1974 cattle have mysteriously died in a field bordering the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

Portland attorney James McCandlish called Thomas Mann of Hermiston as the final witness in his lawsuit against the Army.

The suit claims the Army was negligent in not providing prompt medical care when a dozen construction workers became ill Sept. 15, 1999, while building a plant to incinerate deadly nerve agents stored at the depot. The workers believe they were exposed to an accidental release of sarin gas.

Closing arguments in the case will begin today and are expected to wrap up by noon.

McCandlish used Mann's testimony to suggest there have been undetected chemical weapons leaks at the depot, where 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents are stored in large concrete igloos.

Mann, who testified via telephone from Hermiston, said he worked for the late Mervin "Red" Leonard as a ranch hand for more than 20 years, and also had been a union laborer.

Leonard's property, the LM Ranch, bordered the chemical depot on the east side, just 100 yards from the depot's rifle range, Mann said.

He testified that during the early spring of 1974 or 1975, Leonard sent him to a pasture bordering the depot, where he found seven dead Herefords in a bunch.

"They were bleeding from the nose and mouth, and had been dead for a day before I got there," he said.

Mann said the cows' eyes were bulging and there was dried foam at their mouths, indicating they had slobbered heavily.

Nearly 15 years later, in 1989, Mann said, he went to check cows in the same pasture and found them in similar shape, although they hadn't been dead as long.

"They were still warm, and bleeding at the eyes and mouth, and foaming at the mouth," he said.

Mann said none of the animals was ever tested to determine why they died. They were simply buried and Leonard shrugged off the deaths as cases of bloat.

But Mann said he was positive that wasn't the case. The cattle's symptoms, he said, were not consistent with bloating death. Although their eyes were "popping" their bodies weren't swelled, he said.

"I was there a week before and a week later, and we had cows in that area that did not die," he said.

Mann said the incident in 1989 was particularly curious to him "because it looked so similar" to what had happened in the '70s.

Jim Brennan, the Department of Justice's lead attorney in the case, asked how far the pasture was from K Block, where all of the depot's chemical weapons are stored.

Mann said K Block was a mile to 112 miles away.

Brennan also questioned Mann's expertise, pointing out he was not a veterinarian. "Do you consider yourself a bloating cow expert?" he said.

"I have doctored many cows, but I don't consider myself an expert," Mann replied.

The Army claims Raytheon was solely responsible for safety at the site and for transporting the workers to the hospital.

Raytheon, now known as Washington Demilitarization Co., originally was named in the lawsuit, but settled out of court with the workers for an undisclosed amount of money in April.

 

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