Officials with the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission say they will test air quality at Babe Zaharias Golf Course in Tampa next week, a day after the Tampa Sports Authority applies the controversial fumigant Curfew.
Curfew is a restricted pesticide that the TSA intends to use to control nematodes (ground worms) at Babe Zaharias.
The State of Florida approved the use of Curfew back in 1999, with the proviso that there be a 100-foot setback from any occupied structure, said Jerry Campbell with the EPC, who addressed the Tampa City Council Thursday at the request of Councilman Luis Viera. The EPA requires no setbacks; the state now requires a 30-foot setback.
As reported by SPB and other media organizations, Viera represents the neighborhood where Curfew will be next applied. He received some heat from constituents for not doing more to prevent the TSA from using the pesticide.
Campbell says the EPC will place a canister on the golf course the day after Curfew is initially applied and keep it there for 12-24 hours to monitor the air quality. Ultimately they will take it to a laboratory to inspect its content. However, their results will not be available for review for several weeks.
Campbell said that the risk assessments of using Curfew are at one-in-a-million, meaning “if the adverse effects [are] less than one in a million, they (the EPA and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) consider it to be relatively safe.”
“There isn’t any remedy for people who might have been exposed to it?” asked Councilman Harry Cohen.
“No,” Campbell replied.
The TSA’s action has prompted angry complaints from local residents near the golf course, but City Councilman Frank Reddick said that those critics have gone too far in targeting the children of TSA head Eric Hart and Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, a board member of the TSA.
“You’ve got a group of three, four, five people, who are causing this disturbance,” said Reddick, who also serves on the TSA board. “These same anonymous people have utilized social media to invoke the kids of two members of that board.”
Reddick called it “disturbing” several times, and said he hoped that law enforcement “tracks down” those anonymous people. “I hope they go to jail,” he said.
“I hope they do get these people who are exposing these children,” said Councilwoman Yolie Capin. “That’s very disturbing.”
Debra McCormack, a critic against the use of Curfew, denies any knowledge of what Reddick alleged, saying, “If anyone had been threateded, the police should be called.”
At the council meeting, two members of the public who said they lived in the neighborhood spoke out in support of the Tampa Sports Authority. Curfew critics were scheduled to hold their own news conference near Raymond James Stadium at 11:30 a.m.
Viera said that the issue has been contentious, but said he wanted to make people know he is aware of the concerns from the community.
“The people I want to talk to are those moms who have called me up and have said ‘Councilman Viera, we’re concerned about this product being applied to the golf course and what’s it going to do with my son?'” he said. “What’s it going to do with my grandchild?”
Meanwhile, Viera will host a town-hall meeting Wednesday night in Forest Hills.
