The
Daily Miracle
Day Three and Four – 08.08.18 and 08.09.18
THE DAILY MIRACLE | The Toxic Cheese
Valley Elementary duped By EMILY FLOWERS The Daily Miracle
frigerator, with some gone because it was served on January 13, the day kids got sick.
The general manager of Olympus Wholesalers and Hercules Salvage sent contaminated cheese to Valley Elementary School, sending 14 children to the hospital.
Lee Cartwright, owner of Cartwright Insurance, and Lyle Scofield Jr., president of Scofield Farms, were under the impression that the cheese was delivered to the city dump. But Ty Fester, attendant at the Medina Dump, said no big cheese loads were delivered.
Ken Beckner is general manager of both companies. Beckner has made no statement on his affiliation with the scandal. Margaret O’Toole, dietician at the school, said Valley Elementary gets its cheese from Olympus Wholesalers, which distributes the cheese from Scofield Farms. O’Toole still has the tainted smokey cheddar cheese from Scofield in the re-
Cartwright Insurance hired Hercules Salvage to do the cleanup job for the fire-damaged warehouse, including taking the contaminated cheese to the dump. But Richard Marcus, who works for Beckner, delivered the cheese to the school, knowing the
cheese was contaminated. Marcus’s son was put in the hospital due to the toxic cheese, and was the only child who had to stay overnight. Delilah Grissom, comptroller for Hercules Salvage, claimed that she knew that the toxic cheese was going to the dump, but when she looked through the paperwork, she saw that Beckner had placed a change order and that the cheese was set to be sent to the school. “I need to get on the phone with Ken Beckner immediately,” Grissom said. After finding out the truth, Dominique DeNeau, spokeswoman for Olympus Wholesalers, said they were running an internal investigation. She had no other comments on the events.
THE DAILY MIRACLE | The Toxic Cheese
Ol’ Smokey leaves kids sick By YENNA KO The Daily Miracle Ken Beckner, general manager of both Olympus Wholesalers and Hercules Salvage, sold contaminated cheese to an elementary school, causing 14 children to get sick.
Shady Dale Hospital, said that one child was kept overnight at the hospital. “I think that it was from something they had at lunch,” the physician said.
On Dec. 15, a fire broke out at the Scofield Farms warehouse and caused an estimated $1 million of damage. “It was a hellacious mess,” Margaret O’Toole, the dietician at Valley Elesaid warehouse foreman Wayne Stuckey. The mentary School, said that she doesn’t know what fire melted most of the cheese in the warehouse. However, the State Department of Health ruled made the children sick but said that she served cheese the day the children got sick. She said on Jan. 4, that the cheese was unfit for human that the kids ate mac and cheese that day called consumption. “On Top of Old Smokey.” Stuckey said that the remainder of the cheese An emergency room physician, working at the got shipped to the city dump. However, Ty
Fester, an attendant that works at Medina Dump said, “No big cheese got dropped off here. No record in here either.” Delilah Grissom, comptroller for Hercules Salvage, said that the contaminated cheese being delivered to the school was impossible. However, after she checked her files, she said, “I have to talk to Ken Beckner.” On the files, two words were written. “Change Order.” “Oh no, he’s not available to talk to reporters right now,” said Dominique DeNeau, a spokeswoman for Olympus Wholesalers.
THE DAILY MIRACLE | The Toxic Cheese
‘It will surely make you sick’ By SUJITH ALLURU The Daily Miracle
Newton, the state officer, “but they sure would make you sick.”
The general manager of Hercules Salvage and Olympus Wholesalers deliberately changed the work order of sending the toxic cheese to the dump and instead sent it to Olympus Wholesalers.
Hercules Salvage was supposed to take the cheese, lot #101, to the dump. However, Ty Fester, the attendant at the Medina Dump, said that there was not a single load of cheese that was delivered.
That cheese was the same cheese used at Valley Elementary School that caused the students to exhibit symptoms of food poisoning.
At Olympus Wholesalers, spokeswoman, Dominique DeNeau, said that they have no idea how the toxic cheese was sent to Valley Elementary School. She said that all the toxic cheese was sent to the dump.
Last December, a fire broke out at the Scofield Farms Warehouse where cases of cheese became toxic from the melted plastic and fumes. The remaining cheese was condemned by the State Health Department. “Toxins in these amounts won’t kill you,” said William
At Hercules Salvage, comptroller, Delilah Grissom, said that they sent it to the dump. However, when she checked her paperwork she came to a realization that Ken Beckner the general
manager of Hercules Salvage created a change order so that the toxic cheese would be sent to Olympus Wholesalers. “I need to talk to Ken Beckner,” she said. She also said that Beckner was general manager of Olympus Wholesalers. The paperwork said that the driver was Richard Marcus. Richard Marcus said that he wore a Hercules Salvage uniform, but he actually worked for Beckner. He also said that he knew the cheese was toxic, but he was just doing his job which was to drive the cheese wherever Beckner told him to. At Olympus Wholesalers, DeNeau said that Beckner was not available and that they were conducting an internal investigation about one certain individual.
THE DAILY MIRACLE | The Toxic Cheese
A change for the worse By KAREN WU The Daily Miracle The general manager of Olympus Wholesalers and Hercules Salvage knowingly allowed toxic cheese to be sold to Valley Elementary School, causing the hospitalization of 14 children. An emergency room physician said that the children’s symptoms, including nausea and vomiting, were brought on by food poisoning around lunchtime. “On top of old smokey” macaroni and cheese was one of the options served in the cafeteria that day (Jan. 13). The meal was made using cheese that was sold by Olympus Wholesalers from Scofield Farms. The cheese was stored in Lot #101, a lot
that was condemned by the State Board of Health on Jan. 3 because it was exposed to toxins during a warehouse fire. “Toxins in these amounts won’t kill you,” state health officer William Newton said in an earlier article. “But they sure will make you sick.” This toxic cheese was supposed to be brought to the city dump by Hercules Salvage as part of their warehouse clean-up contract. However, city dump attendant Ty Fester said, “No big cheese loads [in the city dump].” Instead, records show that the order was changed by general manager Ken Beckner so that the cheese was delivered to Olympus Wholesalers, where it was then sold to the school.
Richard Marcus, who completed the delivery, said that he was working specifically for Beckner when he did so and that he knew the cheese was contaminated. “I was just doing my job,” Marcus said. However, after his son got hospitalized because of the cheese, he decided to contact the newspaper about Beckner’s actions. “Olympus Wholesalers is conducting an internal investigation into the actions of one individual,” spokesperson Dominique DeNeau said. Olympus Wholesalers has no further comment at this time. Beckner was not available for comment. It is unknown why he decided to allow toxic cheese to be sold.