West, Clear Channel argue about mold sickness

[Guest guest]

West, Clear Channel argue about mold sickness

Doctor told former on-air host she should leave her job

Originally published August 02, 2008

Frederick News Post- Frederick,MD*

By Ed Waters Jr.

News-Post Staff

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?

StoryID=78319

A decision on whether a former local radio personality's claim she

was sickened due to mold in the station is at least three weeks away.

West, formerly an on-air host with WFRE in Frederick, claims

mold at the Grove Hill Road radio station led to headaches,

dizziness, sinus problems and other physical ailments. She worked

at the radio station from 1992 to February.

West said she saw evidence of mold at the station and was seen by

several doctors, including Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker.

It was Shoemaker, she said, who told her she had to leave her job

because mold was the cause of her illness. West said that since

leaving the radio station she feels better.

She appeared before Commissioner Sfekas of the land

Workers Compensation Commission on Friday morning in Frederick.

Doug Hillard, vice president of Clear Channel and general manager of

the local radio station, said mold was found in a vent in a

conference room that had been created during renovation from three

small offices, and in the basement of an adjacent building used

infrequently by the station's engineers. Hillard said the station's

basement has been water damaged three times since he has been there.

Each time it was cleaned up and dehumidified, he said.

West said she had not missed any work because of her illness.

Bert Randall, Clear Channel's attorney, produced documents that

showed West had been advised by Shoemaker to leave in 2003 and that

she already had a job before quitting her position at WFRE in

February. She now works for the Discovery TV Channel in Virginia.

Randall questioned the medical decisions made by Shoemaker, but was

countered by West's attorney, Lanier, on statements made by

Dr. Gots, who provided his medical perspective to Clear

Channel in a lengthy document.

The attorneys, and Sfekas, agreed the hearing was not the

appropriate place for legal debate of the doctor's capabilities in

the case.

Lanier said he would be sending additional information from

Shoemaker on the case to the commissioner.

Hillard, after the hearing, said that no other employees had

expressed problems with the alleged mold .

" Only one person out of all the staff has complained, " he said,

referring to West. " I've been there 10 years and I'm not sick. "

Sfekas will review the information and send a written decision to

the two attorneys in about three weeks, she said. The Frederick

Workman's Compensation Office hearing site is for cases in

Frederick, Washington and Carroll counties.

[Guest guest]

sounds like maybe a case of where she was stationed? close to the

vent? like in my victorian home, several years later after the roof

started leaking it's become obvious from the black greenish mold that

shows itself after a rain. around the sofits on the outside of the

house that my bedroom had the worst mold growth in the walls. stands

to reason the closier you are to the mold problem the more particles

you well be breathing in.