MICHIGANTOWN - Parents want to know how and why mercury was unattended on the street. The hazardous substance contaminated two classrooms at Clinton Central Junior-Senior High School.
The Environmental Protection Agency and a clean-up crew with a special vacuum entered a once-abandoned shop in Kirklin, where the mercury originated. Workers cleaning up for a new tenant apparently left mercury-filled glass switches used in old heaters.
Two students found the switches before catching the school bus.
"Two curious boys. Didn't know what it was, took it, gave it to him on the bus and took it to school," said Steve Rice, the grandfather of one of the students.
Rice says his grandson showed the little glass capsule to a teacher and dropped it accidentally.
"Thought it would be okay, 'cause I didn't know what it was," said Raydon Moore, the other student who found the mercury.
"Don't think he realized the extreme, what it was, what it could do," said Raydon's mother, Rachel.
Exposure to mercury vapor can cause organ and nervous system damage, so Friday, the school sealed off two classrooms where the couple teaspoons of mercury spilled, and began cleaning.
Students went back to school Monday and officials say no days of class were missed.
"Take our shoes off that we wore Friday and take our backpacks. They were going to check them," student Evan Faucett said Monday.
Moore's mother says officials told her everyone is okay.
"I was scared. I was panicked," she said.
The adults wonder why the mercury was left outside anyway.
"Sheriff told us they have 12, 15, probably 20 more vials over there. Some had broken on the street," Rice said.
"It scared him really bad," said Rachel Moore.
The mercury found on the ground outside the abandoned shop was scraped up by the EPA. It will be properly disposed of, along with the other switches.
Two boys found mercury switches near this abandoned shop.
The switches were used in old heaters.
Two classrooms at Clinton Central Junior-Senior High School were closed for cleaning.
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