Mercury cleaned up from LV home, shipped to waste site

Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 | 9:52 a.m.

The cleanup of the mercury contaminated home on the 1400 block of Saylor Way has been completed at a cost of $175,000, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

The agency said the cleanup of high levels of mercury in the home and yard near Vegas Drive and Jones Boulevard was completed Thursday and resulted in 80 yards of contaminated materials -- including the backyard swimming pool -- being collected and hauled to the hazardous waste landfill at Beatty.

The Clark County Health District and EPA crews participated in the cleanup of the contamination that was discovered Jan. 10 when 17-year-old Michael Coleman and the family dog became sick after playing with and consuming some of the liquified metal.

Coleman, who was hospitalized, has since been released. The dog also has "nearly fully recovered," the EPA said Thursday. The family had been put up at a local motel initially by the Salvation Army and later by the EPA. A clerk at the motel today said the Coleman family no longer is registered there.

Attempts to reach the family through a relative were not successful.

Coleman had told investigators he got the mercury from a bottle that was with mining equipment that his uncle, a one-time gold prospector who had been living with the family, left behind when he moved to California.

Coleman said he played with the mercury inside and outside the home. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, Coleman, who said he did not know at the time that the contents of the bottle were harmful, showed it to visiting relatives, pouring some into their hands.

A family member, suspicious that the material was something Coleman should not be messing with, threw the bottle and its contents into the trash, officials said, noting that long exposure to the mercury vapors made Coleman ill.

Authorities found mercury beads in the home, car, backyard patio, kitchen sink and pool. Not only did the pool have to be removed, but also its 8,000 gallons of mercury-contaminated water, EPA officials said. Much of the interior of the home had to be demolished, officials said.

Health officials interviewed more than a dozen relatives and neighborhood friends of Coleman and tested some for mercury poisoning. No other instances of mercury contamination were found, they said.