Ex-Inspector cites his reports on mold

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Pendleton aide fired 3 years ago battles on

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Ex-Inspector cites his reports on mold

By Rick

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

June 26, 2005

One day more than three years ago, Tom Calabrese told a TV audience

that families were being sickened by mold contaminating their homes

at Camp Pendleton.

Three days later, Calabrese – a housing inspector for the base – was

put on administrative leave. Four months later, he was fired. Since

then, he's been fighting the Marine Corps to regain his job of 16

years, get back pay and recover legal costs.

Calabrese has filed two lawsuits in San Diego federal court. He is

representing himself and has run up $75,000 in legal fees, he said.

" After years of reporting crimes and abuses and nothing being done,

I had to make a decision, " said Calabrese, 55. " I either had to be

part of the solution or be part of the problem. "

Camp Pendleton won't comment on the lawsuits, said base spokesman

Lt. Braden.

Officially, Calabrese was fired for leaving a work area without

permission, unauthorized absence, misusing a government vehicle,

defiance of authority and making statements that caused anxiety in

the workplace.

Braden insisted that Calabrese's on-air remarks were not connected

to his dismissal and noted that the firing was upheld by the Equal

Employment Opportunity Commission and the Merit Systems Protection

Board.

In siding with the Marine Corps, the board said: " There is, further,

no evidence of any bias or motive to retaliate. . . . (The Corps)

has shown by clear and convincing evidence that it would have

removed the appellant regardless of his allegedly protected

disclosures. "

Calabrese is challenging the previous decisions in court. He says he

was fired for publicly revealing long-known problems at the base's

Wire Mountain I area, one of at least 12 housing complexes at Camp

Pendleton.

Calabrese estimated that 25 percent of the 352 housing units at Wire

Mountain I, where he worked, had mold problems and that 60 of those

units had documented histories of making people sick. He also

alleges that some residents' complaints were ignored or that housing

officials would move one family out of a mold-infested unit and put

another family into the same place without making repairs.

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And he seeks " an investigation into the mistreatment of military

families " at Camp Pendleton, who often live there because they can't

afford off-base housing.

From 1995 to 2001, Calabrese said, at least 250 mold complaints were

filed with Camp Pendleton officials. He kept copies of some of them,

including:

June 2002: " We were moved into this house after our prior residence

would not stop growing mold. My kids were sick and then the roof

began to collapse. Officially, (housing officials) have listed that

we requested the move due to rank change. That is not even something

we are supposed to be able to do, but it is how they cover their

lack of regard for our health and safety. "

April 2002: " All these people get paid so much money to understand

and care about what is going on in our housing areas. (But they)

don't care or want to have a clue on the REAL situation . . . . Our

children are sick without reason and we never get any answers from

the higher-ups other than, 'You are in the oldest housing on base,

what do you expect?' Or, 'If you don't like it, move off base and

find a better place because it is a privilege to live on our

base.' "

September 2001: " I have noticed a significant change in the health

of myself, my wife and my children since we have moved into Wire

Mountain I housing in October 2000. . . . We should be given better

living conditions not only because we deserve them, but because

nobody should have to worry about the well-being of their family

because of hazardous living conditions. "

In a way, these complaints and Calabrese's allegations were

bolstered by Maj. Gen. Donovan, Camp Pendleton's former base

commander.

" I remember what the housing was like. It wasn't good enough to be a

ghetto. I couldn't believe we subjected our sailors and Marines to

such poor living conditions. . . . And those quarters still exist

today, " Donovan was quoted in media reports from a mid-April ribbon-

cutting ceremony for new homes at Wire Mountain.

During Calabrese's tenure, the Wire Mountain area, which included

several neighborhoods, housed 7,500 to 8,000 residents in about

2,000 units, he said. Most of the housing was built between 1950 and

1980, he said. Mold and asbestos problems were worst in the older

units.

Conditions at Wire Mountain I have improved. Camp Pendleton is

undergoing a $750 million housing renovation, and most of the

housing offices are now run by private contractors as part of the

Pentagon's national effort to privatize on-base housing.

While Calabrese might have been a pain to his bosses, he was a

guardian of sorts to some Wire Mountain residents.

They said Calabrese fought to rid their homes of mice and mold while

delivering free bread and flowers and suggesting ways to improve the

quality of their lives.

Dwight Hall, 43, senior pastor at the Children's Bread Ministries in

Oceanside, is one of the few who spoke on the record about

Calabrese.

Hall met Calabrese while living at Wire Mountain I from 1994 to 2002

and said the housing inspector made an immediate impression.

" He was the only housing inspector that ever tried to help people in

the community. The rest of them looked down their noses at us, " Hall

said. " People would be moved out because of illness – respiratory

stuff – that would make kids and parents sick for weeks. And they

would just move someone else in. "

Hall added: " When you dealt with the people in housing, it was like

you were bothering them. I sent letters to government officials to

get an investigation into Tom's firing and health issues here, but I

never heard anything back, " Hall said.

Calabrese began peppering housing officials in 1995 with dozens of

suggestions that sometimes sounded like accusations.

" Our fiscal policies are ineffective and possibly illegal. A Marine

is charged for several sets of miniblinds upon vacating quarters. He

pays the bill . . . the items are never bought. Why? "

" The current fiscal policy where cleaning for abandoned units comes

out of the housing budget but reimbursement for the charges goes

into the general fund is ridiculous. "

Even less tolerable to Calabrese than perceived administrative

laxity was the purported practice of assigning mold-contaminated

houses to families.

When Calabrese complained, base officials branded him a troublemaker

and targeted him for dismissal, he claimed in one of the lawsuits.

At one point, the officials refused to give Calabrese time off from

work despite a doctor's recommendation that job-induced stress was

ruining his health, according to legal documents provided by

Calabrese.

This led to a verbal altercation that hastened his firing, he

claims.

Calabrese's dissatisfaction came to a head on Feb. 12, 2002, when he

told a TV reporter about mold problems with base housing.

Three days later, he was placed on administrative leave. In June, he

was fired.

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Rick : (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@...