The people of Rock once lived off the land. They blame a combustion hearth for having made it toxic.

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GRANT PARISH Their chickens had leukemia.

The Hoskins family, residents of a community outside Colfax known as The Rock, wonder how long they had been eating the eggs of the cancerous birds they raised outside their home. It haunts them.

It’s one of the nightmares they and others at The Rock say they endured from exposure to toxins released from a hazardous waste facility less than 2 miles away. His business license needs to be renewed and they are praying that it will be denied.

It got too awful, said Susan Hoskins, a longtime resident of The Rock.

The Hoskins family have lived in The Rock for six generations. His daughter, Sliska Larry, raised her own children there and now her grandchildren aged 3, 4 and 9 live there.

I would like to live to see my great-grandchildren breathe clean air.

Susan Hoskins, resident of The Rock

Larry told the Illuminator what it was like before the chickens died, when his extended family from all over central Louisiana would come to The Rock.

When we got together, it was a glorious time. There’s going to be cooking, card games, dominoes, Larry said. If we have anything more, we’ll share. If they kill a pig, everyone in the neighborhood will have meat.

The family played zydeco music and local blues, and cooked meals with their greens, peppers and corn. But not anymore.

We can’t do this now because you can’t be outside, Larry said.

Residents of Rocks say they can’t fish in nearby waters, picnic outside or lounge with their kids on the lawn watching the clouds roll by. The swings are inactive, the elderly no longer play cards outside or listen to the chirping of evening birds sitting on their porches.

Signs are displayed in the window of a home in the community of The Rock opposing the renewal of a state permit for the Clean Harbors Colfax hazardous waste disposal facility. The open pit is less than 2 miles from The Rock. (Photo by Rémi Tallo)

The beds, once filled with purple peas, okra, tomatoes, potatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes and cucumbers, are overrun with weeds. The once bustling Hoskins chicken coop is now home to the family dog. The family relied on their fresh vegetables, fruits, chickens and eggs for their daily sustenance. Now they survive by sharing what they can afford or donating from area pantries.

If one doesn’t have any, we call each other and then try to make enough for everyone to eat, Larry said.

We relied on our gardens for our bases, Clay said. What we could grow in our garden was our free meals. Now we go to grocery stores and you see the mustard greens, maybe two for $3, and we have to pay for them. The eggs are at the top!

None of the staples of rural Louisiana life are safe, according to neighbors at Clean Harbors Colfax, a facility that disposes of old munitions from Camp Minden and stale fireworks from Disney World. Thick pillars of black smoke from the open fire pit are visible from The Rock’s courtyard.

Clean Harbors opened the open burn disposal site in 2002 and expanded it in 2015. The Massachusetts company is asking the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) to add a closed burn structure during the renewal of its operating permit.

Clean Harbors did not respond to questions from the Illuminator regarding neighbor health issues.

Deborah Clay, left, and Brenda Redmond live in The Rock, where residents say they are reporting health issues they believe are linked to the Clean Harbors Colfax hazardous waste facility less than 2 miles from their home. (Photo by Rémi Tallo)

Deborah Clay, who lives in one of the seven houses that make up The Rock, has lost almost all of her hair. She has lived in the community off Louisiana Highway 71 for more than four decades.

I had beautiful, shiny hair, Clay said. I have memories where sometimes I sit and cry about things. I know what I looked like before compared to what I look like now.

Ray Boutte, who helped tend the Hoskins chickens, suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Angie Sanders, a relative who often visits nearby Colfax, suffers from chronic sinus allergies. It’s rare that she doesn’t cling to a handkerchief.

I know they don’t want me blowing my nose and trying to play cards, Sanders said. My nose is still running. I cough, I have a sore throat.

Larry witnessed his sister-in-law’s last breath in the Hoskins parlor, where the family tended to her as she neared death. Rhonda Wells had been living in Colfax for 30 years when she suffered from cancer.

It’s hard to see someone you love, who you’ve grown up with all your life, who’s only 52, sucking this last time. She was fighting to live, Larry said.

Brenda Redmond said Clean Harbors blasts trash three times a day around 8 a.m., noon and 4 p.m. Neighbors blame the blasts on a recent burst water main.

I have a two story house here. When they bomb, my house shakes, Redmond said. I lost two windows on the right side of the house. I can’t even pull the window [open].

She drinks bottled water for fear of being contaminated.

When I take a bath I say, Well, said Lord Redmond. People say I talk about the Lord all the time, but if you don’t hold on to your Holy Spirit, this situation with Clean Harbors is going to break you.

The Rock’s parents say they fear for the health of their children. Larry says his three grandchildren have persistent sore throats, runny noses and coughs.

In Colfax, all [doctors] know it’s allergies. They give you the [antihistamines], they give you the little pink medicine, amoxicillin. But guess what? Two weeks later, the baby is still sick, she said. Went back and forth to the doctor and then after a while they started calling child protective services because they thought you weren’t looking after your child.

An excavator clears dirt covering a broken water main that residents of The Rock community attribute to the detonation of hazardous materials at the Clean Harbor Colfax Disposal Facility. (Photo by Rémi Tallo)

Sanders said it has been a challenge to organize the community to oppose Clean Harbors’ license renewal, as they fear their voices will not be heard. But now that the community is threatened with food insecurity, they are wondering what it will take to bring their plight the attention they need.

“Does it have to be 20 people dying at the same time, so maybe you will intervene when you could have done something before it happened? Sanders asked in a rhetorically directed question to LDEQ. You close your eyes.

Sliska said state enforcement against Clean Harbors was a joke. The more you fine them, the more they burn, she says.

The Hoskins family invites Governor John Bel Edwards to sit at the table with them and have a piece of kings cake. With the recent loss of his Governor mother, they hope the Governor will consider all the illnesses and deaths they have experienced over the past 20 years.

I would hate to live a little longer to know that this town died out because of Clean Harbors, The Rock died out because of Clean Harbors, said Susan Hoskins. I would like to live to see my great-grandchildren breathe clean air.

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