Picher family is first to accept buyout

PICHER, Okla. (AP) _ A family in Picher is the first to accept the state's offer to buy their home in the contaminated Tar Creek Superfund site in northeastern Oklahoma. <br/><br/>Michael and Dicie

Friday, April 1st 2005, 9:28 am

By: News On 6

PICHER, Okla. (AP) _ A family in Picher is the first to accept the state's offer to buy their home in the contaminated Tar Creek Superfund site in northeastern Oklahoma.

Michael and Dicie Frost are accepting an offer of 33,000 for their home that sits at the foot of a 150-foot pile of chat. The Frosts plan to move with their two children to Chetopa, Kansas.

The buyout is part of the state's plan to offer fair market value to families with young children so they can move away from the area that's contaminated from year's of lead and zinc mining. The Legislature set aside 3,000,000 dollars for the program.

Families with young children were targeted because children are most susceptible to exposure to lead and studies show even low levels can damage a child's nervous system. Children within the 43-square-mile Tar Creek site have repeatedly tested high for dangerous levels of lead in their blood.