[Purposely] Hidden Health Hazards Affecting Ohio’s Soldiers
Part Three: Mold in the Buckeye Inn
By Colonel Six, Defend Ohio News Group
Monday, December 30, 2020
Trivia question: The Ohio National Guard’s “Buckeye Inn” at Rickenbacker ANG Base was ________.
a. Used as temporary lodging for Soldiers and Airmen of the Ohio National Guard until FY11.
b. Mandatory lodging location for all OHARNG travelers performing TDY in Franklin County.
c. An instrument designed to launder federal TDY lodging payments into state-controlled funds.
d. Never recognized on the GSA website or in DTS as an official “government lodging” location.
e. Known for years to be overrun with mold in the walls, bathrooms, A/Cs, etc.
f. In violation of several parts Ohio Revised Code 3731.
g. All of the above.
Columbus, Ohio — The Buckeye Inn operated as military transient lodging at Rickenbacker Air National Base until its mysterious closing sometime in fiscal year 2011. The facility was a 3-building complex located near the AAFES store on base. The operation was quite unique, in contrast to both typical military billeting and commercial hotel arrangements. The Buckeye Inn offered economy-accommodation lodging for a price lower than the nearest commercial hotel, but also with far fewer amenities. Soldiers were often required to share rooms (sometimes with strangers), there were no daily housekeeping services, and patrons had to strip their beds after their stay and carry all bedding downstairs to the laundry room.
Another difference regarding this facility was the blatant presence of mold throughout the buildings. A contributor to our site provided us with official correspondence he acquired through a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request which stated that mold was known to be in the air conditioners, bathroom floors, inside & on walls, in showers, the carpeting, in the hallways, on pictures, above ceiling tiles, on plumbing, and even on bedding. It was impossible not to notice.
Repeated exposure to mold can cause life-long health problems including potentially-deadly respiratory issues, insomnia, memory loss, trouble concentrating, weight gain, and can even contribute to depression and anxiety.
During the first week of September, 2010, a communications worker from Ohio JFHQ, James Vaughan, was working on a piece of communications equipment in the complex when, after only 15 minutes in the building, he began to feel ill, claiming he was having “a very tight feeling in my chest and was beginning to have difficulty breathing. “ Mr. Vaughan was told by the manager, Jamie Cordell, that there was a known mold problem in the facility.
The following week, Vaughan, who also happened to be a Certified Mold Inspector, authored an email to COL Thomas Aherndt, Mr. Jack E. Lee, Mr. Dick Willinger and others detailing his experience. He stated, “the Buckeye Inn presents a serious health threat to anyone working or staying there. Without doing the proper air and surface sampling, I can only speculate at the seriousness of the environment. My own physical reaction to the environment leads me to believe that at a minimum there are multiple classes of mold active within all three buildings of Buckeye Inn.” He continues, “I can't express strongly enough the case for the effect this environment will have on the employees that work there on a continual day‐to‐day basis. Discussions with Jamie, Hassan, and Ben would lead me to believe that 3 possibly 4 Buckeye Inn employees are already suffering from the long term exposure to the contaminated environment within these buildings. This doesn't include the affect the environment is having on contract cleaning personnel and any Guard members that are staying there on a long term basis, i.e. more than a day or two at a time.” Mr. Vaughan ends his email with, “no employee of the Adjutant General's Department should be required to work in any of the buildings of the Buckeye Inn until such time as proper environmental testing has been conducted, to include but not limited to air and surface sampling, and a remediation process has been identified and completed by a professional remediation company.”
The folks at the top, however, were already aware of this problem. A month prior, the State Occupational Health Nurse, LtCol Stephanie Steve, had accompanied a representative from the Ohio Bureau of Worker Compensation (OBWC) while he investigated the mold situation in the facility. His findings were not remarkably different than what Mr. Vaughan would “discover” a month later. The closing report submitted by OBWC to the OHNG detailing the August 13th visit stated that “The main Cause of mold growth and musty odor in all inspected areas were [sic] due to poor or no air circulation and no dehumidification. Poor operating conditions of air conditioning units and poor sanitary conditions of filters were a major contributing factor to mold growth.” And while the scope of the investigation did not include any biological or microbial sampling (OBWC does not perform that type of air sampling), it did reveal numerous egregious results, such as rooms with:
· humidity levels as high as 97%
· no air conditioning
· strong musty smell
· signs of mold
· water leaking from the rooms above
Nearly 3 weeks later, LtCol Steve emailed Jack Lee to remind him of the problem, including excerpts of 29 United States Code §654: Duties of Employers and Employees, such as “furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical.” She continues, “the Buckeye Inn has the duty to -1. Keep all floors, carpets, and equipment in hotel to include walls and ceilings in sanitary condition (per [Ohio]Revised Code 3731.B) 2. Warn hotel guests and invitees of latent defects. [Uddin b. Embassy Suites Hotel (10th Dist. 2005); 165 Ohio App 3d 699].” The following day, September 14th, LtCol Steve sent a similar email to Mr. Willinger: “Sir, Just confirming if your [sic] going to address issue below, based on all testing and recommendation provided to DIMR (jul‐Aug10),” to which he replied that they were going to be bidding out the remediation.
The ONG did not have any records to provide from the 5-month period between September 14th2010 and February 17th 2011 regarding the Buckeye Inn’s health hazards, the decision not to perform remediation, or its ultimate closure. Our team was unable to ascertain the exact date the facility closed its doors to Soldiers, but in the February 2011 emails we obtained, there was still talk of closure activities. An attachment titled “BI Closure Action Plan.xls” was shared by Dick Willinger on February 17th 2011 to Mr. Jack Lee, LTC Thomas Caldwell, Mr. James Penn, COL Mike Ore, LtCol Stephanie Steve and others, with the note “Attached are the Buckeye Inn closure action items that we developed at today's meeting.” The attachment, however, was omitted from the copy released by ONG. A reply from LtCol Steve outlined cleaning procedures for the building and furniture, but no other details regarding closure.
Despite its length, this article is lacking some vital information. I would love to publish a follow-up on this subject, but I need your help. If you have evidence (military orders, receipts, etc.) showing that you stayed at the Buckeye Inn after July 2010, please contact me at colonelsix@dongvideos.com . Any other unclassified source material is welcome as well. As with all of our contributors, if you wish to remain anonymous we will absolutely accommodate your privacy.
Additional reading:
Ohio Revised Code 5913.09:
o (D)(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section, all income from any military or other adjutant general's department property of the state, not made a portion of the company, troop, battery, detachment, squadron, or other organization funds by regulations, shall be credited to the funds for the operation and maintenance of the Ohio organized militia, as the adjutant general directs, in accordance with applicable state and federal law and regulations and the agreements by which the United States contributes to the cost of operation and maintenance of the Ohio national guard.
o (2) There is hereby created in the state treasury the Camp Perry/Buckeye Inn operations fund. The fund shall consist of all amounts received as revenue from the rental of facilities located at the Camp Perry training site in Ottawa County and the Buckeye Inn at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Franklin County, and all amounts received from the use of the Camp Perry training site and its facilities, including shooting ranges. The moneys in the fund shall be used to support the facility operations of the Camp Perry Clubhouse and the Buckeye Inn. Investment earnings of the fund shall be credited to the general revenue fund.
Ohio Revised Code 5913.01:
Adjutant General - duties: (2) Have and maintain custody of all military records, correspondence, and other documents of the Ohio organized militia
