TIVERTON - Gary Rose was there first to hand out stickers that read, "Bay Street Neighborhood: Total Clean-Up, NOT Total Denial." At close to 11 a.m. John Corvello arrived with three tiny children in tow. It was the first time he had brought youngsters to the Bayview Playground since the discovery of hazardous waste in the neighborhood's soil, but on Tuesday morning, Nov. 11, he decided to make an exception.

Finally, guest speaker Lois Gibbs of New York walked solemnly through an opening in the fence into the grassy park. To Ms. Gibbs, the fear and frustration emanating from the crowd of Bay Street area residents was all too familiar. Twenty-five years ago, Ms. Gibbs led the fight to evacuate more than 100 families from a massive toxic waste site in her Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Lois gibbs rallies Bay St residents.

When Ms. Gibbs joined forces with E.N.A.C.T., the neighborhood group that has led Tiverton's effort to get answers and a resolution to the Bay Street area situation, andTiverton's town council, she called on Southern Union Gas Company (parent company of New England Gas) to step up to the plate and act as a responsible corporate citizen. On Tuesday, she echoed the demands of E.N.A.C.T. President Corvello by asking for more comprehensive testing, unbiased assessment and complete clean-up of the neighborhood's contaminated properties.

"The similarities between the situation here in Tiverton and Love Canal of 25 years ago are disturbing. Not only do we have an entire neighborhood built on top of toxic contamination, but we also have a polluter who is doing all it can to get out of its responsibility to address the situation," said Ms. Gibbs.

Ms. Gibbs had spent most of the morning at the home of E.N.A.C.T. President Gail Corvello, talking with Ms. Corvello and E.N.A.C.T. member Joyce Mello. Ms. Gibbs spoke of lessons learned and described what to expect in the future. She offered three key pieces of advice:

* Stand your ground

* Demand full testing of the land

* Get all available legislative bodies and state representatives to present a united front and hold the gas company responsible. She said the fact that the gas company is attempting to clear itself of responsibility by pointing to other possible causes and sources for toxins is a bad sign.

At the press event, held in front of TV cameras and reporters, Ms. Corvello did demand full testing, and in more aggressive statements than she has made before.

"Here we have Southern Union Company and their contracted professionals telling us that all is well with 40 properties, while 19 need further investigation and nine properties are being segregated from this report because of prior uses ... Excuse me! But based on the limited number of tests done (only 10 percent of each property), all 68 of these properties require—No—are entitled to more testing," said Ms. Corvello.

"Real people with real health issues are being told that their properties won't be tested further, even though their properties have levels of dangerous chemicals that exceed the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's Residential Direct Exposure Criteria ... This stuff doesn't belong there, and something's got to be done about it."

Ms. Gibbs empathized. She said that the way Southern Union denies risk despite test levels that exceed state standards, "is like the doctor telling a patient he doesn't have a fever when his temperature is 101." She warned of a "huge fight ahead" but told the advocates of the neighborhood not to give up, that they are gaining respect from local and state representatives, which will "cut the work in half."

To that end, Ms. Corvello referenced letters of support from Governor Donald Carcieri, Senator Lincoln Chafee and State Representative Walter Felag who could not be in attendance because of Veteran's Day ceremonies. However, State Representative Joseph Amaral was in attendance and told the residents to be vigilant and proactive, and that he would do the same.

Similarly, Tiverton Town Council President Claudia Linhares and town council member Donald Bollin both spoke in full support of the Bay Street area residents. They asked the gas company to do what is right, to be fair and reasonable and to cooperate.

Ms. Linhares said she was pleased to announce that additional testing has been scheduled for the Bayview Playground, right where the entire crowd had gathered.

Mr. Bollin told the audience that residents deserve to live in a place where they feel safe allowing their children outside to play. Among those in the audience were children holding signs protesting the fact that their play area is unsafe.

Among those on hand for Tuesday's press event was a representative of the boston-based Toxics Action Center.

The state ordered first ordered tests in the area after discovering that the land's former owner, Fall River Gas Co. (later purchased by Southern Union), had dumped hazardous materials there back in the 1960s when it operated a coal gasification plant nearby.

About Lois Gibbs ...

It was in 1978 that "Niagara Falls Gazette" reporter Michael Brown published a series about the 20,000-ton chemical waste dump in Love Canal, N.Y. and Lois Gibbs began to realize why her two young children were so sick.

When she learned that her children's elementary school was located directly over large amounts of toxic waste, she begged the school board to move her children to another school, but the school board denied her request, saying that if one student was granted the privilege, then every student would want to move.

Ms. Gibbs, who had no formal education or particular knowledge of environmental issues, asked the government to relocate residents in 1978. When they refused, she organized the Love Canal Homeowners Association.

After a two-year fight that at one point involved holding two EPA officials hostage, then-President Jimmy Carter delivered an emergency declaration moving 900 families out of the area in 1980. Congress also enacted Superfund legislation in December of 1980 to help clean up other toxic waste sites around the nation.

After her ordeal at Love Canal, Ms. Gibbs established the Center for Health, Environment and Justice to teach community groups and individuals the basics of advocacy.

By Chelsea Wonacott-Mershon

chelsea@eastbaynewspapers.com