Ex-Workers, Business Creditors On Hold In L-Bar Case Plant Boss In Buried Waste Case Gets Probation, Ok To Run Stores

People are being convicted for burying hazardous waste five years ago at the now-bankrupt L-Bar magnesium recycling plant near Chewelah, Wash., but creditors are about the only ones being penalized.

Plant manager Stan McCurdy on Monday got three years of probation and six months of home detention that won’t keep him at home.

McCurdy will be allowed to leave home to run the two convenience stores he owns in Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, Wash., U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen said.

McCurdy admitted ordering employees to bury at least half of 80 barrels of mostly sulfuric acid sludge.

Meanwhile, 56 former L-Bar employees still are waiting for the $90,000 the company owed them when it closed in December 1991. Business creditors are owed much more, and their prospects of being fully paid are bleak.

Government efforts to prosecute the bankrupt company could make their prospects even bleaker.

U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee Bruce Boyden is moving to cut the creditors’ losses by accepting a plea bargain on behalf of the company.

Boyden’s action, if approved by a bankruptcy judge, would preserve the bankruptcy estate’s limited funds for creditors.

Otherwise, the money would pay attorney fees, which Boyden predicted would be “significant” if the plea bargain isn’t accepted.

Under the deal, the company would plead guilty to all eight counts in an April indictment. In exchange, federal attorneys would promise to help the company get a lighter sentence.

Penalties for the hazardous-waste felonies potentially could total several million dollars, but the plea agreement acknowledges the court might determine that the company can’t reasonably pay a fine.

Former L-Bar General Manager Paul Ortman also may get a light penalty.

Although Ortman was charged with the same felony counts as the corporation, he was allowed to plead to two misdemeanors for failing to report the use of the acid and the sale of the fertilizer manufactured with the acid.

McCurdy told the court the barrels were carried past Ortman’s window when they were buried. McCurdy also said he reported the burial to Ortman after it was completed.

No charges have been filed against McCurdy’s immediate boss, assistant L-Bar manager Jim Halle. McCurdy said Halle was present when he told employees to bury the acid barrels.

Asked why Halle escaped prosecution, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Harrington said, “You charge the people you think you can prove a case against.”

, DataTimes