By: Diane Benjamin
I heard some citizens of Atlanta Il have witnessed employees of the Palms Grill pouring grease down a drain behind the restaurant. The last time the Edgar County Watchdogs and I were in Atlanta, we decided to check it out.
The smell emanating from the drain was the vilest stench I’ve ever encountered. I really despise snakes, but I’d rather be forced to hold one than go anywhere near that drain again. Pieces of rotting food were visible.
One of the Watchdogs filed a complaint with the Logan County Health Department. See that story HERE
When he didn’t get a response, I filed a FOIA request with the Logan County Health Department for all complaints and investigations filed during that time period.
I received 6 pages, I see nothing that says somebody actually sniffed the air around the drain.
See the 6 pages here: Palms Grill Investigation
Page 1 claims somebody spoke to Bill Thomas. It also claims a shed storing food behind the grill has 2 freezers in it. If the inspector saw the freezers he had to pass close to the drain. The report says nothing about the stench.
“Complaint abated” isn’t checked as either Yes or No. It does say the complaint was referred to the State Plumbing Inspector. Another FOIA required.
Page 2 has an illegally redacted To section. Email addresses can be redacted, but not who it was written to.
Page 3 has the complaint filed by the Watchdogs.
Page 4 has an email stating the inspector spoke to “the owner of the Palms Grill”. The library claims they own it, I wonder of Bill Thomas was the guy he talked to? That “owner” claimed:
They have been dumping mop buckets in the drain!
If they are mopping up the excrement creating the rancid smell, may I suggest not eating there EVER?
Page 5 has another illegally redacted TO section.
I will file a FOIA with the State Plumbing Inspector. Maybe they have staff that can smell.
To be continued . . .
goodgrief you cannot do that pouring legally , contact the state epa , they would shut that stuff down and fine heavily I bet . besides an environmental and obvious health risk .. who ever the local inspector is , they are Not doing their job . pretty sad .
The day Diane supports the EPA is the day Donald Trump releases his tax returns. Although contacting the EPA would be the logical choice since the grease is going to end up clogging the storm drain and probably effect the rest of the plumbing resulting in a sewage overflow. Maybe Diane thinks seeing grogans is only natural. But Nancy Drew would rather play detective and her Hardy Boys are surprisingly, willing accomplices. Just look at the past articles she has written about the EPA. She just wants to write about the corruption rather than helping. It’s like finding out which one of the kids lit the match to start the fire without calling the fire department first.
It’s sad you can’t understand what limited government means. Remember when the EPA was responsible for polluting and entire river in Colorado? How about when the wanted to regulate farm fields because of “tiny mountains” or when they wanted to control dust caused by plowing and harvesting?
The EPA is now a bunch of bureaucrats who have made tons of great progress toward cleaning up the environment. They need something to do to stay employed, so they are over-reaching their positions. congress makes laws, not the EPA.
Your final comments make no sense. I expose corruption, I can’t prosecute it.
I agree with you Sonny. Diane did NOT read her own FIOA documents.The Grill was NOT dumping grease down the drain, they were dumping dirty water. They were asked not to do this in the future. The photograph clearly shows LEAVES not food on the drain. Grease from the Grill was/is being properly disposed. The “stench” may be a plumbing problem, not something the Grill is doing wrong. Diane exposes corruption? That a laugh. Diane has too much time on her hands, so much so she cyber bullies people she doesn’t know. I wonder if half the people who are commenting on here are at work. Are they using their employer’s computer to post on this blog? It would seem so–I dare her to leave this post on her site.
The EPA is being stripped of its power. Polluters are now free to pollute our waters and our airs. Apparently that’s what she wants, 50 years of clean air and water down the drain. The fact that Pruitt is charging hundreds of thousands for his personal security and is spending 25,000 on super duper cone of silence for himself escapes her power to expose corruption. So much for Nancy Drew.
Seriously? Thanks for the comedy!
Just seems like we are dealing with a huge circus of monkeys going round & round. Wonder how long it will take for someone to truly investigate the situation? I can remember the days when someone filed a complaint & the health department would be out there within the day.
You can tell just by all the grease stains around the grate. All restaurants must have a tank or such to reclaim the grease. You just can’t pour it into the storm drain. Idiots
Shut. It. Down. Bet the local Leftists are too busy attacking gun manufacturers, banks and insurance companies to care about this kind of local criminality starring them right in the face.
Try again! Bill Thomas said it was mop water, been following the news about ‘ol Bill? Did you miss where I said people have SEEN grease dumped down that drain?
I Should have checked your IP address earlier. Don’t bother commenting again. Getting fired wasn’t enough? You’ve proved again that reading is beyond your ability, so bye.
I don’t know if you people have any idea about the way the legal system works for local and state government. I have found out first hand from my attorney about a situation I had with local Atlanta police a few months back. The city is totally exempt from any legal action as long as it is based on third party evidence. So that means that you have to actually see it yourself and then have someone with you that is considered lawful to verify you have saw what you said you did and then maybe just maybe if the States Attorney is not in the back pocket of the city officials you may get somewhere. But it all depends on who is in who’s pocket because the way the legal system works for politics is that they are protected to the enth degree from anything. And that my friends came from my attorney.
Is it just me or is something missing. At the top it says 11 comments? Not here.
Must be recording comments from other social media sites. I didn’t know it did that.
Actually, click on comments – they are there.