BOUNTY: SOME BENEFIT FROM ACCIDENT

BELL CITY -- Sunday's train derailment and chemical spill meant a boon for some Bell City businesses Monday as more than 100 clean-up workers cleared the track.

Ron Lacy, owner of the Bell City Cafe, said the chemical spill had residual benefits for his business.

"I was very fortunate, said Lacy. "I didn't have to leave my home. I live in the country, and it has helped my business."

On Monday he prepared an additional 150 plate lunches for railroad workers and others helping to clean up the derailment.

"It's working out pretty good," Lacy said.

He said the small town is abuzz with talk about the spill.

"Everybody's wondering exactly what all did happen," he said. "But everyone pulled together and worked together really well.

"We still have quite a few law officials and railroad people here. But it looks like everyone is just doing their jobs."

Curtis Finney, owner of Finney's Grocery, said the chemical spill meant increased business for him also.

"We've been pretty busy today," Finney said. "A lot of the railroad employees are coming in and buying things. A man is checking out right now with a couple of cases of Gatorade.

"Everything is kind of getting back to normal with the exception that we've got officials from every company in the U.S. here," he exclaimed. "That is kind of throwing things in an uproar."

Finney is also fire chief for Bell City's volunteer fire department.

"I got the call a little after 6 p.m.," Finney said, "We responded and then it was determined it was a chemical spill. The Bell City Fire Department is not capable of taking care of anything like that, so the Dexter Fire Department took command of the situation."

They decided it would be best to evacuate the town on a precautionary basis.

"After that, we set up road blocks and patrolled the town to make sure nothing was going on that shouldn't be," Finney said. "I stayed until 3 a.m., then went home and slept about an hour and then came back."

Finney's teenage son was a witness to the derailment, he said.

"He was sitting at the crossing waiting for the train when he saw sparks and a box car jumping. He put his pickup truck in reverse and moved away. Then he watched the whole thing."

When a Stoddard County sheriff's deputy came to Chanda Eftink's door Sunday night and told her to evacuate because of a chemical spill, she and her husband grabbed car keys, their son and headed out.

"They said there was a train derailment and a chemical spill. It was really scary," Eftink said. "But we thought we would be gone for an hour or so. After we found out how dangerous it was, we wanted to come back and get our dog. We didn't have any money. We didn't even have any diapers for the baby. They wouldn't let us go back."

The family was one of the last of 500 Bell City residents evacuated to be allowed back into their homes Monday. The Eftinks live across the tracks from the derailment site.

"The derailment missed the end our pasture by 100 feet," Eftink said Monday afternoon. "The road we normally take out of here has rail cars pulled up on it."

They stayed at Eftink's mother's home in Randles Sunday night and were back home Monday afternoon, but Eftink said she is still uneasy about the chemical spill.

"We are uncertain about whether or not to water our animals," Eftink said. Officials told her the water supply was not contaminated. The Eftinks raise sheep, ducks, geese, ferrets, rabbits and hogs.

"My husband and a deputy sheriff walked through our pasture, but we haven't seen any of the chemical in the pasture."

She said she had heard a report that the chemical had been leaking from the train car for a half mile prior to the derailment. No evidence of that leak was found.

"We're still a little leery," she said. "We have a vegetable garden and a few fruit trees. We don't know if we should eat those."

Mildred Rivers, Bell City clerk, said Monday, "Everybody is back in town, tired and sleepy."

Rivers said she heard a fire siren Sunday evening.

"I thought nothing of it; I though it was just a fire call. My daughter was at a friend's house and they heard about the derailment on the scanner and that they were going to evacuate everyone.

"By the time we got ready to leave, the police officers were going house-to-house," Rivers said.

She said the chemical spill was noticeable as she was leaving.

"It wasn't too bad, but when we left we could smell the odor and it kind of burned your eyes," she said.

Rivers stayed with a friend in the country. She returned home about 6:30 a.m. Monday.

She said the chemical smell was gone Monday.

Max Bollinger, who owns Bell City Store, said Monday, "Everything is back to normal."

Sunday night's evacuation was far from normal, though.

"We knew there had been a train wreck and a derailment and that there was some hazardous material," Bollinger said.

"We live a little over a mile south of it," he said. "We could smell a trace of what we thought was LP gas."

"We were given orders to evacuate and it took about an hour to get everyone out of town," Bollinger said.

He spent the night with relatives and returned home about 6 a.m. Monday.