Casino workers air toxic-mold concerns

Andrew Griffin / Staff Reporter
Posted on June 22, 2002

HESSMER - The coughing fits started about eight months ago for Jeannie Stelly, and
since then, this and other symptoms of toxic-mold exposure have worsened.

Stelly, a Paragon Casino employee from Washington, La., said her health was fine during
her first two years as a casino money-handler. It wasn't until the third year - the year the
new hotel began to be built in 2001 - that her health began to suffer.

"I began coughing all the time," Stelly said. "It got to the point where guests were
commenting on it."

Stelly, along with fellow Paragon workers Kenyawn Augustine, Mary Jane Bonnette and
Dee Galland, met Wednesday in Hessmer to discuss the toxic-mold problem.

Their symptoms, they say, are related to the October discovery of toxic mold at the resort.
That discovery prompted several other casino workers to claim in a lawsuit that the mold
caused them various adverse health problems.

"I have to use a breathing machine," Augustine said. "I can't believe this has happened to me."

Stelly noticed her health worsened after she began working at a bank near the casino's
oyster bar. Her eyes were watering and irritated all the time, and she felt achy and sick all
over, she said.

Eventually her supervisor, Nancy Stoneman, said she was being forced to take an unpaid
90-day medical leave. Stelly said Stoneman warned that she would be terminated if she
tried to work elsewhere.

"I asked her how I was supposed to pay my bills," said Stelly, who had worked at a small
casino in Washington to supplement her income.

In the week since she left the casino, Stelly said, she has felt better, and friends have
commented on her improved appearance. Several casino supervisors told her she must be
allergic to something in the casino, she said.

Stelly linked her health problems to possible toxic-mold exposure when a co-worker showed
her a Town Talk article about others that complained about the casino.

Galland, who links her deteriorated health to toxic-mold exposure, is disappointed with the
way she and other workers have been treated.

"We've have gotten no calls and no sympathy from the casino whatsoever," Galland said.
"They say ugly comments about us saying that we're money-hungry. That's not it at all.
We're out for justice, and we're out for them to take responsibility."

Since coming forward in May, the Paragon workers have said more of their fellow workers
have gotten sick and more are getting tested for exposure to strachybotrys chartarum, a
highly toxic mold spore that thrives in damp places.

The women said they are considering taking legal action.

"We'd happily go back if the place was cleaned up," Galland said, adding that employees
were told not to talk about the mold problem, even though it was being cleaned up all around
them.

Casino and tribal representatives have declined to comment on the issue due to a gag order
issued by Tunica-Biloxi Tribal judge B.C. Bennett, who is expected to hear another case
relating to former Paragon employees claiming exposure to toxic mold.

Andrew Griffin: 487-6383; agriffin@thetowntalk.com

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