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January 2015

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ByMarkWilsonwilsonm@courierpress.com812-464-7417 /@ECPmarkwilson

North Sixth Avenue end-ed as a dusty gravel lane in aneighborhood on Evansville’sWest SidewhenBobAndersonmoved there in the 1970s.There at the corner ofNorth

Sixth Avenue and GibsonStreet, Anderson and his wifeJackie raised three daughtersin a two-bedroomhouse on hiswages from a plastics factory.It was a growing neighbor-

hood and Anderson success-fully lobbied the city to pavethe short stretch of gravel tomake the area safer for chil-dren. Across the street, a lo-cally-owned company calledMiller Electroplating also wasgrowing.Thatwas43years ago.When

Anderson looks across the roadnow he sees a vacant lot wheredebris and basins of murky

WALKINGAWAYFROM

ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS ARCHIVES

Kevin Turner, EPA site manager at the Miller Plating Factory, shows part of an old treatment plant on the Millerplating property that still needs to be cleaned up in this March 27, 2009, photo. Turner was working with con-tractors to dispose of the hazardous waste properly and clean up the facility.

JAY M. YOUNG/COURIER & PRESS

The former Miller Plating & Metal Finishing site is surrounded by a lower income neighborhood, with some residents living only 120 feet from thecontaminated site.

WHOOWNS

THAT?

POISONEDGROUND

INSIDE: A timeline of violations that led to Miller’s demolition ONLINE: Who is responsible?

■ Owner leaves citywith health hazard, headache onWest Side

SeeMILLER, 10A

By Chelsea Schneiderchelsea.schneider@courierpress.com812-431-6102 /@ecp_ChelseaS

INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. MikePence placed new fund-ing for the state’s charterschools in his budget forthe next biennium.But thegovernor’s proposal is re-igniting debate onhow thestate should divvy out dol-lars to charter schools vs.traditional public schools.JoshuaAcademyPrinci-

pal Pamela Decker calledPence’s $1,500 per studentgrant for charters “won-derful,” because of thepositive effects she saidthe new dollars wouldhave for the Evansvillecharter school.Charter school opera-

tors say themoney isneed-ed because the schools areunable to collect propertytaxes for capital projectsand transportation costs.“We don’t get capital

dollars.Wedon’t get trans-portation dollars. Do wehave buildings? Yes. Dowehave buses?Yes.That’s

Divvyingof dollars:charter vs.traditional■ Pence’s planreignites debate

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FROMTHECOVER

water lie half-hidden inweeds, open to neighbor-hood children or any oth-ers attracted by the largeempty space.“Somebodybetter clean

it up.We’re getting tiredoflooking at it,” he said. “It’sa mess, just nothing buta mess. It needs cleaningup. If it were on the EastSide thiswould already betaken care of.Youcan’t getnothing done out here onthe West or North sides.They don’t care.”MillerPlatingandMetal

Finishing, as it was thennamed, closed in Decem-ber 2007 after filing bank-ruptcy. Left behind weretens of thousands of gal-lons of hazardous wastesleft in the low incomeresidential neighborhoodwhereMiller operated fordecades.Its owner, former

Evansville-area business-man Dan Stocks, walkedaway from a $1.4 millionenvironmental cleanupand intoanew life inSouthFlorida, legally distancedfromresponsibility by cor-porate law and the bank-ruptcy.Nearly amillion dollars

in property taxes remainunpaid — taxes Stockscannot be forced to pay— although last month hepaid $500,000 for a 2,500square-foothouse in anex-clusive residential air parkin Florida.State environmental

officials say putting theMiller Plating site backto use — and generatingtaxes again — will re-quire additional cleanupof contaminated soil andgroundwater.However, the toxic sev-

en-acre site remains ex-posed to the elementswithno fence or barrier — noteven a no trespassing sign— to keep people out. Lo-cal officials have declinedto take responsibility forsecuring it or directing itsredevelopment.This is how it happened.

ORANGEPLUMESA bright orange plume

rises low in the gray skyabove amodest house andold Ford pickup on Evans-ville’sWest Side.It is April 21, 1990, ac-

cording to handwritingon the back of the instantphotograph. It is stuck be-tween reports in afile fromthebasement offices of theEvansville EnvironmentalProtectionAgency, the de-partment which enforces

the city’s air andnoise pol-lution ordinances.The file, which Evans-

ville EPA Director JacobKeating called “as thickasmy leg,” includesdozensof complaints from neigh-bors about such orangeplumes, irritating fumes

and other concerns.The photograph and re-

ports are pieces of a biggerpicture, oneof an econom-ically and geographicallymarginalized neighbor-hood saddled with a con-tinuing legacyofpollution,seemingly forgotten by all

who have come in contactwith it.When theUnited States

Environmental ProtectionAgency oversaw an emer-gency hazardous wasteremoval at Miller Platingin 2009, its environmentaljustice analysis estimated

more than 6,700 peoplelived within a mile of theproperty. More than halfof neighborhood residentswere low income and 10percent were minorities.Some of those residentslive as close as 120 feetfrom the site.

“We really didn’t paythatmuch attention to it atfirst,” Bob Anderson said.But neighbors said that

as the originally family-owned business grew sodid its effects on the sur-rounding area.“Firetrucks came

out here all the time,”Jackie Anderson said.“We thought it was falsealarms but I guess it wasthe chemicals.”During one 1994 inci-

dent, when a chemicalreaction inside the plantcaused acidic yellow gasto fill neighbors’ back-yards, workers were re-moved from the plant butresidents were not askedto leave.A year earlier, the An-

dersons and other neigh-bors did have to evacuatewhen there was a fire in-side the plant.“My wife woke me up

one Sunday. We thoughtthe building was on firewith that red smoke com-ing out and everything,”Bob Anderson said.Violet Byrn and her late

husbandFrank raised fourboys in a modest homewith a backyard abut-ting the Miller property,separated only by a singlestretchof chain-link fence.In business and now as

vacant property, MillerPlatinghasbeenan irritantto Byrn.“When we moved here

there was no fence. Mr.Miller even had a play-ground. It was just like amom and pop store. Wegot along until it just gotbigger and bigger,” Byrnsaid. “Thebigger it got, themore aggravating it got asfar as fumes.”She recalled having to

bring her boys inside thehouse when fumes fromthe business would getso bad that it irritatedeyes and noses and madebreathingdifficult. Shehaskept a stack of letters fromthecompany formore thantwo decades that docu-ment some of its disputeswith neighbors.

MILLERfrom 1A

TIMELINE:THEENDOFMILLERPLATING1993

Dec. 14: Dan Stocks forms AllenInvestments in Indiana, located at7288 Shady Oak Dr., Newburgh.

2002

Nov. 14: Dan Stocks forms BoatmanMarine LLC in Kentucky.

2003

Aug. 28: Allen Investments Aviationand Marine Inc. is incorporated inDelaware.

2004

February: Dan Stocks purchasesMiller plating from the Miller family.

2006

Oct. 19: IDEM seeks courtintervention to stop Miller’s allegedhazardous waste practices.

2007

Sept. 24: Baltic International USAInc. announces its intentions toacquire Miller Plating and MetalFinishing LLC. Miller CEO Russell L.Scalfano says: “Our managementteam is excited about becominga public company and havingaccess to the potential financingopportunities that will enable Millerto reach its goals.” The merger willnever happen.Oct. 31:Miller Plating and MetalFinishing LLC files Chapter 11bankruptcy. The owners are: DanStocks, managing member (70percent); Russ Scalfono, CEO (20percent) Steve Winberg, member(10 percent).Dec. 31: Facility ceases operations.

2008

Jan. 4:Miller plating case isconverted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy.The company owes variouscreditors $4.7 million.Jan. 7: Indiana Department ofEnvironmental Management

inspects facility and finds Millerclosed and the property holdsa “large quantity of solid andhazardous wastes.” Bank ofEvansville says it is owed $3million by Miller. On the same day,bankruptcy trustee meets withDan Stocks. Trustee determinesthere are no liquid assets andno equity in the property. Thatsame day, in the Miller parkinglot, Stocks meets with IDEMofficial. Stocks says the company isabandoning the facility.

Jan. 8: State requests immediateassistance from the EPA foremergency stabilization andremoval assessment. State notifiesbankruptcy court about theemergency environmental problem.Indiana Deputy Attorney Generaldemands “the responsible party”clean the property immediately.Trustee asks the court forpermission for the “abandonmentof all personal property and anyinterest the debtor may have in thereal estate.”Jan. 9: EPA officials observe theplant. “The roof over the platingprocess lines was in poor conditionand rain water was entering thebuilding and mixing with someof the plating vats. In one area astrong acid odor was experiencedand a haze was observed over twoprocess vats that each contained1,250 gallons of 50 percent nitricacid.”Jan. 23: IDEM is notified thatMiller is ceasing operations. TheEvansville Wastewater TreatmentPlant has reported it will pull thewater meter and plug the sewer,and also the electricity will becut – “increasing the likelihoodthat chemicals in product lineswould freeze and that pipingconveyances might also burstcausing a release/spill ofchemicals at the facility.”March 13: IDEM conducts follow-up inspection. “The Bank ofEvansville had taken control of the

property and had contracted withPrecision Chemicals to conductwork at the site associated with thecleanup…” The Bank of Evansvillenever took title. The bank will sellequipment at auction, nettingseveral hundred thousand dollars.The bank wrote off the rest of itsloan.March 17: Bankruptcy case isclosed.Aug. 12: A fire at the facility causesthe release of a nickel platingsolution. Water used to extinguishthe fire accumulated in the openplating vats, which causes a releaseof thousands of gallons of nickelplating solution to the surroundingarea. Neighbors are ordered toremain indoors.Oct. 24: IDEM asks U.S. EPA toabate the risks associated withuncontained hazardous materialsat the site.

2009

Jan. 6: Kevin Turner, EPA on-scenecoordinator, makes internal requestto spend $1.1 million to clean theMiller site, calling it “an imminentand substantial threat to publichealth and the environment.”Jan. 19: EPA begins site cleanup.EPA says it will abate “an imminentand substantial threat to publichealth and the environment presentat the Miller Plating site.” The siteis said to contain barium, cadmium,chromium, lead, cyanides, corrosiveand caustic liquids.” A EPA memonotes the “site’s proximity toresidential and business properties,require that this action be classifiedas a time-critical removal.”Feb. 11: EPA says it is “currentlyconducting efforts to obtain aresponse from the responsibleparty.”Feb. 17 – 23: A portion of thefacility is demolished. The removedmetal wall panels and beams arepower-washed and recycled. Thefloors are decontaminated withpower washing.

Sept. 10: Site removal activitiescompleted.

2010

August: Property is offered at taxsale, but nobody bids. County optsnot to take title.Nov. 9: Articles of Incorporationare filed with the FloridaDepartment of State for ParadiseDelivery Inc. of 15091 FlightlineCourt, Ft. Myers. The listedincorporator is Debbie Stocks of7288 Shady Oak Dr., Newburgh.She and Dan Stocks also are listedas officers with an address of3615 Towhee Court, Punta Gorda,Florida.

2011

June 29: The EPA files a lien onthe Miller property for costs anddamages.July 7: Evansville codes inspectorDavid Hayes visits the site andwrites: “A lot of vandalism andscavenging. All but the officebuilding has been broken into, andit probably will be shortly. It wouldtake $20,000-$25,000 labor andmaterial to seal everything in myopinion. A lot of doors and a fewwindows. ‘They’ have removedalmost all the copper wiring fromthe panels and conduit… I’msurprised no one has been killedthere.”Aug. 3: Boatman Marine of SWFLLLC files articles of organizationwith the state of Florida. Its mailingaddress is 3615 Towhee Court,Punta Gorda, Florida. The LLC willbe managed by Boatman MarineLLC, 3900 West Parrish Ave.,Owensboro (formed in 1998, agentis Dan Stocks). Jake Stocks, his son,is listed at MGRM.Dec. 1: – MPMF Realty, the namedowner of the Miller Plating realestate, dissolves as a registeredIndiana corporation.

2012

Feb. 23: Dan and Debbie Stocksmove from Newburgh to Ft. Myers,

Fla. “Dan and I are moving to Ft.Myers r̀einventing’ ourselves,”Debbie Stocks writes on Facebook.March 2: In response to anEvansville Police Departmentconcern, a city codes officer visitsthe site and writes this in a report:“In my opinion, our departmentshould not enforce any party tosecure or razing at this time. Ourbudget would not be sufficient tocover any portion of what it wouldtake to do either.”Sept. 11: State of Kentuckydissolves Boatman Marine after itfails to file annual report.

2013

Jan. 31: The Stocks’ sell theirformer home at 7288 Shady Oak Dr.,Newburgh.March 22: Evansville BuildingCommissioner Ben Miller speakswith attorney Jeff Henning, “whoadvised that Central Insurancewill pay for the demo by Klenck.Since there was a meth lab in theoffice, both will be torn down whichrequires Klenck to come back witha new price.”April 22: Boatman Marine of SWFLLLC changes address to 15091Flightline Court, Ft. Myers, Fla.July 26: Building CommissionerBen Miller acknowledges in amemo “we have complaints and areconcerned with the current state ofthe site.”

2014

March 31, 2014: Allen InvestmentsAviation and Marine Inc. isregistered with the FloridaDepartment of State. The onlyofficer listed is Debra L. Stocks of15091 Flightline Court, Fort Myers,Florida.Sept. 16, 2014: The Miller Platingproperty goes up for tax sale with$396,885 in back taxes owed. Noone bids.December: Dan and Debbie Stockspurchase 15091 Flightline Court, Ft.Myers, Fla. for $500,000

JAY M. YOUNG/COURIER & PRESS

The original tile floor at the former Miller Plating & Metal Finishing remains at the site. Environmental experts say the soilbelow the tile is contaminated and will need cleaning prior to any future use.

SeeMILLER, 11A

THESERIESThis is the first of twoparts.Monday:Where is MillerPlating’s owner andwhy won’t the city takeaction?Courierpress.com:Read part two now andview documents andpictures related to thestory.