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U.S. NEWS Friday 15 November 2019

Missouri woman

charged after husband’s

body found in freezer

By HEATHER HOLLING-
SWORTH
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) —
Authorities have arrested a
woman whose husband’s
corpse was found in a
freezer in a bedroom inside
their southwest Missouri
home, where it may have
been stored for nearly a
year.
Barbara Watters, 67, of
Joplin, was arrested Thurs-
day, a day after she was
charged with abandon- In this Oct. 18, 2017, file photo, Asbestos Removal Technologies Inc., job superintendent Ryan
ment of a corpse, a felony This undated photo provided Laitila, right, sprays amended water as job forman Megan Eberhart holds a light during asbestos
that is punishable by up to by the Joplin, Mo., Police abatement in Howell, Mich.
Department, shows Barbara
four years in prison. Watters. Associated Press
The grim discovery was Associated Press
made after a witness told Court rules Trump EPA unlawfully
police that Paul Barton’s enforcement, Jimenez said
body had been in Watters’ formal identification of the ignored dangerous chemicals
freezer since his death on body is pending.
Dec. 30, 2018, a police of- No charges have been
ficer wrote in the probable filed in his death. By MATTHEW BROWN would consider the risks of Union of Concerned Sci-
cause affidavit. Jimenez said in an inter- BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — those older products since entists, the Sierra Club and
Watters was arrested with- view that officers got the The Trump administration they result in some of the other plaintiffs in the case.
out incident at a home in tip about the body Mon- unlawfully excluded mil- most common chemical “If EPA doesn’t consider
Joplin, with the assistance day while investigating an lions of tons of some of the exposures by people. lead pipe or lead paint,”
of the U.S. Marshals Service, unrelated Nov. 5 fire that most dangerous materials But spurred by the chemi- she added, “then it might
The Joplin Globe reported. damaged a home in the in public use from a safety cal industry, the EPA under end up saying lead is safe
"She was standing in the neighborhood. Officers review, a federal appeals President Donald Trump because you’re not going
yard there," police Capt. served a search warrant court ruled Thursday. sought to limit the review to to look at how people are
Nick Jimenez said. Tuesday and found the A three-judge panel of the products still being manu- exposed to lead.”
The witness said Watters body just where the witness 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- factured. For asbestos, the EPA pro-
threatened to kill him if he said it would be. peals said the U.S. Environ- EPA officials will review the posal would have meant
notified police. Watters also Jimenez declined to de- mental Protection Agency court’s decision, agency gauging the risks from just
threatened to kill police, scribe how the witness must consider dangers spokesperson Corry Schier- a few hundred tons of the
firefighters and emergency knows Watters, although posed by asbestos, lead meyer said. material that are imported
medical workers if they at- the affidavit said he was and other toxins regardless Firefighters and construc- annually — while excluding
tempted to come into her at her house on Nov. 7 of whether they’re still be- tion workers complained almost all of the estimated
house, the witness said, ac- when officers attempted ing manufactured. that ignoring products al- 8.9 million tons (8.1 million
cording to the affidavit. to contact the occupants. Millions of tons of those ready in use would jeopar- metric tons) of asbestos-
Police said she has unspeci- The witness said Watters chemicals are in the mar- dize their health A coalition containing products that
fied “mental disorders” and stood at the door pointing ketplace, in products rang- of unions, safety advocates entered the marketplace
is known to carry firearms. a handgun at officers on ing from home insulation and scientific groups had between 1970 and 2016.
An autopsy is planned to the other side and refused and fire retardant to house sued to block the EPA pro- The chemical industry’s
determine the cause of to allow him to answer the paint and plumbing pipes. posal released in 2017. lobbying arm, the Ameri-
death and confirm the door. The safety review was man- “The big issue in the case can Chemistry Council,
identity of the remains. The affidavit doesn’t ex- dated by Congress and is was what exposures does had pushed back against
While the criminal com- plain why officers were at the first step toward enact- the EPA have to look at it the Obama administra-
plaint says Watters “know- the house that day, and Ji- ing potential new regula- when it assesses the use of tion’s interpretation of the
ingly disposed of or left” menez said he didn’t know tions to protect the public. a chemical,” said Eve Gart- law in question, known as
Barton’s corpse at her whether it was related to Under President Barack ner, an Earthjustice attor- the Toxic Substances Con-
home without notifying law the arson inquiry.q Obama, the EPA said it ney who represented the trol Act.q