[CPEO-MEF] Group tries to lower the boom

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California
Group tries to lower the boom
NORCO: Residents near Wyle Laboratories want the city to revoke the
firm's detonation permit.
03/19/2003
By PAIGE AUSTIN
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE

NORCO - A group of residents living near Wyle Laboratories plans to
approach the City Council in force today to demand that the city revoke
the testing center's permit to detonate weapons such as warheads,
rockets and missiles.

The laboratory's recent hydrogen gas testing for the National Missile
Defense Program has created explosions that tear through the
neighborhood with loud booms and vibrations. However the recent tests
aren't detonations, said city and Wyle Laboratories Inc. officials.
Technically, Wyle hasn't detonated anything since June of 2001, they
said.

"That's just splitting hairs," said LeRae Spera, spokeswoman for
Involved Neighbors Seeking Information, Safety and Truth (INSIST), the
group planning to storm the City Council meeting today. "Explosions are
detonations."

Many of the members, such as Spera, are suing Western Pacific Housing
and Centex Homes in two separate lawsuits alleging that the builders
failed to inform buyers about Wyle and an adjacent abandoned battery
recycling facility.

Wyle's Norco facility, built in 1957, is a testing center authorized to
handle hazardous materials and low-level radioactive substances.

For Stoneridge Estates resident Kay Hamon, the recent explosions have
been terrifying. "(Monday's) explosion was the loudest thing I ever
heard. It shook the whole house," said Hamon. "It's a real nightmare,
and it's a big deal to us. But no one seems to care," she added.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.pe.com/localnews/corona/stories/PE_NEWS_ncwyle19.57efe.html

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