Feb. 10, 2022

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TURNING THE PAGE: LACROSSE GUIDE 2022

Toxic exposure

illustration by yiwei he illustration editor

9% of children tested in Syracuse had elevated levels of lead poisoning in 2020 By Richard Perrins news editor

I

n November 2018, Darlene Medley received a letter in the mail from her doctor saying her 2-year-old twin sons had been poisoned by lead. Medley, her twins and her seven other children had been living in a rented house on the northside of Syracuse for several months. As part of state-mandated lead testing, the twins received tests that involved a prick on the finger to draw blood. The Onondaga County Health Department defi nes an elevated blood level of lead as anything higher than five see

micrograms per deciliter of blood. One twin’s test showed nine micrograms, Medley said. The other’s showed 12. Despite the presence of lead in the paint of Medley’s home, her landlord did not provide her a hotel or another property. Instead, Medley and her nine children remained in the house as the landlord hired contractors to paint over the cracks in the lead paint on her wall. The family still lives in the house, and the twins meet with a mental health therapist weekly to monitor their development. “When I was younger, lead poisoning — you heard about it, but it wasn’t really a thing,” Medley said. “So that’s

lead paint page 4

crime

Deputy shoots son, wife in suspected murder-suicide By Richard Perrins news editor

Editor’s Note: This story contains mentions of suicide. The mother of SUNY-ESF student Troy Eames, who was killed Monday, told investigators her husband — a deputy of Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office — was

responsible for the shooting at their home in Clay, New York. The deputy, Isaac Eames, shot his son, wife and family dog before shooting himself at their home in Clay, Sheriff Eugene Conway said Tuesday. He fired eight shots in total, and only his wife, Karen Eames, survived. Karen is in serious condition

at Upstate University Hospital. Troy died at the hospital on Monday afternoon. Karen reported the shooting to the Onondaga County 911 Center shortly after 7:30 a.m. Monday, syracuse.com reported. The dispatcher said a woman had been shot and two other people were in the house.

Dispatchers later said three people were “down” and they needed two additional ambulances following an initial ambulance. Isaac had been employed as a deputy in the civil division since 2010. Karen is a secretary for the Liverpool Central School District. A vigil will be held for the victims at Pope John XXIII Roman

Catholic Church in Liverpool at 7 p.m. Thursday. A GoFundMe page was created Tuesday by Karen’s sister, Annette Cittadino, to support Karen and her surviving son. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the page had raised over $60,000. rcperrin@syr.edu @RichardPerrins2


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