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August 13, 2009

Tar Creek documentary premieres tonight

By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.comr

PICHER, Okla. — Though it's destined to become a ghost town, the story of Picher and its people is one that will not go untold.

A new documentary film, “Tar Creek,” by Vinita native Matt Myers will premiere tonight at the Oriental Theatre in Denver, Colo. The film will have its Oklahoma premiere on Sept. 12 in Shawnee at the Southern Winds Film Festival. It is scheduled to be shown at the Kansas International Film Festival on Sept. 20.

It also will be shown on Sept. 23 at the Coleman Theater in Miami, during the annual Tar Creek Conference.

The film was shown a few weeks ago to local residents, many of whom appear in the 95-minute film, in a private showing at the Picher Housing Authority.

“It really tells the story of what happened here,’’ said Patsy Huffman, a former Picher resident who now lives in Commerce. “There were things in it that I did not know and things I had forgot.”

Myers, who began the project in December 2006, became intrigued by the Tar Creek Superfund Site while working a summer job for Grand Gateway, an economic development agency in Big Cabin.

“I worked for Grand Gateway for two summers while I was an undergraduate at Oklahoma State University. That was in 1998,” he said. “We looked at all of the towns in Northeast Oklahoma. We measured roads and streets, and found out what equipment local fire departments needed. We would then help them find funds to improve their priorities.

“The last town that summer was Picher. I did not know much about it, but it’s like a whole other world. I went from seeing roads that have potholes to roads that have holes.”

Myers’ father is a veterinarian in Vinita. That connection to medical science in his upbringing helped him understand the significance of lead poisoning and how the people of Picher were affected by the legacy of living at the world’s richest lead and zinc mining site.

“I’m a writer by trade. I access the world through story. It’s fascinating to me how complex Tar Creek is. I tried to explain it to people, but you cannot sum it up in 700 words. You need the full context. I wanted to put it into full context,” he said.

“I wanted to make this film, too, because people just forget.”

In his research for the film, Myers said he was struck by the revelation that in the 1930s, mining and health officials knew that the chat piles that encircle Picher would cause lead poisoning.

Why does this story need to be told?

“Somehow, unlike 9/11, Jon Benet Ramsey or Woodstock, somehow Tar Creek is a word that people do not recognize as the worst environmental site in the country. They should know about it,” Myers said.

“When people think about the Midwest, they think about wheat and corn. They don’t know about the impact mining has had and what happens when there is no environmental regulation.”

Robert “Sticks” Billings, director of photography, captured telling images of one of the most abused places on the planet and the abuse that has been endured by generations of families who lived there.

The film contains rare footage from a film by Sheldon Dick that recorded life at Picher in 1940. Dick’s film, “Men in Dust,” is only 12 minutes long. The film also features music by blues performer Watermelon Slim. He is to play at the Oriental Theatre tonight after the film is shown.



Synopsis

The film examines the troubled past of Picher, beginning with the days when a small band of survivors of the Quapaw Tribe were routed from Arkansas to a patch of land in Northeast Oklahoma. The discovery of lead and zinc would forever change their lives and lead to the creation of Picher. The film depicts how the discovery created extraordinary wealth for the mining companies while the men who worked in the mines faced daunting lives. The film explains what happened after Picher was designated as a Superfund site, the failed federal effort to clean it up, and the ongoing buyout and relocation effort of Picher residents that has left many of them angry and bitter.

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