Chemical spill in front of our house

10/28/09 Wednesday
We evidently have a large chemical spill right in front of the house. Heard a loud POP and the dogs barking yesterday afternoon and went out to see what it was. There was one of those raised up farm tractors designed to spray chemicals pulled over on the side of the road. I didn’t see anything obvious from the kitchen door so waved to the farmer who got out of the tractor. Later on we found a huge puddle of whatever spilled from the tractor that covered both lanes of the highway. It looks like oil at first but when I checked everything is dry or hard, not slick like oil would be. This has us worried as the cotton farmers are spraying defoliants so I suspect that’s what this is. Agent orange was a defoliant used in Vietnam and there are still repercussions for the veterans who were exposed to that. We live here and have no desire to be next to a toxic waste dump. What was the chemical? Can it get into our well water? The tractor guy just drove off and that’s it. I don’t know what or how to move on this or if we are worrying about nothing. So I’ll call the police to see what they have to say.
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Sheriff John came out with the Texdot guy and looked at the spill. They came to the conclusion that it was likely a Roundup mix that had spilled because of the smell and texture. They reassured me that this posed no hazard due to Roundup’s short life span and the fact that it had all spilled on the pavement so none got into the soil. That’s good to hear. It was nice to see John Woodruff again. We certainly voted for him when he ran for sheriff. He’s one of the few who spent the time to get to know us, and that was before he thought about running for sheriff so it was an indication of what kind of person he is.

Time to run to the old man’s and work on his desk and doors so I’ve got to get the dogs in and go.