know the difference between what we can and can’t change’,” he said. “There are some issues here people continue to languish on that for all practical purposes are over. The suits and settlements are done. They are legal and within the bounds of what the court accepted.”

Where people can still make a difference – and where WildLaw can help – are with the cleanup and health and social services. WildLaw can facilitate communication and bring skills like grant writing to community groups.

“Some people think they’re holding lemons,” he said. “How can we help them make lemonade?”

One of the reasons Turnham said he and Vaughan are interested in Anniston’s pollution cases and the aftermath is because it’s the largest tort settlement in history and there are a lot of communities around the nation with similar issues that may be able to learn something from Anniston.

People are upset and confused, but in these types of situations people will always be upset and confused, Turnham said.

He said WildLaw may be able to help create something like an environmental holocaust museum that would be a therapeutic way for people to tell their stories.

Mark Englehart, an attorney with the Beasley, Allen firm, which was one of the parties representing plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, Tolbert vs. Monsanto, said he thinks WildLaw may be able to ease community tension in a way those attorneys that were part of the lawsuit cannot.

“We know they are very good and what they do to the extent that they can go up there as a neutral, independent group, not seen as having their own vested interest, and play a different role as far as what can be done going forward,” Englehart said.

Vaughan and Turnham have been talking to Sue McInnish, executive director of the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation, as she decides how best to spend the $1 million the Tolbert plaintiffs’ attorneys have given her foundation to spend on education in Anniston.

She’s been talking to community groups and leaders and plans to invest in programs that have already been successful but need more funding, especially in the area of early childhood development.

“Anniston is in a really unique position to be able to reinvigorate some of the services that have been available,” McInnish said. “We’ve done a lot of talking about coordinating services and collaboration.”

She said she realizes this $1 million won’t last forever.

“Anniston has a place in my heart I didn’t realize was going to get so big,” McInnish said. “We are committed from a statewide basis to helping organizations build capacity and even when these funds are gone we will remain.”

The Rev. Kelley said he thinks WildLaw is a good resource for the area, but it’s not his only resource and he doesn’t completely agree that the settlements are done and can’t be changed.

“One thing we can do is keep this issue vocal, keep it before a national platform – making this thing so difficult and well known so this type of situation will never happen again,” he said.

Annistion’s PCB contamination will be discussed today at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights meeting of the Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi advisory committees in Mobile. The meeting is about environmental justice and discrimination in the south.

McInnish said she thinks WildLaw will be a good resource for Anniston.

“Anniston has had a lot of people interest in trying to make things better and I know it’s tough sometimes, but I think things are going to turn around,” she said. “I really do.”