This is not normal!

SOMETHING KILLING FISH. That's the police call that came from my dad's coworker, Dave. He called the cops to a polluted creek and ended up aiding in a bit of environmental justice. This is his first-hand account:

I was taking my daily health walk down by, and on, the old Narrows Road bridge here in Erlanger Thursday evening and noticed an unusual site.

I was on the bridge and looked upstream and saw an oily film floating on top of the water.

Thought to myself...[Some off-color language. Sorry to censor, Dave!]??? (Yeah, pretty bland language for me)

I crossed over to the downstream side of the bridge and it got uglier!

All I could first notice was all of the fish were splashing about trying to put themselves up on the sandy bank or the rocks!

I saw at least 8 large carp, 11 small shad and a turtle die within 10 minutes!

This is not normal!

I called Erlanger PD and described what I was witnessing.

After 5 minutes Officer Mitchell saw this call display on his cruiser PC and called dispach to verify my call of "SOMETHING KILLING FISH"

Dispatch called my cell (via caller ID) to verify if I was still on the bridge.

I affirmed this because I was seeing something I don't see every day and I was being entertained in a BAD way.

The officer arrived and stated the he didn't understand the PC display in his cruiser "SOMETHING KILLING FISH"

I walked him to the upstream side and let him see for himself what I called about.

He saw exactly what I called about...the oily film and all water borne wildlife was dying at a very rapid rate.

He told me he was going to drive away upstream and check out the creek to attempt to find the source of the contamination.

I and dog continued our 5 mile walk.

By the time we walked from the bridge to the top of the hill (and you need to be from Northern KY to know the Narrows Road hill) a fire crew (Truck 52) was passing us at a quiet, but rapid pace.

I thought it may have been a related call for these guys and felt confident that they could handle the situation, which I know they did.

After about 2 hours, I was back at home and about to sit down for dinner and my cell rings.

Officer Mitchell calls to report:

(1) that he is driving back into Erlanger because he had to go to an out of city location to replace his shoes. (as a result they were contaminated by walking the creek to locate the source).

(2) The Kentucky EPA has been contacted and will respond from Frankfort TODAY to find out what is killing the wildlife.

(3) He advised that I not let my dog drink from the creek.

(4) He also asked for my SSN and middle initial for the incident report.

I passed a Ky State "Environment Response Team" vehicle on Brightleaf Blvd. at about 8:00 P.M., which is in the area.

I just hope that a large fine is levied on this State contractor for the damage that was done.

Stay Tuned.

Dave

An update: Apparently, lye from an upstream construction site had been improperly stored and had washed into the creek, killing the hapless aquatic residents. The responsible party was fined by the EPA.

Of course, it's totally uncool that this situation happened at all but it's pretty awesome that Dave thought to call the cops and it makes me very pleased that the lye-ers were fined.