A serious news reporting error related to the Scarboro Community in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, occurred on May 17, 1983, forty years ago, that created a level of fear, misunderstanding, distrust, and other negative consequences that have lasted until this day. That erroneous news combined with an apparent lack of scientific literacy among members of the community, and a serious lack of investigated reporting by members of the media was like a death sentence to our community. Reporting errors relative to environmental contamination issues in the Scarboro Community continued for several years from media such as The Nashville Tennessean, The Oak Ridger, NBC television, etc. Many in the community began to believe that much of what they had considered good in the community had turned bad. They were afraid to breathe what they once thought was crisp clean air; afraid to drink the city water which chemical analysis had shown to be among the best quality and safest water in the state—consistently meeting state water quality standards; afraid to plant and eat vegetable from their fertile gardens; and afraid to invest money and energy in what they once felt was a wonderful place to live and to raise children. The feeling of safety and wellbeing was seriously eroded—so much so that some who lived in the community claimed that they feel sick while in the Scarboro Community but feel much better when outside of it.
Nevertheless, despite the years of misinformation caused by the unfortunate news reporting errors and the resulting rational and irrational fears and turmoil over the issue, a ray of hope has emerged some forty years later. Let me explain:
On May 17, 1983—forty years ago—television commentators on the six o’clock evening news in the Knoxville, Tennessee, viewing area reported that the Department of Energy (DOE) which oversees the Y-12 Nuclear Weapon facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, had released information earlier that day which estimated that more than two million pounds of toxic mercury were lost to the environment or unaccounted for due to using millions of pounds of mercury in the Colex separation process to produce material for thermonuclear weapons. Unbeknownst to residents, according to the news accounts, much of the highly toxic metal lost during that process had been flowing—for over thirty years—down East Fork Poplar Creek. Then, they added, erroneously, that the creek meanders through the segregated Scarboro Community where African Americans were forced to live during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
I knew the location of the East Fork Poplar Creek, and I knew that it did not flow through my community, and I felt sure that the reporting error would be corrected on the eleven o’clock nightly news. But the error was not corrected, and by news time had escalated by news crews into a full-blown emergency for the Scarboro Community. News crews had spread throughout the community and interviewed many community members asking questions such as, “What do you think about that mercury contaminated creek flowing through your community?” Most of the interviewees showed visible anger and generally stated that he or she didn’t like it and that the government should move that dangerous creek from the community.