[birds chirping] [wind whooshing] [rattling] [engines rumbling] [Dr. Ayne Amjad] We're going to draw some blood today.

Um, we need maybe about three to ten milliliters, which is probably just a vial.

And then we're going to spin it down and send it to a physician at Emory who's going to test it for PCBs.

I'm going to draw, get my blood too.

And probably my mom.

And I don't know if anyone else, to compare, since we don't live in that area, to see if it's any different.

[Percy Fruit] He'll pass out in a minute.

[Susie Worley-Jenkins] Are you still working down at the clinic?

[woman] I have lost track of years I've been there.

[Susie] I know, it's been a long time.

[woman] It just went by so quick.

[Ayne] Were you there when my dad was there?

-Because... -[woman] A little bit.

Stuck in the hand.

Tight fist here.

[Susie] I've been stuck everywhere.

[Ayne] There you go.

Yeah.

It'll fill up five or six of them.

-[chuckles] -[Ayne] It's hot in here.

Yeah.

[chuckles] It's a strong arm.

[♪ pensive music playing] ♪♪ [vehicle approaching] [Butter Thomas] I call this a Death Valley Highway.

Bill Hayslette here, he died of cancer.

Mr. and Miss Brellahan, both of those died of cancer.

And one of my best friends lived in a house after they did, he died about three years ago of cancer.

Merle died of cancer there.

Eugene Dixon, he died of cancer.

She moved up here, and she just recently died of cancer.

He died of cancer.

My wife's uncle, he died of cancer.

Both of them died of cancer.

He died of cancer.

Brain tumor.

Blood disorder.

Throat cancer.

She's had numerous dogs that had died of cancer.

How can you tell me there's not a problem?

I mean, if it ain't PCB, it's got to be something.

I mean, there's just too much cancer down here in this town.

[water lapping] [indistinct] My name is Hassan Amjad.

I'm a physician who lives in Oak Hill community.

I've been in West Virginia for 17 years before I came from Michigan.

[Ayne] I think it was around 1984 or '85 when my dad first started getting involved.

We definitely have a toxic problem here, a toxic waste problem here.

[Ayne] My dad saw patients in this area who had a lot of new cancers.

He was convinced that PCBs caused cancer.

And it's in this small population that's not getting help.

[Dr. Hassan Amjad] PCB is not easily biodegradable, which means it'll last for 500 years.

So once they have this PCB in their fat content, it's not going to go away for their lifetime.

[Ayne] He grew up in Pakistan, which is a very impoverished country.

So when he came here, he was shocked that why in a, you know, country like this, do we have a small town who's being exposed to something and they can't get the help for it.

To him, it seemed like a shame that it didn't make any sense.

It's kind of injustice.

[Hassan] What happened in Minden is a lesson that is not only the Flint, Michigan.

There are many communities have been neglected, and the common denominator is the poor get the shaft.

[Ayne] Those cows weren't there last time, were they?

[Lollie Amjad] They were there.

[Ayne] It's a little bit farther down there.

[Ayne] Before my dad passed away from a heart attack, we were looking at properties because he liked herbs.

he liked plants, flowers, you name it.

...similar flowers.

If you see right across there, they are like a hanging... [Ayne] We always thought it would be nice to have a big piece of land just to grow those types of things.

[chuckles] West Virginia has a lot of places like this, just hidden.

The people that used to live here originally got it to hunt, and then they used it for timber.

But we'll see what we can use it for.

-Are you okay?

-Yeah.

[Ayne] Odd, West Virginia is really out there.

My mom and I went to check it out and fell in love with it.

It's untouched land... so there's something about it that clicked.

[Hassan] The small community of Minden is dying.

Something should be done.

You cannot clean the place.

It has to be relocated.

Someone has to look up and be responsible for that.

[Ayne] My father's goal for Minden was to relocate them, and I guess we had that relationship where he trusted me to finish something that had to be done.

Odd, West Virginia is really in a secluded place, and I thought it would be an ideal place to move people.

I would feel like I completed my purpose if I could move them out of there, whoever wants to leave.

See out there...

It's big enough where you could have a little town here, really.

Even if there's 200 families, maybe each could have half an acre, which is a pretty decent size to put a house.

Um, of course, it costs a lot, so we would need to figure that out.

But, um, there's no big companies out here, so there's nothing being dumped around the area that I'm aware of because we're so far in, so pretty much clean from outside influences.

[engine sputtering] [Butter] I still can't get over that EPA guy told me that it wasn't leaking up there.

They moved 4,700 tons of dirt, and it's still here even after all that dirt removal.

You can't get rid of it.

You just can't.

It's like your dad tried to tell them.

That's the EPA for you, man.

Been lying to us for 40 years.

So what's the difference?

Why stop now?

[Ayne] So we were wondering, like, how many people really want to move because we have 200 people here, right?

So how many you think are really going to want to leave?

Because that's where we're at now.

-So... -[Susie] Actually, we have 247.

And I know that, um, Mrs. Miller up here, she really wants to move, her and her husband.

Petey and Kara, they-they take out of here and probably, uh, Randy Scarborough would probably leave.

He said he would.

Yeah.

[Ayne] If I said, "Here's a piece of land, it's free," how many do you think would move to Odd?

[Butter] I would say they would probably be close... maybe half, you'd say.

I'd say maybe.

Maybe half.

Maybe a little more than half.

Maybe.

Yeah.

♪♪ [indistinct chatter] Oh.

[laughs] I'm making eggs here for Gabriel.

[Ayne] My nephew, Gabby, he's visiting for two weeks.

Who else likes kiwi?

Your dad?

-Yes.

-[laughs] [Ayne] I wish I had children of my own by now, but the person I'm with now just doesn't want to have children separate.

We've been together six years now, which is a long time actually.

But he lives in Canada, so...

He just knows I need to slow down, I guess.

And his biggest thing for me is how can you have children if you don't slow down?

Which I don't like to hear.

Sophie.

Gabby, please.

We just have to put a different diagnosis on there.

Does it hurt bad or just you saw the infection?

No, actually, the pain was... -Worse?

-...worse.

It's not going away.

Alright.

Big breath.

[inhales deeply] -In and out.

-[exhales] [Lollie] Ayne opted to stay in West Virginia initially to help us, just since she knows that we are getting old.

She admires her father so much.

And also, she wants to help the people where she grew up.

Do you feel better that we changed that medicine?

She wants to return back what she had gotten from them.

That is what she's always saying.

Have you felt short of breath or any problems?

Yes.

I have to use my inhaler quite a bit.

How many times a day have you been using it?

About three or four.

How's Sugar doing?

-I didn't bring my dog today because I know-- -She's great.

[Ayne] My dog gets excited when yours is here, so... [Susie] I knew Ayne just a little bit by seeing her when she was a little girl with her daddy.

You know, she was always daddy's girl.

And she has a lot of his ways.

It was about two weeks before he died.

We were at a meeting, and he leaned over me and he said, "Susie, if something happens to me, Ayne is going to take over."

And Ayne looked a little bit surprised, but she just smiled real big.

And she said, yes, daddy.

And that's the way it's been.

[rain pattering] [Annetta Coffman] Thanks, everybody, for coming.

It-it means a lot to the community that people came out here today that aren't from Minden and the families of other people that were marchers before.

We really, really appreciate your support.

This one might be the one that only have four Xs in.

-Yeah.

-This is [indistinct].

[inaudible] Where is your shirt?

Okay, everybody, we're getting ready to start.

Everybody ready?

-[woman] Yeah.

-Alright.

-[Percy] Alright, follow me.

-[woman 2] We're ready.

[marchers shouting] Now!

[newscaster] In June, the Citizens to Save Fayette County staged a march from Minden to nearby Oak Hill.

Helping in the march are environmentalists from around the country.

[march leader] What do we want?

[all] EPA action!

[girl] This march is to push for relocation, since it seems that the EPA is trying to do more tests instead of taking action.

[marchers] Relocation now!

[Percy] My thanks goes out to Lucian Randall, Larry Rose, Sue Workman, John David for starting the quest to make a wrong right after so many lives have been lost to cancer from PCBs.

-[man 2] Thirty years.

-[marchers] We're still here.

[man 2] Thirty years.

[Percy] Thank you to the late Dr. Amjad, to his beautiful wife and daughter who have worked diligently to help our cause.

[marchers] Justice for Minden!

Relocation now!

[Lois Gibbs] Thirty years ago, we talked about what are we going to do at Minden?

We want justice for Minden.

We want justice for all communities that have become sacrifice zones for corporate pollution.

-[Annetta] What do we want?

-[marchers] Relocation!

-[Annetta] When do we want it?

-[marchers] Now!

-[Annetta] What do we want?

-[protestors] Relocation.

Somebody's got to get in there and change this.

Taking seats of power.

The people united will never be defeated.

Thank you.

[woman] God, we ask that you love and protect the people of Minden and help our long lost loved ones be able to find some peace somewhere.

Amen.

[all] Amen.

♪ Amazing grace ♪ ♪ How sweet the sound ♪ ♪ That saved a wretch ♪ ♪ Like me ♪ ♪ I once was lost ♪ ♪ But now I'm found ♪ ♪ Was blind but now ♪ ♪ I see ♪ [blows] -[Tom Garrett] How are you today?

-[Ayne] Good morning.

-Good to see you.

-[Ayne] Nice to see you.

-You ready to start?

-Yeah.

Let's get down.

[Ayne] Okay.

Good.

On the property on Odd, there was a 30 by 14 building.

We were going to make that into a little house.

And it can hold one to two people from Minden.

We were going to just make it like a studio.

We weren't going to make it divided.

-It'll look really nice.

-Okay.

It's going to come out well.

Really well.

And it keeps us within budget.

[Ayne] The person who was going to live on the land, his name is Tom.

We've known him for a little while.

He does a little handiwork.

We're going to let him stay in the main house, him and his wife.

And since he knows how to fix houses, go ahead and fix that little house as a home.

How long do you think it's going to take us.

By myself, I would say two weeks of work.

We were going to do the bathroom here and the sink here.

-Right.

That's what we were thinking.

-Yeah.

Th-the good thing is we had a good shell to work with.

Everything's stable.

Foundation's good.

Yeah, it's almost like a single trailer size.

I mean, it's smaller, but it's still like a single trailer size.

-That's what we figured, right?

-Exactly.

And the heating, we said... What did we say?

[Tom] The vision is to try to help those in Minden to, you know, get away from a place that's killing them... to paradise.

[Ayne] There's a flat way that way too.

-Yeah.

-You walk this way.

Oh, okay.

-I've-I've done both.

-Okay.

The creek's down there, and the creek is the property line all the way from the corner.

[Ayne] Okay.

That's great.

It's so quiet out here.

It is, isn't it?

[Barbara Garrett] It feels absolutely wonderful, like it's no place else on earth I've ever been.

And the clouds, when you're sitting on the front porch, you could just reach out and get them.

It's like cotton candy.

Just get it and eat it.

[Tom] I don't know, the way I truly feel is we're all here to be helpers, and there aren't too many... true hearts and spirits out there.

And yours is one that is.

What you do is... in no way, shape, or form for yourself, you know, and that's... it's pure spirit.

[Ayne] Speaking of chicken, someone filled out... You care to sit here, I guess?

[Susie] Oh, no, not at all.

[Ayne] Someone filled out that survey and said they would come if they could bring their chickens or something funny.

-[Susie laughs] -Something funny like that.

I bought this 90-acre property with the intention of moving some people... -Right.

-...from Minden there.

How would we say it that makes it sound, um, good.

-[Susie] Acceptable.

-Acceptable, exciting.

Something that they'd want to do.

Because you know how people's brains work down there better than I do.

It's clean.

I think that that's the first thing they're going to like about it.

Mm-hmm.

[keys jingling] -[Butter] Hello.

-[woman] Hi.

Those are yours.

The customers dropped in.

-They have to mail them back.

-[woman 2] Where is Odd?

It's about 37 miles from here.

It's on the other side of Beckley there.

-[woman laughs] -Okay.

About an acre of land.

New home.

What's not to like?

Wished I could get me a free house.

[laughter] It's quiet up there.

It is pretty Something different than Minden.

[laughter] -Thank you.

-[Butter] Well, we thank you all.

I'll see you later, Butter.

[Butter] Minden residents have been fighting for the clean-up of PCBs and relocation for over 30 years.

Your family are given the opportunity, funds to relocate, move out of Minden, would you?

If there's a home for a couple located in Odd, West Virginia, and ready in Spring of 2020 would you be interested in moving there?

No.

And yes.

And yes and yes.

No.

-[woman speaks indistinctly] -[Butter] Yes.

Yes.

[boy] I'm 12 now.

We've lived here three years.

-[Ayne] Yeah.

-[boy] Uh, our house burned down up there, and we decided to move down here because our grandpa lives right down the road.

Okay?

[boy] And I never knew, but apparently there's PCBs, and that's giving people cancer and killing them.

We have a meeting at-- in Minden this week.

Can you give it to your mom and dad, please?

If you have time to come.

Do you know where, uh, Church Street is in Oak Hill?

We'll find it.

-[man] Hey, girls, let's go.

-Okay.

-[woman] Bye, girls.

-[girl] Bye, ma.

[line ringing] -[woman] [on phone] Hello.

-Oh, hi.

It's Ayne Amjad.

-How are you?

-[woman] I'm good.

You filled out that postcard there about moving for relocation, Minden.

If you can come tomorrow at 3:00, that would be good so that we can get more feedback from everybody.

That would be nice.

Hi, it's Ayne Amjad, how are you?

Did you know about our meeting tomorrow to talk about, uh, Minden relocation updates and things?

-[line ringing] -[man] Who is this?

This is Dr. Amjad.

How are you?

[man] [indistinct] How are you today?

[Ayne] I'm okay.

Did you see about the meeting tomorrow?

[woman] [on phone] Yeah.

Between 3:00 and 5:00?

[Ayne] Yes.

Okay.

Thanks.

-[woman] Thank you.

-Okay, bye.

[indistinct conversation] Bad connection, man.

Hear that?

[people chattering] Supposedly, he drove it from, uh... here in West Virginia all the way to California.

[Ayne] Thanks for coming.

I know it's hard to get people together.

I'm Ayne.

I think I met most of you guys.

You know, Susie, um...

The goal, of course, is to relocate everyone in Minden.

That's been our, our priority, at least since we've, you know, been involved.

But when we meet with some of these people, EPA, DEP, they always ask, who wants to move out?

They always ask, you know, and we never have a good number.

We always give them a percentage.

We all say at least 80% want to move.

[Susie] We need to know what you all, what you all need.

[woman] Mm-hmm.

I'm trying to find a house that will accommodate me, my granddaughter, and my brother and any other company that comes in.

I want to have a spare room for them.

-Okay.

-[woman 2] I do want to relocate.

I'm at least going to need a five bedroom because I got three kids.

She'll need her own, and then me and my husband will need our own, so at least five bedrooms.

I want a yard with a fenced-in yard to keep my kids in and my dogs.

[man] I just want out of there because the cancer and stuff.

[Ayne] How long have you guys lived there?

-Well, this time, 14 years.

-[Ayne] Okay.

But before that, we lived there 11.

[Ayne] Where'd you go in between?

Florida.

[Ayne] Okay.

W-why'd you come back?

-Family.

-[Ayne] Okay.

[woman 3] And if we get enough, we would relocate.

[Ayne] Charlie, what do you think?

Like, for your size of your family.

You know, if you want to share it too, that's... You know, maybe next time, Ayne.

I'm just, um, still thinking.

[Ayne] You're still... You still want to relocate?

-Yeah.

-[Ayne] Yeah.

I just don't want to be lowballed or anything like that.

That's right.

[Ayne] The last meeting we had, a lady said the same thing.

She said, well, that's not a... that's not a lot of money.

You know, that's not a lot of money that to-- for that.

[Andrea Fox] You're looking at a normal two-bedroom house being $80,000.

-[Ayne] But see, that's the thing.

-And with that, you're barely getting an acre.

-[Ayne] Yeah.

-Well, I have two acres, and I have a three-bedroom home and I have a two-car garage and a chain link fence yard.

They're only looking at my house not even being $25,000 while I paid $28,000 for the house.

And I'm still paying on that house.

Yeah, they wouldn't want to buy us out, and they're going to want to relocate us, but they want to, they're probably going to want to just bunch us into a small community with a bunch of houses they're going to throw up.

But a lot of people don't want to move into another community, a house on top of a house.

-[man] No.

-[Andrea] I know for a fact I'm not going to stand for that.

I agree everything what you said.

I'm not, I'm not moving On top of somebody else.

-I'm not going to either.

-[Andrea] I mean, to me, they... we deserve at least a little bit of privacy.

-[man] Privacy.

-Okay.

-I'll sit there in Minden and watch that house rot down before I move into... a congested community just because they want to get us out.

Well, okay.

Well, the re-- I'll tell you...

I'll tell you why those surveys had the city of Odd listed in it.

Um, about two and a half years ago, I purchased 97 acres in Odd, West Virginia.

If people wanted to move and build houses with funding that we could... you know, gather somehow.

I don't know how, it could be an option.

Right now, um, Tom and his wife live out there.

There's a house out there.

We have to fix it up.

It's going to turn out like a little cabin.

You know, it's a 30 by 40 building.

Uh, uh, and I'm turning it into basically a little cabin on the hill, man.

It's not a big house, but it's, it's away from everything.

The land there is clean.

It's pure.

We are going to finish this first house.

If someone is really serious into looking at it, we can talk about it.

That's it.

These are just things that we're trying to do as, like I said, options.

These are not anything anyone has to do.

These are just if someone is interested as an option, these are things that we will just look into.

The EPA is not helping us.

They're not.

There's another way, guys.

You have to consider other ways if possible.

It's...

It is a good option.

[woman] Yeah, I had to work, but I don't know.

I got here.

I'll see y'all later.

♪♪ [Ayne] People's concerns to me are just an excuse not to do something.

If you really want to get out of a situation, you find any opportunity that's available to you and you do it.

Otherwise, you stay in the same place.

You continue to have the same problems.

[engine rumbling] [cans clanging] [Butter] You have to excuse the mess.

John Wayne's here, and John Wayne's there and got thermoses and cups and movies and, uh, 100 years of Duke.

Some stamps collection there, a John Wayne clock, I think his first bout, first bout with cancer, he was doing The Sons of Katie Elder.

A few there.

There's a bunch of Westerns in there.

There's this collection like, say, Tombstone.

And you got The Lone Rangers and got just about all these Westerns in here.

That's, that's what's for the PCB.

It says toxic waste straight out of Minden.

I come here in the morning, drink my coffee, and watch the news there.

I have the mute button on there because half the time I'd mute the junk they talk about anyway.

It's getting hard to tell truth anymore.

It's just hard to get the truth out of anything.

So...

Okay.

[Governor Jim Justice] Today, I'm announcing something, it is an appointment that is absolutely, I am tickled to death.

I am announcing that Dr... And it's, and it's pronounced Ayne, spelled A-Y-N-E, Amjad, is taking our position as our head health officer in West Virginia.

I'm excited to be here, and everything happened really fast, but I'm excited to be part of the team and thank everyone for welcoming me and thank you very much for having me.

[news anchor] Alright.

Thank you both.

Next, we'll go to Major General Hoyer... [reporter] Dr. Ayne Amjad stepped into her new role Friday with the West Virginia DHHR, following a lot of praise and a lengthy resume.

Amjad is a native West Virginian known for her work helping the people of Minden and Fayette County after their town was considered an EPA Superfund site last year.

[Mayor Rob Rappold] [on phone] She works so hard between her practice and the things that she does for the community.

I'm not sure when she sleeps, to be honest with you.

[Ayne] I think I got up...

I was up... I-I don't sleep well anyway, so I was up all crazy hours reading stuff, but I got up at 7:00, and I was still running around like a crazy rabbit, trying to get my stuff in order.

Some people have asked, you know, did you ever see yourself in this position?

I never knew what a state health officer was.

I knew who the previous health commissioners were but I never knew what they did.

But of course, we were never in a pandemic before.

Anything that's under public health, it's underneath me.

When does your newsletter get out?

Because I was supposed to send you that flu thing as well.

[man] Well, if you get it to me within the next week, it'd be great.

Okay, I can do that.

[man] Alright.

Sounds great.

Thanks, Mark.

[Ayne] I'm familiar with all this stuff, but it's just a different playing league.

Like, it's not the Beckley Leagues, it's the state level.

So I was playing at level one.

I'm playing at level ten.

Um, jus-just to, you know, keep up.

So this is a list of our outbreaks in the state.

So we have, like, 35 nursing home outbreaks.

And I have at some point talked to people in these facilities, visited some of these.

I mean, because if something goes wrong, I mean, where does it fall on?

It actually falls on my head.

So... [train rattling] [Lollie] They don't really listen to what she says most of the time, I guess.

She's kind of like sometimes frustrated that things are not happening.

[Ayne] Bye, guys.

She keeps on saying that, "Well, how much more can I say, Mommy?

"How much can I tell everybody to, you know, be careful and all these things."

But this is the way it is.

People have their own mind to do things.

They want to exercise their own rights and freedom they say, so what can we do?

No matter how much we can, we want to help or something.

This is the way I look at it, you know.

[Ayne] The guys in Minden, they thought they went and handpicked me out I felt like as a conspiracy so that I wouldn't be their voice anymore.

I told Susie, I know I applied for the job, Susie.

Nobody, like, scouted me out.

If anything, I can help direct you more what you guys need.

[Butter] She told us the night before and she said, please don't be mad.

At first, I was a little upset because I, you know, that meant she wouldn't be going to be able to do the things that she has been doing for us.

But then after you sit down and thought about it a while then, well, yeah, but this opens the opportunity for her to do some other stuff.

We just have to wait and see.

But she's a fighter.

Uh, I believe in her.

So we'll see.

[boy] Oh, so it was a bridge.

-A bridge?

Oh!

-Oh, a bridge!

[laughter] -Oh, now I see it.

-I got it, got it.

Okay.

He's holding something.

He's holding something.

-[line ringing] -Yeah, see how he's holding it.

When's the, um, border opening?

They were asking me last night, but it's like August something, isn't it?

[man] [on phone] That's August 21st.

Uh, the next cycle of...

They have to sit down and take a look at it.

But I read online on another, uh, news medium.

They're saying it won't be done till December.

What are you doing?

[man] I was reading this morning an article, uh, this couple, they do, uh, virtual weddings.

-[Ayne] Mm-hmm.

-Right.

So one party's got to be in Kansas.

The other party can be in Canada.

And they got married, and they thought this one was one way that they could get the, uh, the, the American spouse to come up here.

[Ayne] Okay.

So let's see what happens there.

But hopefully there'll be a resolution sooner rather than later.

Yeah.

Okay.

I don't know.

-I don't know.

-[man] Enjoy your day... -Okay.

-...and activities.

Okay.

I'll call you later.

-Talk later.

Bye.

-Okay.

Bye.

Bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.

That's crazy.

There's only one way to do it.

Yeah, let's get it.

-Like, you did get it.

-What do you think... We've been together, I think I said eight years, but I think it's seven, seven years.

I'm not happy with the way things have turned out, because I-I've always wanted, um, children, like multiple children, before my siblings, even.

At this stage, I don't care if we got married by paper anymore.

It doesn't matter.

Because if you cannot live together and raise a family and have children, what's the point in getting married just for a piece of paper?

-No, no.

-[indistinct chatter] [Ayne] I also think the trajectory of my life has changed in such a way that maybe it's just not meant in my path.

Oh, no, I don't know.

[Ayne] M aybe my focus should be elsewhere, so who knows?

You know, you have to pick and choose at this stage in your life.

[Dr. Amjad] People who have been exposed to PCB definitely had that toxic level in their body, and the fat biopsy proves also very well... [Ayne] My dad always taught us to help our community.

[Dr. Amjad] PCB is not easily biodegradable.

[Ayne] He always thought I should do something more in public health.

[Dr. Amjad] ...not going to go away for their lifetime.

[Ayne] He probably would have been very excited about it, this new role.

When I interviewed for this job, they asked me, I heard you wanted to run for governor one day and you like politics.

I said, no, I have no interest in politics.

But I know you have to be in politics to get things done.

If that's what it takes for people to pick up the phone and listen to me, then I'll do it.

[line ringing] [electronic voice] Welcome to Reservationless-Plus Conferencing.

Thank you.

You will now be placed into conference.

My name is Gina Serafani, and I'm going to be facilitating this call.

I'm with the EPA's Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center.

And if you're joining from the community and you'd like to introduce yourself, feel free.

Hi, my name is Susie Worley-Jenkins.

And I do have a question, is that, um, when we get flooded and the water comes out of the mine and it goes all over the place again, how are you planning on dealing with that?

[Aaron Mroz] Susie, uh, in the past, EPA has sampled water coming out of the mines, and we have not found PCBs.

[Susie] You are not going to find it except at certain levels or you go in there and get in the dirt because you let it flood and that stuff is going to come down through there, and there's going to be levels that's going to change in that creek.

And don't tell me... [Aaron] Susie.

Susie.

We're not finding high levels of PCBs.

The sampling that we've been conducting and have been conducting is not indicating high levels of contamination in the areas that you're discussing.

[Susie] Are you testing-- [Aaron] We can't operate on anecdotal evidence.

[Ayne] Well, this is Dr. Amjad on the phone.

To me, like I've said before, that the people are the samples.

We don't need dirt samples.

And that's what we've been saying all along.

People with their cancer history are the samples to us.

So given the Superfund status that they have acquired now, that should be part of the human health risk assessment, which you guys have been talking about for the last hour.

Doesn't that go into Superfund status, risk assessment, health status, all that?

This is Laura Werner.

I'm the regional director for ATSDR.

We are not making any plans to collect biomonitoring samples from residents, regardless of levels.

That's correct.

And that would not be something that EPA would do either.

[Butter] Well, that just makes everybody down here in Minden feel so warm and comfortable.

We keep getting the same answers all the time.

All the time.

We never get any help.

We just get more testing and more bull... answers.

I've had enough.

I'm out of here.

[sighs] Hi, this is Stephen New.

I have a question for you guys.

If my team of experts provides data to the EPA, uh, will that be considered for PCB levels, locations, et cetera, et cetera?

[Aaron] Uh, we will be using our own data that we collect.

But, um, any data you provide us, I would definitely look at.

[Stephen New] As West Virginians, unbelievably, we are conditioned to really bad things happening here and no one being held responsible.

No, I think maybe right here at this low spot or back here in the water would probably be great.

The water would be real close to the creek, but you see you're going to run into that sand.

[Ed Kirk] Has, has this location been sampled previously?

[Butter] Nope.

This place has never been tested.

[Ed] Okay.

Large companies extract our resources, send them elsewhere, and the money goes elsewhere.

And nothing is left.

From about zero to seven inches.

This is West Virginia.

Definitely want the sand going...

This is not EPA.

They're better.

Mm-hmm.

[Ayne] I've known Steve for ten years since I moved back home.

I brought Steve on as my trusted lawyer to listen in and advise us.

He would not have, um, taken this on if he didn't think it was something he could do.

He-he's extremely busy with numerous things, and, um, he's not one to take something on if he didn't see anything useful in it.

[Stephen] Ayne reached out to me, and she said, I think we've gone as far as we can.

We're going to need to do something else here to take this a little further with litigation.

I believe that once we're able to prove where these carcinogens are, the-the footprint of those PCBs, we will sue on behalf of about 55 or 60 families in Minden.

[Butter] I watched EPA, DEP, and whoever else, I watched them all come down here and test and I say, this is the best one I've seen yet.

[Susie] It feels good because the EPA kept telling me, we'll go wherever you want to.

And they'd always find a way around it.

0.2 again.

I know that Ayne has a sense of moral obligation to her father to continue his work.

I believe that we all have a moral obligation to the people of Minden to try to ensure that this never happens again.

[news jingle plays] [Terry Moran] Hello, everyone.

Welcome to The Breakdown.

I'm Terry Moran.

We've reported extensively on the states struggling with vaccine distribution for so many reasons, but now we'd like to focus on a state where the vaccine rollout has so far been hailed as a success, the state of West Virginia.

West Virginia's health commissioner, Dr. Ayne Amjad, is joining us to discuss what they're doing that other states might follow, what we can learn.

Dr. Amjad, thanks very much for being with us.

So why is it working there?

What are you doing right.

[sighs] Everyone's freaking about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and... God.

Okay.

It's not, it's not easy because there's a lot of pressure, you know?

Um, something goes wrong, it's easy to blame a health officer for everything or expect the health officer to, you know, fix it or something.

And I guess, uh, you can see how people can break down and become tired and depressed and stuff.

[man] Right.

Yeah.

-[Ayne] I'll work on that.

-Okay.

[Ayne] Alright, cool.

[Ayne] Now I can complain about it and bitch about it all I want, but that's not going to help the people.

So what am I going to do?

I'm going to make lemonade out of lemons and do the best I can.

I believe I'm here at a time in my life that I'm supposed to be.

And I think that's all I can say.

[muttering indistinctly] I can't eat when I'm working and stressed.

Hence the reason I probably look like a chicken now, but whatever.

I don't...

I haven't talked to Steve New in a while, so I don't know what, um...

I know he filed something, but I don't know what's going to happen with that.

This is the, uh, upstairs.

There's some slight remodeling going on, but this will be our offices.

It was occupied by a coal company before.

Now it's going to be occupied by trial lawyers.

So... What we've learned from our research recently is that PCBs are treated like any other toxic substance.

And the company that makes that is also responsible for making sure that it's retrieved and disposed of properly.

Monsanto had an obligation to make sure that those electrical transformers containing the PCBs were disposed of properly.

At this point, we believe that there was no such verification.

The lawsuit will be served on Monsanto and the other corporations, and then it's go time.

[engine starts] [Susie] The thing with Steve is that he-he doesn't know these people.

And so last week or two, we've been getting contracts and making sure everything is right, all their information, telephone numbers, addresses so that Steve will be able to contact them himself.

And he's going to get this from you.

I'm doing for my mother and dad.

I'll see that you get four up here and then some for the other people too.

I think Steve's going to win the case.

I think these folks are going to have a choice, finally, uh, whether to stay or whether to go.

-[Percy] Alright.

-You have a good evening.

Alright.

Thank you, Susie.

[Susie] You're welcome.

[engine rumbling] [Ayne] We were supposed to meet Debbie today to go show her the farm, to show her the house that we're trying to fix up for the Minden relocation.

She found me on Facebook, actually.

We have a Minden site running on there.

We were excited to show it to her because it's the first person who actually wanted to go out there and see the place, but she had to cancel at the last minute.

I've been up since 4:30 today, and I got to work at 7:00 just so I could be here by 12:00.

So a little bit disappointing that we couldn't meet up today, but, um, it's fine because it's still a nice day and we haven't been up to the farm in a few weeks, so... Come on, Sophie.

Hi, Tom.

-Hey.

How are you?

-I'm okay.

How are you?

I'm doing good.

Good to see you.

Nice to see you.

Debbie couldn't come, so... -Okay.

-Yeah.

So-- Is she gonna be able to come up later, maybe?

-Or... -She didn't really say yet, so we'll just see if we can get more people to come.

[Tom] Got a little bit accomplished.

Uh, I went through the wiring an-and ensured that it was up to code, up to specs.

I've still got to drop a couple of the switches -and receptacles down.

-Okay.

You know, if someone takes it and we have the opportunity... -Mm-hmm.

-...to kind of lean toward something -that they might prefer.

-Yeah.

So that's, that's one reason that I didn't just go ahead and slam everything in.

Uh, but, uh...

This is that special insulation you told me about -that you had to do.

-Yes.

That's... -Yes, that-- -That foamy stuff.

It's, uh, open cell spray foam insulation.

And for metal buildings, that's, uh, that's about the only way that we could go, but it's, it's going to do the trick.

How much did we spend on... We spent two to three on this already.

Right?

-At least three so far.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

So, so, so we're halfway there.

So how much do you think more do you...

I know you don't know 100%, but how much do you think?

Because it's more than what we thought already.

From what it seems.

I mean-- It'll, it'll be within budget.

It'll be really close.

-But-- -I don't think we may go a-another one more above.

Bu-but that's, that would be, that would be it.

Buying all the other stuff, all the supplies and things.

Well, what's left will be actually... Well, a one-fifth of our, our budget went on, went on the insulation, so... -Yeah.

-Maybe it may, may go to two more.

But if, if I have time to, to search out and find the deals... -Uh-huh.

-...even with Lowe's giving discounts, -you know, what they call... -Okay.

-I think we can... -Okay.

[indistinct] [Ayne] Minden is always on the back of my mind.

Their faces are what stick to my mind when anything goes wrong in another city or county right now.

We were ready to give away that little house.

And nobody wanted to even come and see it.

Odd is still out there, but if you want out, you got to fight for it.

[Lollie] We got this house in 1981.

And of course, we collect all these things.

Uh, these things.

See?

You see on the floor.

Because he likes to...

He was thinking to have a museum one of these days and because of the other buildings are already full, we try to put them here to the others, you know, that we, we collect.

As you see, this is a big vase.

Also, I don't know if you have seen one, but we got this from Virginia just because it's bigger than me, taller than me.

See?

Look at these books.

Look at these frames.

Books everywhere.

All his stuff are still here.

I'm sorry.

Oh, there are gloves here even.

This is the other room that we added up.

I haven't put the things inside the cabinets.

They're all in boxes in the bathroom here.

So this is what our life is here.

I haven't been here to sleep even.

Not a single day since he passed away.

That's almost three years now.

On the 29th of August, I just come here to check the house and things like that.

We just keep it the way it should be.

I miss the job that I do with him.

I miss the things that I talk to him every day.

Th-that's what the big difference is.

I'm sorry.

[indistinct chatter] [Lollie] Of course, he's very proud of her doing all these things.

And he tells everybody then that if something happens to me, my daughter will take over for me.

That's what he tells all these people in Minden that don't worry if I'm not going to make it, my daughter will be always here to help you guys out.

[Ayne] How many did you guys get so far?

[Lollie] And I told him many times that maybe you should take care of yourself before you can take care of others.

But he said, "I'm doing it, Lol.

I'm helping others.

I want to help them."

[man] We have one red light, so I don't have the things that the other counties have to deal with, so I can hit up the largest search and rescue team.

[Ayne] I get so tired of talking to people all day that I don't even like to talk to people at night.

I know that sounds terrible, but I just don't even feel like talking to people because I'm just so tired of talking all day and just all day long, defusing bombs, defusing situations, calming people down, listening to people complain.

You cannot win with, uh, people because you're not going to say what they want to hear.

This is the time to buckle down.

I mean, this is not the time to, you know... flake out.

I mean, you just can't.

There's, there's no choice.

You have to do it.

Otherwise, who else is going to do it?

At the end of the day, I just can't handle anymore.

[Lollie] She's exactly the same like her father.

Whatever she can do, she will do.

[sighs] That's the way.

[engine revving] [Butter chuckles] [car door slams] We are... headed to Thurmond down to New River.

Hopefully do some bass fishing.

Might even catch a catfish or two, you never know.

I've been coming down here...

I'd say since I was 10 or 12 years old.

Yeah.

She's up.

There's the river right there.

Now, this is one place I would move to.

If you get my wife to move, I'd be right down on the riverbank.

[Kevin] Got that down pat now, huh?

[Butter] What's that?

You just kind of stop, point, and talk, and they think you're saying something important.

-[Butter] Yeah.

-[both laugh] ♪♪ [Butter] The Indians call it The River of Death.

At least once or twice a year, somebody drowns in it.

I mean, that's just the history of it.

A lot of people have moved down here and just lived their whole life, and... their history is here, like mine.

Just home, man.

Just love it.

You know, you just...

I just love it.

It was a catfish.

He's a nice one too.

Hey, Kevin.

You need some help showing how it's done, son?

[laughs] [keys jingling] [Lollie] Oh, my goodness.

This is one of our properties that he stored the antiques.

Oh, the light is on.

These are old.

These were, these were full of stuff at the time.

-[Susie] Look at this.

-This is what I've been doing.

Cleaning and throwing.

I throw away so much research papers.

Oh, lord.

-Yeah.

-It's very pretty.

Yeah.

So we just use this as a storage building.

If you go to the mall where I took the things of it, it's so much.

And there's so much more in this side.

Come, come.

I'll show you.

If you come here.

This is... [laughs] They don't want to talk about their father most of the time.

Especially Ayne, she doesn't show so much.

But she cries.

Yeah.

She's responsible with all so much left by her father.

But, uh, sometimes she says, Mommy, don't sell them yet.

Don't sell, like, the books and some of these furnitures that are really old.

Sometimes, she doesn't like to part with them yet.

I said, "It's getting too late now.

I'm getting older.

We are getting older."

I did all this work.

-[Susie] You did?

-[Lollie] Yes.

I did the typing.

I did the doing all these things.

I did all this putting them together.

It's a book.

-Y'all didn't fight-- -I did all this work.

Y'all didn't fight very much, did you?

-We were because I wanted to... -[both laugh] I wanted it to be like this, and I, I corrected, I edited it well... the way I thought.

I guess it's just normal, uh, Susie.

If there's no fight, something's wrong.

-[both laugh] -Right.

-[Susie] It was very unhealthy.

-[Ayne] No, I know.

I only eat if I'm hungry or if I'm relaxed.

People eat when they're nervous or they're mad or they're anxious or depressed.

I don't.

I'm not one of those people.

-That's good though.

-[Ayne] So... -But you got to pick it up.

-No, I know I look disgusting.

No, you don't look disgusting.

I could feel my bones, and I had to buy new clothes because my, my clothes looked bad.

That's terrible.

So I have, like, four sizes of clothes in this house, which is awful.

So... -Our health is all we got.

-I know.

As you, as you tell your patients.

It's true.

I've not gotten a chance to talk to Steve.

-Uh-- -I did.

-Okay, what... [indistinct] -[laughs] When did you talk to him last?

Just on the, you know, texting a little bit.

-Okay.

-Because, uh, I don't know, if something happens, and I don't mean this in a bad way, -but I get phone calls.

-Mm-hmm.

Well, come to find out, there's a meeting that they're having with the, um, county commissioners, private locked doors.

-All the lawyers... -Mm-hmm.

...and them.

I feel like there's stuff going on behind the scenes that we don't know about.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I don't, I don't like it, I feel compromised.

Mm-hmm.

What's he telling you the meeting is about, though?

[Susie] He's not.

Okay, I'll have to call him.

I don't know, I haven't talked to him since I think last time we talked.

But it still makes me feel very uncomfortable that he's not being upfront with us.

It makes no sense.

None of it to me.

So you make any sense out of it?

No, I just need an update then.

Right there is a big one.

They're sore too, right there.

But go ahead because I want you to... And they're all over.

Which, um, breast did you have cancer in?

-Both.

-Oh.

They didn't do a lumpectomy, -which one did-- -Both.

Oh.

But you'd never complained of all these lumpy things.

[Susie] No, they just poof.

And they were there.

[Butter] I feel there's probably places all over the country like this, but we've been fighting this for over 40 years.

It's... it's hard.

Sue keeps me going, and it keeps Sue going.

...poor white community in United States.

[Butter] I never thought anybody would fight for a town the way she does.

She's... absolutely wonderful.

I think his mama gets mad when we all call him boss.

Yeah, I don't care.

But once she's gone, I feel it's gonna be over.

[baby crying] Gonna be a movie star.

This is my home.

Getting a little half smile out of me, ain't you, baby?

You cutie pie.

I grew up here and if I can help 'em...

I'm going to try to help 'em.

[birds chirping] ♪♪ [Susie] "I finally received all of the data "from our trip to Minden.

"Attached are the laboratory reports.

"Job 7367621 "was the PCB analysis performed on the soil samples.

"Four of the samples contained some PCBs, "although these levels were not very elevated.

"Job number 7367821 "was a PCB analysis of that puddle "near Arbuckle Creek, which Butter showed us.

No PCBs detected."

Wait, what?

"Had there been very high levels of PCBs, "I would have recommended that we put together "a formal report of all of our findings.

"Let me know your thoughts on, on things "and what you would like me to do next.

I again thank you both for searching..." [filmmaker] How do you want to talk about this as a part of the film, in terms of what people will take away from what the results have said, which is that these results don't show the PCBs.

[Butter] He tested below the area I told him to test.

[Susie] It's there, but it's just... they're not getting in places where they have high, you know, quantities of it.

[Butter] Which proves our point that when it rains and it floods, it just keeps moving.

[Stephen] The data alone that's collected by the state and federal government is enough to know that cancer rates in Minden shouldn't be what they are.

But as far as where to clean up and how to clean up and who should be responsible... sometimes people just don't like hearing what they don't want to hear.

♪♪ Through the fall and the winter, we focused on what are we going to be able to allege here and what do we believe that we can prove?

Something sort of jumped out at us that if the EPA has Minden or any site designated as a Superfund site, that takes off the board a lot of property damage claims that can be made under West Virginia law.

So that took a lot of the wind out of our sails.

Then we shifted the focus to the cancer exposure.

When did that statute start to run?

This is where things start to go awry.

So one day, I get a call from Susie that Steve has filed on behalf of the county.

And I said, well, that doesn't make any sense.

We told them your statute on your personal injury claim has expired.

But if we went through the Fayette County Health Department, you could create a medical monitoring fund.

Early detection gives the person the best chance at beating cancer.

So we got the authority from the Fayette County Commission to run out and file a lawsuit.

And we did.

We filed that.

The whole point wasn't to do medical testing for them.

The point was to find ways to get them out.

We just don't want a pot of money so he can get some payout or so the county can have some more funds to... around with.

[Stephen] It was never about getting money for the county to do anything other than the establishment of a medical monitoring fund through the Fayette County Health Department.

And no matter how many times I said that, that was just part of some conspiracy theory.

I felt bad, and I felt very bad for bringing him into their sphere, because he gave them hope for what?

He's been with us a year around with this.

I felt bad, you know.

I couldn't...

I can't...

I won't even look at it.

I-I don't have any, like...

I would...

I could scream at him if I saw him.

It's difficult to explain those type of sophisticated concepts to the most sophisticated of clients.

It's exponentially more difficult to explain them to unsophisticated clients.

And I don't say that with any type of malice.

I mean, ignorance is not a pejorative term.

[Ayne] When we got that NPL, I felt like it was like this big accomplishment, but that hasn't done anything.

And then I thought Steve and all that was another big jump for something to happen.

So I feel like we got pushed down again, and now I don't know what is going to happen to get another push up.

There is an aspect of we've been wronged, you know.

And they have, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The law says the way PCBs should be disposed of.

The law is very clear.

But years and years and years of telling yourself the same narrative, you know that justice should prevail because we're on the right side of this.

Yes, it should.

You guys probably should have brought suit in, like... 1985 or '86.

I have no idea.

[Stephen] I think the people are going to have to move to embracing a governmental solution as opposed to a legal solution.

[Aaron] We're going to want to go back through the history to figure out, okay, why did we get where we're at?

The site was listed on the National Priorities List in May of 2019, and then EPA returned to characterize the nature and extent of contamination.

To date, we've installed 124 soil borings, uh, collected sediment at 70 locations, surface water at 56 locations.

So we still have some additional samples to collect, but up to, through December, we have collected 833 environmental samples as part of the remedial investigation.

I know you're going to have a question time for us... -Yeah.

-...but while you're right here, I was told by you, by the people before you who was in charge too that tell me where you want sampled and we will do it.

You're up here on this slate dump, and that's not where we asked to be tested.

Susie, if you just want to make stuff up, -I ain't making crap up.

-...we've gone-- -We've done... We've sampled-- -You're making stuff up.

We have-- I'm sorry, Susie, we have sampled where you've asked us to sample, but we're not finding it where you're telling us to.

[Butter] You're...

So you're telling us that you put those test wells where we requested.

There were three soil borings put between the basement, the former basement, and Arbuckle Creek.

Because if there's, as I've been told, there's PCB, there's this magic PCB blob flowing out toward the creek.

We would get it if with that.

Based on the soil samples, we didn't get it.

You're just sitting there and you're, you're kind of being crappy... -You're insulting us.

-[Susie] ...and you're insulting us.

Now let me tell you...

So I'm sorry.

That was inappropriate.

Sorry.

[all shouting] [Annetta] Come to our town and our community center, and then you want to make Susie out to be some liar, she makes up stuff, and Butter makes up stuff.

And for you to come in here and to say that is very rude to the people here, and it's very disrespectful when you lose your children and you lose your parents and you're losing your siblings one after another for the last 47 years... Like I have.

Or 40 years, 38 years, whatever.

I was ten years old when the EPA came here the first time, and my kids will probably be here fighting a battle when I'm dead and gone.

[Butter] We still have to live with this over and over and over.

[Christopher Corbett] Yeah.

We can't clean up what we can't find.

Out of the 19 wells, 17... no PCBs at all.

That shows us there is a localized problem here.

There is a localized problem, but there's not a widespread problem.

-[Susie] That you're aware of.

-And... That we're aware of.

You know what really makes this hard.

No, I... We don't doubt.

We really, we don't doubt that there was a bad contamination problem here.

[Susie] I still think there's a bad contamination problem here.

I just think you ain't found it.

Well, we're trying.

He's collected over 800 samples.

We're looking everywhere we can.

In the surface water, in the sediments, in the soil, in the floodplain.

The problem is, we should have been doing this 40 years ago.

I know, I know, you know that, we know that.

But here we are in 2022.

You know, I'm sure whatever PCBs were in the community here, they're probably far away right now.

[Butter] The same old runaround.

I mean, there's no tests showing what it's like living 40 years in PCB.

Don't tell me we can't live in the past because we are.

I miss my good friends, you know, that died of cancer.

I miss them.

And you tell me that I'm just supposed to forget it.

Just shoveling bull... That's all they're doing over and over and over.

You just get sick of it sometimes, you know?

Just... And then you just say, to hell with it and turn around and walk away.

[dogs barking in distance] [Ayne] I-I'm moving from my house to my childhood home.

I'll show you where I'm sleeping.

It was my mom's old room, and it's kind of messy.

So, um, just be careful walking.

And there's clothes everywhere.

And I know I have to go through this thing, but I don't know where I'm gonna put it.

So I tried to give back my engagement ring to Salar, but he would not take it back.

He started getting very upset with me.

He showed up unexpectedly last Saturday.

I've not seen him since December of 2019, mind you.

Um, but he would not take it back.

So he got very upset with me to try to give it back to him.

So I, uh...

I still have it.

It's our jewelry.

When we first met, the first thing I had said to him was that I wanted to have children.

And of course, he apologizes, says he wasn't good at communicating.

I was like, no, you're pretty good at communicating, saying you didn't want to do it.

For the last seven years, every time you dismissed or any suggestion I made to you, I hate you more.

I told him, I don't... have kids because of you.

Oh, you can still have them.

I was like, what kind of kids could we have now?

We can adopt kids.

I was like, I don't want to have anything with you.

And I said, you are pretty insensitive and rude to even come around and say this... to me right now.

And you want me to wag my tail like a dog at you?

I was like, there are plenty of times I would have loved for you to have surprised me, and you never came.

Ever.

♪♪ I have an aunt who wanted to buy my house, um, so I said, that's fine, if you're going to buy it for what I bought it for, I'll sell it to you.

I didn't want to sell it, to be honest with you.

I cried about it a couple times because when I bought that house, I envisioned it to be a house where I had, you know, children and had my own life and things like that.

For me, it was just like, you're holding on to something for no reason.

You're being, you know, just ridiculous.

You just have to let it go.

This has most of my stuff from the other house, which is for now.

So it has a lot of clothes that I had accumulated and then boxes of all my stuff, which I don't know where we're going to put all of it because there's no space.

I mean, my mom sends stuff to the Philippines a lot.

Um... Can't live like this.

It's just, it's just too much stuff.

♪♪ I could easily say I'm depressed, even probably clinically depressed.

You feel depressed because you can't control work or you're overworked.

And then on top of that, if you thought you would have children at a certain age and it didn't hit those milestones, and then you're like, well, this isn't how life is supposed to be.

But you can't define your whole life on things that didn't happen.

[indistinct chatter] The only failure is if you keep going with the same plan that doesn't work.

That, to me, is worse than failing.

You have to know when to get out of something.

pick yourself back up and either if it's meant to be or you really are passionate about, you find another way.

Otherwise, let it go.

That's why to me, I want to just kind of get rid of a lot of stuff and then decide, you know, what else do I need to do to be calm and peaceful?

And I really just don't want to think about anything.

[Tom] Oh, uh, when we get to that table and, uh, all the other stuff in there, you may end up... [Ayne] I mean, it wasn't easy to tell Tom that we wanted to sell the property... but I did tell him, you know, it didn't turn out the way we want.

It's an extra expense that I can't manage right now.

It's just too much.

And it's a reminder of something that just didn't work out.

I want to get rid of it and move on to something else or nothing.

Well, we have to clear up for the next people.

That's what it is, you know.

Well, of course, of course.

And I'm working on... And it's a mess.

-It's a disaster.

-[Lollie] I understand.

[Tom] You can pick if you want.

That girl...

I know you wanted your pictures and the Indian artifacts and stuff.

And I got some pipes and stuff up here for you.

And arrows.

Uh, can I have those things now?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Of course.

Like I said, I told you I'd keep them here, and that's what I've done.

Uh, if there's any other small items, I'll make sure they're there if I run into them, if there's something I forgot.

I don't know why I didn't take that one down.

I guess I missed it right up in that corner.

-It's okay.

-Here you are, my friend.

-I'm sorry... -[Tom] It's okay.

-I'm sorry.

-[Tom] You don't need to be.

-I wish we could do more.

-It's... Yeah.

It's okay.

Things work out like they're supposed to.

You listen.

Listen.

You keep in touch with me at least, okay?

[Tom] I'll send you a picture over or something.

I appreciate you.

Thank you.

-I love you.

-You take care, okay?

-You too.

-Alright.

-Thank you.

-You take care.

Thank you, my friend.

Yeah.

Anything else?

-Is that it for the day?

-I guess that's it for today.

[Tom sighs] [zipper buzzes] [sobs quietly] [chuckles] For sure.

[♪ poignant music playing] [Tom] I went to several of those meetings and everyone that I saw there... they seemed like me, but they thought they deserved more.

[both laughing] -Awkward.

-It makes it very difficult, doesn't it?

[Tom] The very first thing I did when she told me she was going to sell it...

I went about a mile and a half... down through the holler, over the hill to the crick.

And right above the crick, I had two headstones.

Still got them.

They're in a storage building now.

Took me near two weeks to get them out there.

I thought we were going to be able to die here and just be at peace.

But... life offers you different things.

And all you can do is just take what it offers you and do the best you can with it.

[Lollie] What time is it now?

[Ayne] Eight.

[Lollie] I wonder if we're going to eat this thing till tomorrow.

[laughs] I don't know.

I told her to move patients from the 27th because at noon, they changed that luncheon to the 27th.

Remember we were supposed to have it.

♪♪ My dad was always going, going, going, and I probably got part of that from him.

I don't know if it's a dissatisfaction of what you're supposed to contribute to society, but...

I know at the end of the day, none of that's going to matter.

But, um, it's just... it's hard to let it go.

I had big lofty goals, and it didn't pan out.

But I try to think that things happen for a reason.

[water running] I still believe in that.

You know, I think back and there's people I would have been with... they all have kids now, and I could have easily inserted myself in their position.

But then I wouldn't have had those last few years with my dad.

If you look at the leaves, they're buried inside.

You may not see the leaves, even.

And it correlates.

Those people who were very closely associated working with PCB definitely had that toxic level in their body.

This place has to be shut down and relocated.

-[interviewer] That's wonderful.

-Thank you.

[Ayne] I was meant to be here.

[switch clicks] [♪ "Branscombe" by Voka Gentle playing] ♪ If I was in heaven with you ♪ ♪ I wouldn't cry ♪ ♪ For a long time ♪ ♪ If I was in the middle with you ♪ ♪ I would be free ♪ ♪ To speak my mind ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Would you lie down?

♪ ♪ See those clothes I'm wearing now?

♪ ♪ Tell me where my faith is ♪ ♪ Or is it off the road?

♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Would you lie down?

♪ ♪ Tell me which birds are in the sky ♪ ♪ Or which flowers lie at the edge of the wood ♪ ♪ If I was in the garden with you ♪ ♪ You would tell me how it turned out right ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Would you lie down?

♪ ♪ Tell me which birds are in the sky ♪ ♪ Or which flowers lie ♪ ♪ By the side of the road ♪