Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/669487
ByMikeHouseholder and Ed White TheAssociatedPress FLINT, MICH. The Flint water crisis became a criminal case Wednesday when two state regulators and a city em- ployee were charged with official misconduct, evi- dence-tampering and other offenses over the lead con- tamination that alarmed the country and brought cries of racism. "This is a road back to re- storingfaithandconfidence in all Michigan families in their government," state At- torneyGeneralBillSchuette said in announcing the first charges to come out of the disaster, blamed on a series of bad decisions by bureau- crats and political leaders. He warned there will be more charges — "That I can guarantee" — and added: "No one is off the table." For nearly 18 months, the poor, majority-black city of 100,000usedtheFlintRiver for tap water as a way to save money — a decision made by a state-appointed emergency manager — while a new pipeline was under construction. But the water wasn't treated to con- trol corrosion. The result: Lead was released from ag- ingpipesandfixturesaswa- ter flowed into homes and businesses. Gov. Rick Snyder didn't acknowledge the problem until last fall, when tests re- vealed high levels of lead in children,inwhomtheheavy metal can cause low IQs and behavioral problems. Michael Prysby, a former district engineer with the state Department of Envi- ronmental Quality, and Ste- phen Busch, a supervisor in the department's drinking water office, were charged with misconduct, conspir- acy, tampering with test re- sults and misdemeanor vi- olations of clean-water law. The felonies carry maxi- mum penalties of four to five years in prison. Amongotherthings,they were accused of failing to order anticorrosion chemi- cals added to the water to coat the pipes and prevent them from releasing lead. Flintutilitiesadministra- tor Michael Glasgow, who oversaw day-to-day oper- ations at the city's water plant at the time, also was charged Wednesday with tampering with evidence for allegedly falsifying test results and with willful ne- glect of duty. Busch and Prysby pleaded not guilty and were released on bail. Both were suspended without pay. Their attorneys did not im- mediately return calls seek- ing comment. Glasgow was also placed onleaveandawaitedacourt appearance. A telephone number for him could not be found, and it wasn't known whether he had a lawyer. The crisis — and the state's slow and dismis- sive response to complaints about the water from ex- perts and residents — led to allegations of environmen- tal racism, became an issue in the presidential race dur- ing Michigan's Democratic primary in March, and sent other U.S. cities rushing to testtheirwater,particularly inolderneighborhoodswith lead pipes. "They failed Michigan families. Indeed, they failed us all," Schuette said of the men charged. "I don't care where you live." Essentially,allthreewere accusedoffailingtodotheir duty to provide safe drink- ing water. "This is rare," said Neil Rockind, a Detroit-area de- fense attorney and former prosecutor. "It's very hard to find a similar case where people are charged for just being personally bad or ne- glectful at their job. Usually there's some personal cor- rupt intent involved." He said outrage over the Flint water mess has cre- ated a mood "where some- one has to pay." For months, people in Flint have been relying on filters and bottled wa- ter. Some still do not trust what comes out of their fau- cets,eventhoughthecityre- joined the Detroit-area wa- ter system last fall and an- ticorrosive phosphates are being added. The governor filled a few jugs of filtered Flint tap wa- terthisweekandpledgedto drink it for 30 days to show it's safe. MICHIGAN 3officialschargedinFlint water crisis; more predicted PAULSANCYA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Attorney General Bill Schuette speaks at the Detroit Police Officers Association in Detroit. By Jonathan Drew and Gary D. Robertson The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. When Re- publican North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a far-reaching LGBT law that critics called discrim- inatory, he said it wouldn't hurt the state's ability to at- tract jobs. It did. When he signed an ex- ecutive order seeking to lessen the law's impact, it upset some of his conser- vative supporters who said he "went too far" in bowing to national pressure. In yet another blow Tuesday, a fed- eral appeals court that over- sees North Carolina issued an opinion that now threat- ens part of the state law. Through it all, McCrory has emerged — perhaps re- luctantly — as the public face of the law and could become the biggest political loser as he suddenly finds himself in a tough re-elec- tion fight already swayed by the issue. "He's in a tough spot," said Chris Cooper, a po- litical science professor at Western Carolina Uni- versity. "The executive or- der probably isn't going to mean a lot policy-wise. He's running the risk, no matter what he does, of alienating the average North Carolina voter. He's sort of stuck in the political middle." In a nod to the balanc- ing act, McCrory described during an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" "the disconnect we have be- tween the corporate suites and main street," saying he was recently praised by small-town voters shortly before fielding a phone call from a concerned corporate leader. After McCrory signed the law in late March, con- demnation from the busi- ness community was swift. Deutsche Bank halted plans to add 250 North Caro- lina jobs, while Paypal re- versed a decision to open a 400-employee operation center in Charlotte. Local tourism boards say they lost millions of dollars in economic impact because of cancelled conventions and business meetings. Chris LaCivita, McCro- ry's chief campaign consul- tant, rejects the idea that the governor has stumbled. He said there's no doubt McCrory is getting ham- mered because the gover- nor is the top target for na- tional Democrats in a pres- idential battleground state. He faces Democratic At- torney General Roy Coo- per, who has refused to de- fend North Carolina's law in court. Both have already used the conflict to boost donations. "So if anyone doesn't be- lieve that politics is at play here, they're living in a cave," LaCivita said. During his first guberna- torial campaign and in 14 years as Charlotte's mayor, McCrory cultivated an im- age as a moderate "busi- ness Republican" who pri- oritized economic develop- ment over social issues. But things appeared to change when he signed a divisive voter ID law in 2013, and an immigration bill last year restricting local gov- ernments' policies on ID cards and police tactics. Now, McCrory is in the difficult position of trying to appear business-friendly without watering down his appeal to social conserva- tives. "Once he cast his lot with one side it makes it real dif- ficult because if you back- track, now you risk alienat- ing the people that gave you a bunch of attaboys when you signed the legislation," said Charles Bullock, a po- litical science professor at the University of Georgia. On Tuesday, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a transgender teen's arguments that a Vir- ginia school board violated Title IX by forbidding him from using the boys' rest- room. In the North Carolina law, a provision requires transgender students in public schools and univer- sities to use bathrooms cor- responding to the gender on their birth certificate. McCrory said he wants to hear from state lawyers about whether schools can keep implementing the law while the Virginia defen- dants consider whether to appeal. Several other southern states recently enacted or considered legislation re- stricting the rights of les- bian, gay, bisexual or trans- gender people. But nowhere else has the fallout been as harsh as North Carolina. In Georgia, the negative publicity dwindled after the governor's veto of a piece of legislation that would have allowed businesses to re- fuse service based on reli- gious beliefs. On Monday, Tennessee withdrew a bill on transgender bathroom access after its governor expressed concerns, and South Carolina's governor has said a similar proposal in her state is unnecessary. Mississippi, meanwhile, enacted a law that allows businesses to refuse ser- vices to gay customers, but has gotten less attention partly because of its con- servative track record and smaller population than North Carolina's. Another test for McCrory comes when lawmakers re- convene Monday and per- haps weigh a request in the governor's executive order to reverse part of the law stripping the right to sue over workplace discrimi- nation in state court. "His potency as gover- nor will be again defined in part by how the legisla- ture reacts to his proposal," said Ferrel Guillory, who di- rects the Program on Pub- lic Life at the University of North Carolina. State Senate leader Phil Berger, also a Republican, told reporters Wednesday that he would listen to the governor's proposal, but that he didn't see the need to change or repeal the law. McCrory's choice of whether to sign or veto the LGBT legislation was laden with a lot of symbolic meaning — if little practi- cal effect on policy-making. The state's GOP legislative leaders — with views fur- ther to his right — control a veto-proof majority that would have allowed them to enact it with or without him. 'TOUGH SPOT' LGBT law puts North Carolina governor in precarious position By Melissa Brown The Associated Press MONTGOMERY, ALA. A commonly used second- trimester abortion proce- dure would be illegal un- der a new bill debated in the Alabama legislature on Wednesday. The House Health Com- mittee held a public hear- ing on a bill that support- ers say would prohibit a medical procedure called dilation and evacuation, or "D&E." The bill would allow the procedure, which it de- scribes as "dismemberment abortion," in the event of a "serious health risk to the mother." Mississippi Gov. Phil Bry- ant signed a similar bill into law last week, while West Virginia lawmakers over- rode their governor's veto in March to pass a similar law. D&E bans in Kansas and Oklahoma have been struck down by state courts. Supporters of the bill on Wednesday compared D&E procedures to torture and medieval forms of punish- ment. "I don't see how a civi- lized society could support these barbaric procedures," said the bill's sponsor, Re- publican Rep. Mack Butler. Elizabeth Potter Gra- ham, an attorney who spoke against the bill, said it is a woman's "fundamen- tal right" to choose the pro- cedure. D&Es, or surgical abor- tions, are used in the ma- jority of second-trimester procedures, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecol- ogists. Butler's bill does not target medical abortions, which are induced by med- ication and have higher complication rates than surgical abortions in the second trimester, accord- ing to the ACOG. Butler said Wednesday that he believes the bill is a good step toward achiev- ing his ultimate goal, which is to outlaw abortion alto- gether. Committee members ad- journed without a vote, but Butler says he expects them to pass the bill next week. ALABAMA Abortion procedure challenged as 'torture' By Elliot Spagat The Associated Press SAN DIEGO U.S. authori- ties said Wednesday that they discovered a cross- border tunnel that ran a half-mile from a Tijuana house equipped with a large elevator to a lot in San Diego that was adver- tised as a wooden pallet business, resulting in sei- zures of more than a ton of cocaine and seven tons of marijuana. It was the 13th sophisti- cated secret passage found along California's border with Mexico since 2006, in- cluding three on the same short street in San Diego that runs parallel to a bor- der fence with a densely populated residential area on the Mexican side. The unusually narrow tunnel was only about three feet wide, equipped with a rail system, lighting and ven- tilation. The tunnel was unusual because it was used for co- caine, not just marijuana, said Laura Duffy, U.S. at- torney for the Southern District of California. Tunnels are often built for marijuana because its bulk and odor make it more dif- ficult to escape border in- spectors' scrutiny than co- caine and other drugs. The elevator, which was big enough for eight to 10 people, was located in the closet of a Tijuana house whose floors were strewn with mattresses, Duffy said. The tunnel zig-zagged for 874 yards to the fenced commercial lot in San Di- ego, where the exit was covered by a large trash bin. Other tunnels that have ended in California were inside houses and ware- houses. "It's a rabbit hole," Duffy told reporters. "Just the whole way that it comes up and that it comes up out right into the open, it is a bit ingenious, I think, and it's something completely different than what we've seen." Investigators didn't know when the tunnel was completed. Margarita On- tiveros, who works at a law office next to the San Di- ego lot, said the tenants arrived about a year ago and often bought and sold wooden pallets. "They loaded and un- loaded a lot of pallets," Ontiveros said. "They sold very cheap." SECRET PASSAGE Half-mile tunnel found on the border | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016 8 A