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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Retiree Blames Gulf, Government

Sig Segarini, 76, figures the government is largely to blame for letting Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp. short-change its pensioners.

Segarini - a survivor of two heart attacks and a bout with cancer - is about to lose part of the medical coverage he has needed badly.

Today, Gulf is bankrupt.

A Bunker Hill smelter employee for more than 40 years, Segarini recalls giving pollution easements to the company as lead dust rained onto his Silver Valley front yard. That yard is mostly gone now - paved over by Interstate 90, whose four lanes stretch a few feet from his front door.

Like other pensioners, Segarini is outraged that Gulf managers spent the company into ruin. He blames the federal government for failing to stop Gulf from diverting its money overseas.

“I don’t know why the government let them get out of the country with all that money,” Segarini says. “Gulf is trying its damnedest to get out of paying our pension and medical benefits.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo