SLUDGE VICTIMS

This was a peaceful place in the country until sewage sludge turned our lives upside down. Nobody should ever go through what we've been through"

Her 52-year-old husband, an autoworker, has tumors on his liver. Patti Baker has two diseases her endocrinologist says are linked to the sludge..

The doctor told Patti Baker to stop drinking her well water or move. The Bakers got their well tested and were shocked to learn it was contaminated with ammonia. But they could not afford to move.

The couple and Patti Baker's 17-year old son, Keith Dunkel, drink only bottled water. They also haul water weekly from her mother's home in Canfield outside Youngstown, a 56-mile round trip.

Dunkel was forced to stop raising animal for the 4-H Club because the family had no means to provide safe water for the animals.

Even today, the Bakers disinfect their washing machine and dishwasher, fearful of health-threatening germs in their well.

Tests showed the Hunts'well to have high levels of coliform bacteria. A Youngstown State University lab that tested the well advised the Hunts not to bathe in their water, not to allow any open cuts to come in contact with it and to boil the water before using it.

They rely on bottled water for drinking and haul water from a relative's ho-use in Lisbon for dishes. But they say they have no choice but to shower and bathe with the polluted water.

The Bakers and the Hunts say the stench from the sludge site was overpowering.

"It just took your breath away and hurt your eyes, throat and noses," said Bob Hunt, 53. "The smell was so -thick it could almost choke you to death. It was so bad that the birds left."

The main odor was an ammonia-urine smell that got worse when it rained and when it was hot and humid, they said.

"Frankly, we were prisoners, forced to stay inside our homes for two years," said Kathy Hunt, 51.

You ran from your car to the house because the odors were so overpowering. You had to keep the doors and windows closed all the time and the air conditioner runing. Friends and relatives stopped coming by because the odors got to them and would make them sick when they visited," she said.

At the height of the odors, Patti Baker would frequently drive her son,