County commissioners want answers on Bayshore cancer cluster theory

Manatee County’s Board of Commissioners say they want to get to the bottom of whether the old Bayshore High School building made former students and teachers sick over the past several decades.

Activists say the property has been the source of a cancer cluster in Bradenton. The old Bayshore building was located on the same large property as the current school at 5401 34th St. W. in Bradenton and was torn down in 1998.

County officials presented information to the board on Tuesday, catching them up on the issue that has been brewing in the community for years, as reported Sunday in the Bradenton Herald. Family members of cancer victims brought board members to tears during the public comment period.

Cheryl Jozsa, a Bayshore alumna whose sister died of leukemia, has been a voice and leader for the Bayshore community for several years.

She briefed board members on a wealth of data she had compiled, which she said included evidence that put the odds of so many leukemia cases occurring by chance at one in a billion. After speaking to the board, she presented them with an envelope several inches thick for their review.

Bill Christian, a former teacher at Bayshore, died of myelodysplastic syndromes, a disorder typically caused by exposure to a chemical. His widow, Carolyn Christian, spoke to the board Tuesday.

She said myelodysplastic was a curious diagnosis for a man who spent his life as a minister and teacher.

She is confident Bayshore was the source.

“I believe firmly he was exposed to something that caused cancer, and I believe it was the old school,” Christian said.

Ultimately, the commissioners voted unanimously to hold a joint meeting with the School Board of Manatee County to discuss the issue within 30 days. The school board had requested the meeting during a workshop on March 14, but school board Chairman Charlie Kennedy said county commissioners wanted to be briefed by county staff first.

County staff presented evidence indicating the students and staff at Bayshore were drinking the same water as other county schools, countering the narrative that Bayshore attendees drank contaminated well water.

“Without a doubt and without any hesitation, we can say we were providing water since 1985,” said Charlie Hunsicker, Manatee County’s director of parks and natural resources, referring to a customer information system report from 1985 that indicated a meter active at Bayshore. “Before that, more than likely water was coming from another connection through adjacent properties.”

School district spokesman Mike Barber read from the minutes of an April 1962 school board meeting, where board members had discussed the ongoing construction of the old Bayshore building. According to the minutes, board members voted to join the water and sewage lines for Bayshore Junior High School to Manatee Junior College for service provided by the Manatee Utility Company.

Rob Brown, division manager at Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources Department, briefed commissioners on four wells existing on the property, two that have been capped and two that are still active. He said the wells had all been used exclusively for irrigation.

“There was no indication or any inference that any of these wells were ever used as a public water supply,” Brown said. “We just don’t see anything unusual here. They went back and looked at it again in 2007, and again didn’t find anything that was indicative of an environmental contamination that would do this.”

The general consensus among board members, however: They want to pursue more answers.

Barber said boards had investigated the claims multiple times in the past and always came to the same conclusion — that there was no evidence of a cluster. He said the only thing that had changed in the years since claims were last investigated were the people sitting on county boards, asking for answers.

Commissioner Charles B. Smith was the strongest voice on the board of commissioners calling for answers. He raised the possibility that county or school employees were falsifying reports and could face federal prison, but he did not offer any evidence for this suggestion.

“There is no way in the world that many people can have cancer and it’s not an effect from that property,” Smith said.

Commissioner Vanessa Baugh’s sentiment was echoed by several other board members. She said it’s time to get some definitive answers.

“It’s just story after story after story. ... Enough. The parents of children who went to Bayshore deserve to know yes or no regarding their children,” Baugh said. “The bottom line is, we need some answers.”

This story was originally published April 25, 2017 at 5:41 PM with the headline "County commissioners want answers on Bayshore cancer cluster theory."