ML20078L643
| ML20078L643 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Catawba  |
| Issue date: | 05/19/1983 |
| From: | Hoopengardner PALMETTO ALLIANCE |
| To: | |
| Shared Package | |
| ML20078L617 | List: |
| References | |
| FOIA-83-434 NUDOCS 8310240022 | |
| Download: ML20078L643 (47) | |
Text
.
- - a ge UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
'WCLEAR REGULhTORY COMMISSION BEFORE THE ATOMIC SAFETY AND LICENSING BOARD In Re: -
DUKE POWER COMPANY, Et Al. : - DOCKET NUMBERS (Cchavba Nuclear Station : 50-413 Units 1 and 2) : 50-414
\
4 MAY 19, 1983 10:50 P.M.
t 1
l DEPOSITION _ OF:
. NOLAND L. BOOPENGARDNER 8310240022 830810 l" ' PDR FOIA --
AHLER583-434 PDR fl0 ,
- Evelyn Berger Associates STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE P. O. BOX 19444 __
'O O' LAWYER'S NOTES Y
j y M f
1 d
4 f
f 6
e d>
e 4
4 fe,, . 4 4 s, --
'b
-e
+-
- 4-s.I L
.k
+*8
. r4
. p b '
I i.
. i.
>q
. ~
=
',., a,'
i ..
<! + .
.3 Ir . .
- , +* ' '," '
y ,s .
~;.
'q . . _
4
. . ;*. * ' **j .
,.. r- e ;~ ', ~. . .
. * ;j
, , .7 , :, > - -
3 . --
= s a.
-e
^~--y_ l 6
'!;*, "'J'.s ~r
.','k'
- r. - + rr e- _ ,
v4
,- 2
- <;,. , .u
< y.
, s
.r-J , e -
~ , , , ,_ ,.
( ,.
,-.,,p , ., , ~.
'.o f~s ,
..?.
. .- 34
_F,_
~ * ;. lk-
- g
~
_;.,_g s..-
s .*
j
..m ,, s 3 * . ,
1 . > -W
. -, ~
,4, oas._-
\ 'r n,,,
. g .:1, s >
g.
+
.. 4M- . ; e g. 4 r
y> . n ,
,.,,,,'~, ,.,
s ..,
s..,( J .,,,. . 4
.8, a'
,[ 4 '+ *
= " T-, ,'"-
) "
e*
(,,
, , ra,, .ru[
- , f. ar p I,S} .
.
- j 10 -'g- , . -',e ' , ,< + . - E 4' ,j#. 1 s %, , 4 ,
- ,',,'"'g*'s.- **A
.+v,g 7 ""/ %
- s, , g 'e t
< ~ '[P' ' ' # .4,. ? [ ., # ^, '
- s .. # *
+
,4 "* ' '#',i.3
,", * .g ~','F
'"- L-
.3 [ -#
- 1. e.
V' *,
~-r '. g, a
- 1 1. ".,. ,.
. . , . , - , , _ , . 2.
-_.m. ~.3_ , - .
- . _ . . . . . . , ,m..- _ - - - . . .-. -. - -,.- ., -
2 l
1 APPEARANCES:
2 ROBERT GUILD, ESO.
Charleston, S. C.
3 Counsel on Behalf of. Intervenor, Palmetto 4 Alliance, Incorporated 5
DEBEVOISE & LIBERMAN, ESQS.
Washington, D. C.
BY: J. Michael McGarry,.III, Esq and 6 Anne W..Cottingham 7 ALBERT V. CARR, ESQ. ,
RONALD L. GIBSON, ESQ. .
3 Charlotte, N. C.
8 Counsel on Behalf of Applicant, Duke Power C guy 10 GEORGE E. JOHNSON, ESQ.
Washington, D. C.
11 Counsel on Behalf of Nuclear Regulatory 12 Commission 13 ALSO PRESENT:
14 Jennifer Phillips Government Accountability Project 15 Betsy Leviticus Carolina Environmental Study Group Roger W. Ouellette 17 Licensing Department Duke Power Company 18 Steve Alexander 19 Construction Department Duke Power Company 20 George Grier Corporate QA Manager 21 Duke Power Company 22 23 24 25 ,
I l .mv~ .. .. ...oeims. muome wo- =ica. ca4=orr . ~om c^awaa
, - . - . _ _ . -. c
S .
2a 1
1_ _N_ _ D_ _ _E_ _X_
3 Vr' I T N E S S DIR E C T C R OSS R E DIR E C T 4 Noland L. Hoooengardner 5 -- ..
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 l 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 EVELYN BERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPOFITING SERvlCE. CHARLCTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
l 3
i I
The Deposition of Noland L. Hoopengardner is taken at 2
the offices of Duke Power Company, Charlotte, North Carolina, 3 on this the 19th day of May, 1983, in the presence of Robert 4 Guild, Attorney on behalf of Intervenor, Palmetto Alliance, 5 Incorporated; and J. Michael McGarry, Ann W. Cottingham, Albert 6 V. Carr, Jr., and Ronald L. Gibson, Counsel on behalf of 7 Applicant, Duke Power Company; and George E. Johnson, Counsel on 8 behalf of Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff.
9 It is agreed that Lynn B. Gilliam, Notary Public in and 10 for the Ftate of North Carolina, may take said Deposition in 11 machine shorthand and transcribe the same to typewriting.
12 MR. MC GARRY: Mr. Hoopengardner, I am Mike McGarry, 13 a lawyer with the Duke Power Company, here to take your 14 Deposition. This Deposition is being taken pursuant to the 15 Notice of taking Deposition dated May 4, 1983, which was served 16 upon.
17 That Notice does reflect that the Deposition was 18 scheduled to be taken on Thursday, May 18, 1983. That was a 19 typographical error, and we discussed that with your Counsel.
20 We were supposed to start at 1:00 p.m., however, as an 21 accommodation to you because of your work we have agreed to take 22 this Deposition this evening.
23 As you know, we took the Deposition of Mr. McAfee before 24 you, beginning at six o' clock. I'm sorry we find ourselves now 25 at this hour, but I think we have all agreed that we will press EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CMARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
4 1
on, especially because of your work situation.
2 Throughout the course of this Deposition if there are 3 any questions that come up that you don't understand what I'ra 4 asking you, stop and ask me to repeat the question. So t;e have 5
on the Record the people in attendance, why don't we identify 6 the people?
7 MR. GUILD: Yes, I'm Robert Guild, Counsel for 8 Palmetto Alliance; and I will be representing Mr. Hoopengardner.
9 MR. GIBSON: Ron Gibson, Counsel for Applicant.
10 MR. CARR: Al Carr, Counsel for Applicant.
11 MR. JOHNSON: George Johnson, Counsel for NRC staff.
12 MS. PHILLIPS: Jennifer Phillips from GAP.
13 MS. LEVITICUS: Betsy Leviticus, Carolina Environ-14 mental Study Group.
l 15 MS. COTTINGHAM: Ann W. Cottingham, Counsel for the 16 Applicant.
17 MR. OUELLETTE: Roger W. Ouellette, Licensing Depart-18 ment, Duke Power Company.
.19 MR. ALEXANDER: Steve Alexander, Duke Power Company, 20 Construction Department.
21 MR. GRIER: George Grier, Duke Corporate Quality 22 hasurance Manager.
l 23 MR. MC GARRY: Mr. Hoopengardner, just a couple explan-24 atory remarks: This is being taken pursuant to the Federal 25 regulations contained in 10 CFR Section. As you know, you have EVELYN BERGER ASSOCLATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERvlCE. CHARLOTTI. NOsWM cAROLaNA
Hoopengardnnr - Direct 1
been sworn, the testimony is under oath. We may use this for 2 discovery purposes, and we may use this Deposition as Evidence. .
3 At the conclusion of this Deposition, the Deposition 4
will be typed, and you will be given a copy of that Deposition 5 to correct for typographical errors; but as to substantive 6
arrors, if you determine during the course of this Deposition, 7 indeed, you have misspoke, now is the time to correct any 8 substantive areas. Again, make sure you understand the 9 questions I'm asking you.
10 To assist the Court Reporter and tape recording, either 11 answer yes or no rather than nodding your head.
12 13 NOLAND L. HOOPENGARDNER, 14 having first duly affirmed to tell the truth, was examined and 15 tesuified as follows:
16 17 DIRECT EXAMINATION 18 BY MR. MC GARRY:
19 Q Your name is Noland Hoopengardner?
20 A Noland Leonard Hoopengardner, II, Company Number 2479.
21 Q What does the company number mean?
22 A The number that I had when I worked for Duke Power.
23 Q What is your address?
~- 24 A Route 5, Box 227, Clover.
25 Q How long have you lived there?
EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENCTYPE REPORTING SERvtCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
Hoopengardntr - Dir^ct G 1
A We moved there in July of '77.
2 Q What is your educational background? Are you a high 3 school graduate?
4 A Yes.
5 Q Do you have any other education after high school?
6 A Carpentry Apprenticeship Program after the Marine Corps.
7 Q You were in the Marine Corps for how long?
8 A Two years.
9 Q Aside from the carpentry apprenticeship, was there 19 byspecialskillyoupickedupwhileyouwereintheMarine 11 Corps?
12 A Kill people, that is a grunt; that is what the Marine la Corps does.
14 0 Did you go to any technical school?
15 A No.
16 Q When you got out of the Marine Corps, what year was 17 that?
18 A That was in '73.
19 Q What job did you have?
20 A I stayed around home and I went up to Pennsylvania and 21 worked for my cousin spraying urethane foam.
22 Q Home is where?
23 A Bradenton, Florida.
24 Q And how long did you spray foam starting at 1973, and 25 gem trying to take us up to 1983? Starting in '73 vou are EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROLINA
Hoopengardncr - Diract * ~
1 spraying foam. What did you do?
2 A I went back to Florida and I was only up there a couple 3
months, and I started doing houses, working in construction, in 4 '73, about October of '73.
5 Q Was this in Florida?
- 6 A Yes, sir.
7 Q What ware you doing in housing?
8 A Framing.
9 Q How long did you do that?
10 A Just about up to about '75, I think it was.
11 Q And then what did you do?
12 A I were unemployed during that crunch that we had; and 13 then I got married in '76.
14 Q Why did you stop working in your construction job 15 framing houses?
16 A Foreman just didn't have any more jobs, it was that l
l 17 crunch during '75; I think that is when it hit us.
I 18 Q When was your next job?
Is A I got married and I got a job in Indiana building 20 Muses.
21 Q When was that?
22 A That would have been the Spring of '76, or excuse me, i
23 177,
- 24 Q How long did you build houses in Indiana?
25 A Until June.
i I
EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
- Hoopengardn^sr - Dircct 8 I g og__
2 A '77, and I moved to Clover in July of '77, and I 3
started for Duke Power in August of '77.
4 O Can you remember why did you come to Clover, South 5
Carolina?
6 A Because when I was in the Marine Corps--I have several 7
2ncles--one lives in Gastonia that I am buying land from. I 8 <
2 sed to come here and work on his farm and I decided I would buy 9 :
some land from him.
10 Q So you began your employment with Duke--
11 A August 27, 1977.
12 Q What was your position?
13 A Low Builder, S6.92 an hour, August 22nd.
14 Q How long were you a Low Builder?
15 A I'm not sure.
16 Q Okay, and after a Low Builder what did you become?
17 A Middle Builder, and then Top Builder.
18 Q Did you go to Middle Builder?
19 A Yes, sir.
20 Q Did you go to Top Builder?
21 A Yes, sir.
22 Q Then did you have any other jobs at Duke Power after 23
- being a Top Builder?
24 A
'~
You are classifying in like a builder, you do repair 25 i vork, you help with pouring. We did scaffold building. You are gygLyN gERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERytCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
Hoopsngardnar - Dirsct '
I classified as a builder. You have a multitude of sort of like 2
crafts within the one craft.
3 Q I understand that, e.nd you started out at low, went to 4 middle, got to top. Did you stay as a Top Builder until you 5 terminated? -
6 A That's right.
7 Q You were terminated in August of 19807 8 A Well, we got three different records. One says the 9
L3th, one says the 22nd, and one says the 27th that I was 10 terminated.
11 But it was almost exactly three years ago that I worked 12 out there.
13 Q Where did you go after you left Duke?
14 A I just worked odd jobs, self-employed. I helped my 15 uncle spray foam, just worked with my cousin in Florida for 16 i nwhiles and I'm back here building homes again.
17 l
Q So you have been doing odd job work since August of l
18 1980; is that correct?
19 A Yes, sir.
20 Q Are you a member of Palmetto Alliance?
21 A Yes, sir.
22 Q Do you know what Palmetto Alliance's charter is, what 23 .Ls the message that Palmetto Alliance sends?
24 A The way that I comprehend it, they want safe nuclear--
25 P. hey're trying to use the resources of or energy like the sun.
EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERvlCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROLINA
_ . - . , - - _ ~ _ - - - ._. . _ _ , _ _ . _ _ . _ . . . _ . - _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ . , . _ _ . , . _ _ _ _ . _ - - _ _ . - _ , - _ , . . - _ _ . . . , _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ _
Hoopengardner - Direct 10 1 rolar.
2 Q Does Palmetto Alliance want to see Catawba built?
3 A I don't know.
4 Q Is Palmetto Alliance anti-nuclear?
5 A I don't know.
6 -
Q Do you want to see Catawba built?
? A Not unsafely, I don't want it built.
8 Q Are you anti-nuclear?
9 A No, sir.
10 Q If it is demonstrated that Catawba had been built 11 safely, do you oppose its operation?
12 A I worked out there; I know it's not built safe.
13 Q Aside from that position, if it can be demonstrated, 14 assuming that--
15 A No, sir.
16 Q No, sir; what?
17 A I don't agree with it being built because I worked out 18 Phere. I watched some of the rails, I built the scaffolds out 19 P.here.
20 For two years I watched people get injured out there.
21 Q Well, we will get into that.
Are you a member of any 22 i sther group?
23 A You mean organization like--?
24 Q (Mr. McGarry nodded his head affirmatively.)
25 A No, sir.
gygLyN 3RRGE 4 ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NOarTH CAROUNA
Hoopengardnor - Direct 1 0 Are you a member of any professional organization?
2 A No, sir.
3 Q Mr. Hoopengardner, I hand you a copy of an Affidavit 4
that was attached to Palmetto Alliance's Petition to Intervene 5
filed in July of '81 (indicating) .
6 I believe that. Affidavit bears a date on the second
~
7 page. Would you read in the Record what that date is?
8 A It is the 22nd day of July, 1981.
9 Q Did you prepare that Affidavit?
10 A Yes, sir.
11 0 Did anybody assist you in preparing that Affidavit?
12 A My wife.
13 Q Would you please read that Affidavit? Does that 14 Affidavit properly reflect your views?
15 A Yes, sir.
16 Q Do you have any other concerne n3ide from those set 17' forth in that Affidavit with respect to the construction of the 18 Catawba Nuclear Station?
19 A Could you explain that again to me?
l 20 Q Yes; aside from the concerns that are set forth in that 21 Affidavit, do you have any other concerns with respect to the 22 construction of Catawba?
~ ~
23 A well, there would be, if I comprehend you, my under-24 standing of the way I think I did, are you speaking like rails 25 being heated up and wet rags placed upon them?
EVRYN WERGER ASSOctATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAmouMA
Hoopongardner - Direct 1 Q Let me make it simple: I want to know what are your 2 concerns with respect to Catawba? You stated awhile back that 3
you were out there and you know it wasn't built correctly; and 4
I want you to toll me right now all the reasons, all of them, 5
all the reasons why you say Catawba wasn't built safely.
6 1
That 13 what wa are going to talk about this evening,
~
7 so let's get them all on the table.
a A okay, when I started out there at the Catawba project 9
in '77 I worked for David Ray for about three weeks, and half 10 the guys weren't working.
11 There was no cooperation between the crafts and the 12 fellow workers on the crew. So I got transferred over to second 13 shift, to B. H. Toland. They call him Slim Pickins.
14 I worked that crew until May 1st of '78; and then I was 15 transferred to R. R. Pelfrey's crew as a scaffold builder.
16 When I was on B. H. Toland's crew, there was drugs 17 being used. He would go ahead with his hawk blade knife, 18 sticking it up to your throat, and there is a lot of health 19 blasards, cords, and welding leads, foreign material, and so on 20 left laying around with nails sticking up out of them.
21 The welding leads would be frayed.
22 Q Welding leads?
23 A Yes, sir. And then whenever I got, I brought this to 24 the attention of Danny Powell, which is our Employer Relations 25 man, that they were gambling, using parlay cards out there, my EvgLyN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTypg REFORTING SERygCa. CMARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUM
l -
Hoopengardnor - Direct 13 i
foreman and several of the other individuals, and using a hawk 2
blada knife up to several individuals' throats just a-horse-
- 3 playing around, and nothing was done.
4 So I got transferred to R. R. Pelfrey's crew as a 5
scaffold builder. Ife were down on 560 elevation, and during the 6
process of the several years that I werked out there, as I have 7
shared with my suggestion paper that I had turned over to R. H.
8 McDowell, he is the one that requested it--
9 See in 1979, December, I broke my ankle at home.
10 During that time I did not return.back to work until February 11 25th.
12 At the end of January I received Jesus as my own la personal Saviour, and He laid on my heart that all these things 14 and the people that are getting hurt out there is needless.
15 l
l Then I brought these things, the safety, to R. R.
16 Pelfrey. He would cuss at me, tell me to go away, leave him 17 alone. He is running the crew, improper building of scaffolds.
18 he would run 10 x 2-foot boards ten to 40 feet off the 19 ground, and tell you to hook off to a temporary hanger or any-l 20 thing, and those welders get up there and they try to do quality 21 work where they wasn't certified up 40 feet in the air on one 22 2 x 10.
23 They are certified with both feet on the ground where
% 24 they can concentrate on the weld. Through my kuggestions or 25 complaints to R. R. Pelfrey, he told me that he didn't want to EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPOfrT1NG SamveCE CHARLOTTE. NOstTH CAROUNA
- m. . .. .-- .. . . - - ~ . _ . , _ . _ _ _ _ _ , . _ _ . _ _ , . . . - - - _ _ , _ _ - -
34 Hoopengardner - Direct I
talk to me anymore and to talk to the supervision.
2 So I called John Scruggs. He was my Craft General 3 Foreman, Superintendent. I talked to him for about 45 minutes.
4 Ha told me he would get back with me in about a week, 5
A week later came by and R. H. McDowell got ahold of 6 me, came up to the Craft Building, and we talked. He wanted a 7
list of my suggestions that I brought up to R. R. Palfrey.
8 So that was on a Friday, and Monday I brought it into 9 him. I think that was March 3rd, 1980. A couple weeks went by, 10 g think it was about the 24th of March or whatever--that is my 11 suggestion paper there--
12 R. R. Pelfrey and Bob McDowell placed a handwritten 13 Letter on me that R. R. Pelfrey wrote up, and I told them I 14 w uld not sign it unless I had a copy of it.
15 They didn't agree at first, and then they agreed.
16 Richard Pelfrey wrote it up at his map shack. He took it up to 17 the office and had it copied, and he gave me the paper back, and 18 I said, "This is my copy to haver right?" And I said, "There is 19 two questions I want to make before I sign the paper. One is to 20 see Danny Powell and the other one is to see my private attorney."
21 He said, "You talk to Bob McDowell," that was standing l
there. He got off the phone and I said the same thing to him.
l 23 Be swore at me and wanted the paper back.
(k-24 I said, "No, this is my copy of the paper that you 25 wanted me to sign." So he said, "Go ahead, make an ass out of EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOType REPORTING SamvaCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
Heepengardner - Direct 15 1 yourself." So I went up and talked to Danny Pcwell. I shared 2
the letter with him and told him I wanted it back.
3 Uc read it, gave it back.
I told him what I would do.
4 He wanted it. I went back down in the hole. I wouldn't give 5 it to him. John Scruggs came up just before quitting time, and 6 he 'Ald me he wanted the paper.
7 R. R. Pelfrey came up to me in one of the holes I was 8
building the scaffold where there was two pipefitters reading 9 the letter that they put on me. One gentleman's name is Buck 10 Hichael, I believe.
11 After Richard, he walked in the room, saw those guys 12 reading it. I was finishing up building my scaffold. He wanted 13 it back and I told him I wouldn't give it to him unless I talked 14 to John Scruggs.
1- He said, "He's waiting at the box." He left and the 16 guys told me, "You shouldn't go hack with that paper.* So I 17 said, "There is no way that I can get it to anybody."
l 18 So he took it, one of the guys, one of the pipefitters 19 I was building the scaffold for.
20 0 Was it Buck?
I 21 A I'm not sure; they took it. I wont back to the gang 22 box. John Scruggs wanted the paper. I told him I didn't have 23 it. He says, "Where is it?" I said, "I gave it to somebody."
a 24
~
He said, "Who?" I said, "I don't know", because I 25 didn't know. He was a Believer in the Lord Jesus also, and that EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPonNO SEMICE. CHAMM MM GNM
- ~ ' * ^ - ~ ^ ~ ' ~ ~ ~ ' ~ ~ ~ ~ ^^
Hoopengardner - Direct 16 1
is why I trusted him.
2 Wa discussed Christianity and why the stuff that was 3 going on out there wasn't right for people, for love of one 4 another instead of looking after number one.
5 He said to go find it. I went out and it was 20 to 6 4:00, and you stopped sverything.. You were putting up your tool s 7 and going up to the gato, and you would be at the gate at ten 8 minutes to 4:00 waiting for the whistle to go off.
9 So the next day you come into work. He, Richard 10 Pelfrey, sent me over and David Rockholt was the helper that j 11 vent with him.
12 We went over in the Spent Fuel Number One to clear out 13 some scaffolding and build come scaffolding. Richard Palfrey 14 and John Scruggs approached me and asked me for the letter; and 15 I told them I didn't have it.
16 They said, "In other words, you are refusing to give 17 me the paper?" And I said, "I don't have it." He said, "That 18 is insubordination."
19 I said, "You can read the rule book however you want to 20 read it; but I don't have it." And then they left me alone.
21 They just left and I went ahead and worked; and about the next 22 day after I received a letter off the job by a guy named Roger, 23 I don't know his last name though.
'> 24 Then I took it down and made ten copies of it right off 25 Then I brought a copy of it and showed it to Marshall the bat.
EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
Hoopengardncr - Direct 1
White uhich is a foreman, Carpentor Building Foreman, stationed 2
next to ears at the blue houses, the rest recms or whatever you 3
want to call them.
4 He read it and R. H. McDowell came up and saw it. I 5
took it and put it in my pocket. We went in, I had a scaffold 6
to build.
7 I went out and ccaffolded and I came back and it was 8
Ralph Morrison and John Scruggs and R. R. Pelfrey went through 9
my locker looking for the letter when I was on the job site to without my permission, which they have the right to search you 11 ar search your property or whatever or your lockers, but I was 12 there and they didn't ask me to be present; and I am held
!(
13 accountable for those tools that are in there.
14 So they didn't find them because I had it on me, and I 15 showed it to several other individuals out on the job.
16 It just started growing from there on out. I stopped 17 and George Maxwell came up. He was the NRC Inspector with R. H.
18 McDowell to R. R. Pelfrey's gang box, which was one afternoon.
19 Be was just standing there while they were going through some 20 papers.
21 I walked over and asked if I could talk to him. He 22 came over and I told him, I gave him my name and my number, and 23 I told him Duke Power is trying to fire me because of bringing l~- 24 up all these safety hazards.
25 And they put a handwritten letter on me and I'm asking
.mva .. .. A..ocaT. muom neo.m .mes. CMA%OTT.. NORTH CAnoWNA
Hoopongardnor - Direct i him while he was walking on the job site, look at all the cords 2 hanging around all over the place, improper building of
, 3 scaffolds, if he knows much about that, the boards is up on the 4 pipes and on any ntrut and cable trays, just other favoritism 5 which he doesn't have much of anything there, he couldn't really 6 tell' anything about that.
7 So he took my name and number down and right after ha t
8 left R. H. McDowell came over to me and gave me a direct order 9 that I will not approach or talk to the NRC Inspector out there.
10 And he left and there was no scaffold to be built, so 11 halfethe crew, we were all sitting around not doing anything.
12 A couple days later there was three of us headed up to 13 the Carpenter Shop to gat wedges we put underneath the scaffold 14 and the shoring bucks.
15 I passed John Turner, an Employer Relations man. I told 16 him what R. H. McDowell told me pertaining to that I could not 17 approach Mr. Maxwell or the NRC Inspector to talk to-him.
18 He said he would check into it. About a day later or 19 so he contacted me and called me up into the office. I talked 20 to him, and he told me they were to withdraw that direct order 21 that they gave me pertaining to I can't approach the NRC man.
22 And I said, "You put it on the books that I was told 22 not to approach or talk to him." I went down back into the
?- 24 hole. I called for Mr. Maxwell, and he was in a meeting with 25 three other NRC Inspectors, is what the operator told me. He EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE RSPORTING SSRvlCE. CHARLOTTE NORTM CAROUNA
Ecopengardner - Direct '
1 was in a r.ecting.
2 So I called him the next morning. I left a message 3 and I called him the next morning, and he wasn't in yet. I left 4 a message for him to contact me, that I had permission to talk 5
to him, that I was unable to contact him down in the hole, and 6 I needed to talk to him.
7 I called the operator back again, and he wasn't in yet.
8 I called her back about a half hour later--excuse me, an hour 9 later; and she said he has already been in and gone.
10 I said, "Did you give him my message?" She said, "No."
11 She said, "All he did is go straight into Doug Bean's office and 12 was in there for about five minutes and left and went to 13 Atlanta."
14 So on Monday morning he was in the office and I called 15 up, had permission to talk to him. I came up to the office and 16 I talked to him in there, and we discussed some of the things.
17 He called in Bob David, who was our Safety Foreman which used 18 to work for OSHA.
19 We talked and I tryad to get him, I wanted to take him 20 out on the plant. They didn't want to go at first.
21 I finally talked ~ them into it. I took Mr. Maxwell 22 around for approximately two and one half hours. I showed him s
23 the green water in the UHI Building, which I reported on the
.; 24 OSHA inspection.
25 I showed him scaffold boards that was up on pipe. I EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPe REPORTING SERvlCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
Hoopengtrdn3r - Dirsct I
showed him electric cable that had came out of the cable tray 2 on 540 elevation in the Auxiliary Building in a little trench 3 that runs down between the two buildings that were over there.
4 There were men walking on them, they were laying in 5 water. He went in and took the numbers down and all. We 6 walked around the corner over to Mr..Sullivan, which is a fore-
~
7 man, over to his work area.
8 They have work tables set out there with carbon steel.
9 The whola thing is made out of carbon steel pretty much though.
10 They have vises on the ends with chains to hook down on the 11 pipe, and they crank it to hold it in place.
12 All that is carbon steel. They take stainless steel 13 pipes and valves and flanges and set it up there on top of them.
14 They put it in those vises, and they have tripods that they use 15 Elso.
16 It is just 3 vise on three legs that they do the same 17 thing with. There was no trying to eliminate carbon steel and 18 stainless steel as it is by one of the construction procedures l
19 that he brought over. Mr. Sullivan brought over to Mr. Maxwell 20 and showed it to him that they were supposed to, if at all 21 :possible, eliminate as much contact between carbon steel and 22 stainless steel.
23 Mr. Maxwell asked Mr. Sullivan what happened or why was
(/ 24 this being done like that; and Mr. Sullivan stated at first they 25 i vere putting little stainless steel wedges.
l EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPOfRING SERVICE, CHARLOTTE, NOMTH CAROUNA
m.__ . . _ _
Hoopengardnsr - Dirset 21 1
He said at first Mr. Sullivan said at first they were 2
taking little stainless steel wedges and put them underneath 3
the pipe whenever they were putting them up on temporary hangers ,
4 which is all carbon steel.
5 They didn't hear about it wasn't being enforced. I'm 6 paraphrasing it. They didn't hear nothing else about it for a 7 nice little while, so they just forget about it.
8 They didn't follow through and carry it all out. All 9 the temporary hangers that I built scaffolds for them to put out to was all carbon steel, and there was very little stainless steel 11 wedges or slabs between the pipe.
12 I took him around and we went down into, I think it was 13 the D Trench this was on. We went through the penatration Room 14 on 543 and went around, and I took him, he had to fight his way 15 through cords. There was some acetylene bottles laying on their 16 side halfway tied up, half not. I wanted him to go down where 17 'we just got finished building some forms in.
18 I do believe it is D Trench, I'm not sure. The lead 19 $ arts was stuck out, there was a temporary hanger that was holding 20 the pipe. It was' extended about so far, about a foot farther 21 than the pipe, and the 1 add e r s . was pushed over that standing 22 straight up, being about six inches off the ground, off the 23 concrete floor at the bottom.
~/ 24 Mr. Maxwell didn't really want to go down it, but he '
25 did, and he wasn't too thrilled about how it was constructed.
EVELYN BERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
,- - , , , - . - , , . . , _ . , , , - . . - - - , - - - - , - , , , - , , ~ , - - . - . - - , - - . . . . - - - - . - . .
22 Hoopengardn3r - Direct j L
1 We were looking at those forms that we just got finished making, l 2
and in there there was a lot of water on the floor, and it just 3 got finished.
4 Somebody just poured them with concrete, and I was 5
there earlier that morning and finished up on that; so the only 6
way they could have poured it without it being not damp, but 7
wet, would be able to vacuum it out, I guess. But I'm not sure 8
if they would do that because all the ones that we ever put 9 down, they were never caulked, they were never sealed.
10 All the pads and all that were never put in place 11 around the machinery. Well, I shared with him about this welder, 12 and his name is Henry Knox, and I came out of the Penetration 13 Room and I witnessed him with his techrig, and he had a pipe, 14 maybe a three-quarter inch pipe, on his tripod, and he had his l
l 15 techrig heating up on one side of the pipe where there was a 16 solid red spot. He had a can of water and a rag, and it wasn't 17 Wet, it was damp.
18 He took it, after he got it hot, and put it on it, and i
l 19 I walked in the room, and he had a shocked look on his face, and 20 he told me he shouldn't have been doing that because it was a 21 violation; but he had to get the pipe right, and that is what 22 he had to do to get the pipe right.
23 He heats it up and puts the water on it and pulls the v 24 pipe around. And I brought that to Mr. Maxwell's attention, 25 l and he wanted the name so I shared it with him.
EvELYN SERGER ASSOctATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
Hoopcngardnor - Dircct 1 About five minutes until 12:00 he threw up his hands 2 and said he had seen enough, that he was going to call for an 3 investigation.
4 So I went back to the gang docks, we had lunch and 5 proceeded on to work. Because of that taking the NRC man 6 tround, Mr. Maxwell, during working hours and a lot of the 7 vorkers out there saw me do it, and we were always told that you 8 Son't talk to NRC men because they are the ones that shut the 9 ; plant down.
10 Nobody wanted to lose their jobs. We had a gang meeting 11 of our crew, R. R. Pelfrey's crew. There was roughly about 15 12 or 20 of us at that time with Danny Powell and John Turner that 13 came down; and we used Marshall White's map shack.
14 It was brought up then, I'll put it this way, because 15 why they were down there was because R. R. Pelfrey and the 16 management was putting certain rules and regulations upon our 17 crew, discriminating and harassing our crew against other 18 workers and other crews that were out there.
19 We had to sit around with our safety glasses on all the 20 time, and other crews ten feet away didn't have them on. Other 21 crafts didn't have to go by all the safety regulations they were 22 putting down on us.
l l 23 We were having to wear our safety belts all the time if
..- 24 we were out on a job that the other crafts didn't have to do.
25 They placed several handwritten orders upon the whole--
l EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE PEPORTING SERVICE, CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
. - - . - - . _ - ,--- _ __ ,, , _ _ _ _ _ - _ _ . . _ _ _ _ _ , , . _ _ ,_ , - - _ _ _ . - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ - ~
F H:opangardntr - Direct
- 1 R. R. Pelfrey read them, and we all had to sign them which told 2
us we had to do our jobs ue were hired to do, and any negligence 3 in it, you could be fired by it. I brought up several incidents 4
where there was fellow scaffold builders built a scaffold down 5 on 577 elevation of John Scruggs, which was built over a hola 6 without any handrails.
7 And it would have probably been a good 25 foot drop, at 8
least. I told R. R. Pelfrey; he didn't do anything about it.
9 I headed over to diesel generator, I think, or exterior 10 doghouse, and I passed John Scruggs and shared it with him.
11 He went over and got on R. R. Pelfrey and got down 12 there and got it fixed. They were only out to try to find any-13 thing that I did where they could bust me for it and get me out 14 of there because I was a hassle to them.
15 We had that meeting, and it was brought up in that 16 nesting that the C, we had two crews--we had a crew downstairs 17 on 560 elevation where I was working at until later days.
18 And they brought me upstairs and then we had one on 19 597 elevation; and that was our main headquarters. As my 20 suggestion paper states, and if you want to read that over, that 21 should discuss it all right in there because it shares it out.
22 We tried several times to get supervision downstairs. We had 23 guys that I guess don't have no pride in theirselves. They v 24 would go out and we have a booklet that you have right there 25 (indicating).
EVELYN SERGER ASSoctATES. STENCTYPE REPORT 1NG SERvtCE. CHARLot fE. NORTH CAROUNA
Hoopangardnsr - Direct 25 1
We have our initials, and you are paired up with two or 2 three individuals and you have your initials out there. You 3 have an elevation column line, and the craft and who it was for.
4 The craft would come over and sign whatever elevation 5
it was for and give what column line, so you can get pretty 6 Well close to where you have to build a scaffold.
7 They would take and put the craft and the name. That 8
way our initials are up there and a welder comes in and wants it 9
on a 543 elevation, LL, HH, something like that.
10 We would go over there and yell for whoever it was, u Still there would be sometimes they wouldn't and some guys would 12 go off and hide in a corner somewhere. There is a lot of little 13 cubbyholes back there, and a lot of them wouldn't do their job 14 and come back.
l 15 ' If you work as a unit and one, you can get more work 16 done and safer work done. So in the gang meeting it was brought 17 up that this, they asked some, I think it was powerhouse 18 mechanics for a drill or some kind of tools downstairs, so they 19 could put up a scaffold.
20 They refused them. They wouldn't let them use any of 21 their equipment, and they told him, "Because you have somebody 22 on your crew you are trying to make it hard on us. We know how 23 to take care of him, something is going to fall on him."
, - 24 They were afraid of losing their job because of the 25 plant was being built improperly as they know with me taking the EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERytCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
r HeepencSrdner - Direct 26
- 1 NRC man around, that it would hurt.
2 So then it was brought up also that there was a man, 3
I forget the gentleman's name, it was an older gentleman and he 4
said to them, he said, "What about if a man is trying to get 5
documents from another craft?" And Danny Powell said, "I want 6
to find out about it; I want you to tell me."
7 Later I was trying to get documents from Powerhouse 8
Mechanics about the valves being put in backwards because there 9
Was a multitude of them that were placed in there that was 10 being--some of them was being taken out.
11 It was showing negligence of the management because 12 1
they were supposed to be matched up in the warehouse or welding, 13 wherever they store them at up there.
14 Before they leave that they are supposed to be matched 15
! which way they come in, and they weren't or the management 16 people that were installing them weren't paying any attention to 17 them one way or the other.
18 So this was May 1st of 1980. John Scruggs--I was 19 building some handrails on 577 elevation. McDowell came down 20 and told me to get my tools and come on.
21 I went with him and we went back to the gang box. John 22 Scruggs was there and he gave me my papers that he was trans-23 l ferring me up to the Cooling Tower under Frank Contrill and
\/ 24 2nderneath olan Turham was the General Foreman up there; and 25 they put the letter on me which says Danny Powell was l .mm .. .. .nociar... .r.~orm ao=~a aawc= ca^a== " " *^" ""^
\ -
I . .
Hoopsngardnsr - Direct 27 I transferring me for my own safetf and protection.
2 I didn't want to be transferred. Around Thanksgiving 3
time of 1979, when the NRC had an open conference with whoever 4 wants to talk to them, I talked to them. My partner downstairs 5 at that time, Terry Green, talked to them.
6 I'm not sure what Terry talked to them about, but I 7 shared safety and stuff that was going on, so I made a complaint 8
to the NRC at that time about the stuff that was going on.
9 So they--I wished I had my papers through that and 10 through the Department of Labor's manual, the slender manual 11 about being harassed and being discriminated against, of your 12 building up safety violations or grievances or suggestions or
~
13 whatever--they are not supposed to harass you.
14 They are not supposed to discriminate against you.
15 They are not supposed to take privileges against you that you 16 had in the past. .
17 One time after I got transferred, Well, I don't want 18 to jump too much ahead of myself.
.19 When.I got. transferred to Frank Contrill's, he told me 20 that I was goiug to obey him and do what he told me to do. I 21 told him just as long as it wasn't taking away any of my rights, 22 I will do my job.
23 The place was a health hazard up there. They had V 24 rebars sticking out of the slabs all around the Cooling Tower.
25 There was guys walking up on top of the Cooling Tower without EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERvlCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
,-- - -. . - , , _ _ . . , . - . . , _ _ _ - _ . _ . , _ , - . , _ _ _ , , -. . . - , . . _ _ . . , - . - . . . . . . _ . _ _ . _ . , _ ___ - . _ . ~
Hoopangardn:r - Direct 1 any kind of safety nets, without. belts being tied off, no 2 guard rails.
3 These rebars were protruding anywhere from a foot to 4 about three feet out of the ground. Ditches, electrical cables ,
5 just no kind of barricade around those 30-foot canals that they 6 dug out there. So I think it was on the 5th or 6th I called 7 OSHA because I wasn't getting much of any kind of response from 8 Mr. Maxwell about he was going to take care of advising OSHA.
9 So I had to make it a formal--I was already in contact to with George Dailey, who was a lawyer. We filled it out, sent it II in on the 22nd, 21st, 22nd, which Mr. Unn was the OSHA 12 He came out on the job, and he talked to me in his Inspector.
- n. -
13 office first, and I discussed just a few things with him and 14 nothing else.
15 As I have stated in my OSHA Witness Statement, I was 16 Sent to Washington, which you can all get a copy of, you should 17 be able to, which lists a lot of things I showed George Maxwell .
18 He came out there one afternoon. He came and he walke t 19 past me and talked to an Injun (sic), Bob McKirk, he talked to 20 him. He is a builder, and he was on the same crew. He came 21 over there and talked to Richard Wiley, which is a Black man, 22 a builder on our crew.
He came over there close to me, and I said something
~
23 24 to him, and I showed him an electrical box that was hanging on 25 rebar handrail that they had around the back side of the EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERvtCE CHARLOTTE. NORTH CARQUNA
I Hoopsngardnsr - Dircct 29 1 Cooling Tower. We went over and I showed him the rebar sticking 2 out of the slab underneath the Cooling Tower.
3 I worked in the middle cooling Tower. There was ono 4
in front of us. His comment was, "Well, I don't see anybody 5
working up there right now."
6 I showed him a lead dart that was stuck down in the mud 7
down the canal that wasn't tied off. It was just sticking in 8 mud. Dougan stepped in and told me.that I was not a 9 representative and that I did not have any right for me to be 10 taking him around and for me to go back to work.
11 So walking back over to the area, there was an 12 electrical wire cable running down through a pool of water, and 13 I showed that to Mr. Unn, and Mr. Unn told me to find a frayed 14 spot in it.
15 Q What kind of spot?
l 16 A Frayed.
17 So he left, got the report back June the 30th, I 18 believe. I'm not exactly sure, but somewhere around there we 19 got the report back.
20 It said that Duke Power was all in compliance with OSHA 21 regulations. In that report it stated about Number 57 and Ten 22 was people falling out there on the work site. One of them was 23 an iron worker that fell in the Turbine Building.
s.) 24 They suspended his foreman for awhile, one of them was 25 what we heard through a safety meeting from R. R. Palfrey, that EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERylCE. CMARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
Hoopongardner - Direct 30 I somebody tripped on some cables and a railroad tie that was 2 sitting in there.
3 Number 10 was concerning Luke Weaver, a Black welder.
4 I talked with him, and he fell over 40 feet in Spent Fuel. The 5 other workers in there, they thought he was probably dead 6
because he was bouncing off the scaffold bracing.
7 He was bouncing off the other boards that was in thereo 8 He hit in the bottom of Spent Fuel with three inches of water 9 in it.
10 It is not even supposed to have water in it. They 11 took the rags and after they checked the welds, and they would 12 throw them down, and it was just a health hazard and a-half in 13 the bottom of Spent Fuel.
14 The water was green, just like I showed Mr. Maxwell.
15 The water was just as green as the pen (indicating) that you l 16 have, real green, worse than Marine green.
17 Jack Haskey was the safety man on that at that time.
l 18 He got down there and Luke Weaver was just coming to. Another 19 welder got a board, and it was lying right above where Luke I
~
l 20 Weaver was laying, and his name is Greg Skeeto.
21 Jack asked him, " Luke, what day is it?" Luke gave him i
22 the wrong day, and he said, "Do you want to sit up?", and Luke.
23 just (demonstrating gestures) .
..- 24 He sat him up and he said, "Okay, let's get up and get 25 out of here." He got him up and walked him 50 feet out of' Spent EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES, $TENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHAPLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
Hoopengardner - Direct 31 1 Fuel after falling 40 feet, took him into the hospital, x-rayed 2 him out okay.
3 He called in the next day. His head and neck was 4 bothering him. His foreman went out to his house and brought 5 him to the work sits so Duke wouldn't have the lost work 6 report on their hands.
7 I had the same thing happen to me to a certain extent.
8 I got hit with some pliers when I wat working in the Diesel 9 Generators tying up some cables.
10 My pliers slipped off the end of the cable, and it hit 11 me in the eye on Saturday afternoon. I laid down, I was almost 12 on top of the Cease Valve Generator. I laid down on the 13 scaffold.
14 My partner was there, and he helped me get out because 15 I had blood and everything running from my eye.
l l 16 0 The pliers fell out of your hands and hit your eye?
1 17 A No, I had ahold of the pliers pulling on the nine wire, 18 and it gave, the nine wire gave and came back and hit me. That 19 was one incident of that.
1 20 The other one was I was pulling a nail out of a little 21 2 x 6. It gavo loose of the other one and hit me in the eye.
22 I went up to the Safety Department. They clamped it, cleaned 23 it out, sent me back into the hole.
l I worked down there for about two hours. That was
^ ~- 24 n around two o' clock. I worked down there until quitting time, 1
l avsLYN maRotR AssociAras, sisNOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CMARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
Hoopengardner - Direct 32 1 four, still bleeding.
2 My wife picked me up and I had a big gash. I called--
3 I went home and I called back in, and Mr. Milton, which was the 4 second man in charge, sort of, of the Safety Department; he toli 5
ne it was too late for me to get stitches, for ce to come in and 6 they would take care of it.
7 I came in on the work that night. They cleaned it up 8 and sprayed Bencedrine, which I was informed later they 9 shouldn't have put it that close to a sensitive area.
10 They burned my forehead with it. I come in the next 11 day and they butterflied it. I came in--the next day I wanted 12 to go to the doctor to make sure it was done right--they I3 wouldn't let me do it.
14 I had to take a day off, myself. So I complained about.
15 it to Mr. Alexander, Steve Alexander; and we had a discussion 16 pertaining to I didn't come in with a bunch of scars all over nu 17 and I didn't want to leave with a bunch of scars all over me.
- 18 The nurse thought it was done good enough, and through 19 the negligence I saw out there, the way I was treated the night-20 before, I wanted to make sure it was done right so the day I had 21 to take off, they used one of my sick days or personal business 22 hours.
23 I was allotted one of my sick days to go get checked
. 24 out. So I wanted to get that in there.
25 Q Is that it?
EVELYN SEROER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERvlCE. CMARLOTTE NORTH CARCUNA
Hoopengardner - Direct 33 1 A No, there is a lot more.
2 Q Let's have it all.
3 A After I went and was transferred up to the Cooling 4 Towers, and whenever I got the reports back that Duke Power was 5 all in compliance with OSHA regulations, I called Mr. Maxwell 6 and tried to talk to him, and he wouldn't talk to me.
7 He said, "You call Atlanta and you talk to Mr. Alderson 8 in Atlanta." So I called him and I talked to Mr. Alderson, and 9 I kept telling him, and he kept telling me that is not under-10 neath our jurisdiction.
11 That is under OSHA's, and I kept explaining to him, the 12 scaffolds being one walkboard ten to forty feet up in tha air 13 and you just tell the welder to hook off to a temporary hanger 14 so you won't have to put out any more effort, and then you have 15 to--
16 I kept sharing this and he got disgusted and said, i
l 17 " Wait a minute, I don't care if the pipe falls off the wall."
l 18 I said, "What, this is a nuclear power plant." And what he said 19 was, "Well, this is underneath the jurisdiction of OSHA, and so 20 I went ahead and got the report back from NRC, and it stated in 21 there nothing really to speak of much of what I showed Mr.
22 Maxwell when I took him around.
23 The cable that was laying down, the walkboards that was v- 24 stuck up on.the pipe and the cable trays, the green water, the 25 work tables that was all carbon steel, I think it was mentioned EVELYN EERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE 8MPORTING SERVICE. CMARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
Uoopsngardnar - Direct M i in there pertaining to the welder that I mentioned, Henry Knox 2 who said there was no merit in it, more or less.
3 They couldn't find any evidence of it. So I went back, 4 I think it was around the end of July, I went and met with Mr.
5 Hunt, another NRC Inspector; and I took him around but it was 6 after work hours was when I took Mr. Hunt around.
7 They wanted to wait until it was after hours. There s wasn't as many people. We first went up into the Rebar Yard 9 where we were up there, not just that week, and got some rebar 10 from out there at the Cooling Towers, and there was grass or 11 weeds growing over your head.
1 12 Rebar was scattered all around the yard. I showed him 13 that, I showed him some more green water, and mosquito larvae 14 and all this kind of stuff down at the Cooling Towers.
15 I showed him scaffold boards up on pipe and electrical 16 cables laying on the ground in the Feed Water Pump Room which 17 was being done the whole time that I was working out there in 18 the Scaffold Building.
19 In the two years I was outside the Auxiliary Building 20 that stuff was going on. They would take a chance, saw and 21 hoist up a pipe, and NRC has infractions on that, as I saw in 22 the Document Room before.
23 I turned in my list, and I turned in two; one list to 24 him and then I sent one to Washington with people's names on it, 25 the contacts; and I thought that I should have been able to ..
EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES, STENOTYPE REPCfrTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA l _ _ _ _ _ _ . _ _, . , _ _ _ . _ , , _. . _ . , _ , , , . _ _ , ___ _ . _ _ _ _ _ . _ _ _ _ . . . . _ _ . _ _ _ . . , _ , . . , _ , . , _ _ . , . _ . _ _ _ _ ,
Hoopangardner - Direct 35
~
1 fall in under Section 19 cf being harassed and discriminated ;
2 against out there on the job. l 3 It is concerning radioactive working conditions 4 because where I was at it is regarding that. For.e days those 1 5 electrical cables was being pulled out and laying on the floor, 6 we were walking on them, we are dropping our 4 x 6's on them.
7 The Core Hole, I forget the powerhouse mechanics, it 8 is not powerhouse mechanies, a certain group that wears gray 9 hardhats, they were drilling holes in the walls with these big i
10 bits, all different sizes, that was run by air pressure and 11 water.
12 They had water on the floor and these cables were 13 laying down in the water, we were dropping our 4 x 6's on it.
14 The pipefitters are walking on it, and we are walking on it.
15 The pipefitters are dropping their big pipes on it, 16 and there is a multitude of cables which are being down like 17 that, and it is my belief and feeling it could very probably 18 damage them.
19 So after I got Mr.--took Mr. Hunt around and gave him 20 the papers--the next month, August, whenever I was working 21 Frank Contrill, my foreman at that time, was more or less under 22 extrems pressure somehow to get something on me to get rid of l
23 me.
- 24 Duke Power wrote me up once because I had a dentist 25 appointment. I went to that and also in the past when I worked EVELYN BERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPW REPORTING SERVICE, CHARLOTTE. NOMW CAROUNA
--, . . . _ . . _ . - . , . . , , - . . . . . , _ _ _ , , , - _ . , _ _ ~ . _ , _ _ _ _ _ . , _ , _ , . . _ _ . _ _ _ . _ _ , . , . _ _ , , . _ _ , . _ - - - - - , . _
Hoopengardner - Direct 36 1 for R. R. Pelfrey I had a lot of time on the book, personal.
2 business hours, I was able to take them. I went to the rate 3 hika hearings in Columbia and I came back and they wrote me up 4 for unauthorised absence.
5 Frank and I talked about it before I left, and he 6 checked that I had enough hours on the book and a-quarter hour 7 still on the book that I could use.
8 I worked with the welder. He came over there when I 9 had welding burns and he put me with a welder all day long. He 10 came over at two o' clock and talked to me and went away.
11 And then the next day I came in that evening and I had 12 welding burns on my face and on my arms, and I asked to go to 13 First Aid.
14 They sent me to First Aid and put some salve on me. I 15 came back up and he was going to write me up for not using 16 wisdom, or something, it is hard to tell.
17 He was going to write me up on something.
18 Q This was the next day?
19 A Yes, sir; after I got the welding burns that morning.
20 On his little card, I wrote on it just what I more or less 21 explained to you, that he came over and talked to me. He should 22 have noticed I was getting burned.
~
23~ He should have pulled me away from the welder and put
-- 24 somebody else with him. It was just as much his negligence as 25 mine.
l
O o Hoopengardner - Direct 37 1 I was having to do my work or they would get me for not 2 maintaining work production, not following oral or written 3 instructions.
4 I went, I think it was on the 13th of August I was 5 working with a welder. We were back side, putting the mats in, 6 and this Welder that we got, I think his name would be Burt 7 Knox, he was working with us and we were going along and it was 8 McKirk's duty, he was standing on the outside of the bulkhead 9 and I was inside and I had all the little rods in place and the 10 welder was welding them and I would have them in place.
11 I would hold them there and get another set ready and 12 he would stand up in the middle of August after heat exhaustion ,
13 which was what they gave me because of such extreme pressure I 14 was put under because of work.
15 We were tired and not being able to keep up work 16 production. I had heat exhaustion. I went to the doctor and 17 he said it was a stomach virus. They gave me a sick day. This 18 was Ralph Morrison that did this to me this time so I wouldn't 19 have a lost time accident on your hands.
20 I went to my own doctor and I shared with him how I 21 felt, what happened to me and everything. He said it was no 22 stomach virus, it was very probably heat exhaustion and not a 23 stomach virus.
24 On the 13th we was working, I had them in place and I 25 talked--that was one thing they didn't like for me to do was to EVELYN BERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERV;CE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
. o Hoopendardner - Direct 38 1 share what was going on, what Duke was doing to so.
2 They didn't liko :r.e to share the Lord Jesus with any-3 one. They tried to isolate me completely. They had to watch 4 welders because this one welder that we were working with had a 5 lot longer lead, and the other welder had a short lead, and they 6 had to watch welders so he could finish up the last couple of 7 bars; and we only had just a few bars left to do.
8 We were standing there and this welder was up in the 9 Turbine Building. He was a White guy, I don't know his name.
10 I was talking to him and I m uld hold the bars.
11 He would tack it and I w uld mcVe, but I would still 12 talk to him. He was welding and we got finished. We had the 13 very last bar up.
. 14 Bob McKirk was standing on one side and these are 15 carriager rods, carriagers that we were building for the top 16 ones to go across for the mats, the top mat.
17 Bob was standing on the other side of the welder l
18 because we sere moving towards the center, and I had the other l
19 part.
20 The welder is moving that way and I'm talking to him 21 and all. Bob was standing there and he tacked it, I moved out 22 of the way.
23 I was talking to him, the welder finished and he came i
m i 24 up where we were standing there a minute. Contrill told me to l
l 25 grab my tools and come with him, to clean out my locker.
! .m,~ .. .. ...oci.n.. .n~om. noo ri . ..=ic.. c 4 terr . ~o- c4=ou~4
Ecopongardner - Direct "
n 1 I cleaned out my lecher and I went doun to the ware-2 house and I turned in all my tools. There must have been five 3 people to see Hoopengardner get canceled out, and they made a 4 lot of little comments about Hoopengardner getting off the 5 project.
6 It was a big day for them. After that we went over to 7 the Financing or into the Main Office. We went to a gentleman 8 in there and he took my ID card and went to leave and I said, 9 " Wait a minute, what is going on?" He said, " John and Frank 10 said I'm taking you out of service for investigation." And so 11 I went out, and before I went out I told them I wanted to talk 12 to Danny Powell, and they wouldn't let me talk to him.
13 I wanted to talk to John Scruggs and they wouldn't let 14 me. Frank Contrill opened the door and said, "You are out of 15 Service."
16 I talked to the recoptionist and said, "Since I'm a 17 visitor now, I want to talk to Doug Bean." And she said, 18 "There is a phone. Go call him."
19 I called and talked to Cecil Wall, and I asked Cecil 20 what is going on. He says, "What do you mean?" I said, "Why 21 am I being taken out of service?" He said, "How should I know?
22 I said, "You're in charge." And he hung up on me.
23 Then that whole time Frank Contrill is on the telephone yelling ,
v 24 "Get me Security, get me Security."
25 About that time John Scruggs, Cecil Wall, Frank l
EvELTN eERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE R4 PORTING SERvlCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA l
e . 1 Hocpongardner - Direct 40 1 Contrill and I am not sure, one or two other people, come out 2 into the recoptionist's area there, the lobby.
3 I was sitting on the couch waiting for the whistle to 4 go off because I was riding with comebody else so I didn't have 5 a ride home until four o' clock.
6 Two security gua'ds r came up, one was Robinson. He 7 threatened me later on. But Cecil Wall came out and asked what 8 was going on and Frank Contrill said I was being taken out of 9 service for insubordination and not following oral and written to instructions.
11 So they said, "There it is, you will get a legitimate 12 investigation, so you can leave." I said, "I can't leave until 13 I have my ride."
14 They said, "You can go out and wait in the parking 15 lot." So the security guard took me out and Mr. Robinson said, 16 "I was in enough trouble as it was", and he said, "We should 17 throw your ass in jail for trespassing."
18 He turned me over to two other security guards at the l 19 gate, and they took me and walked me out to the car. And they 20 are both Believers in the Lord Jesus so I was able to share 21 with them because they didn't know all this stuff that was going 22 on, and I shared with them that was going on.
23 And the whistle went off and I went home. I contacted l
24 Mr. Dailey. He was my attorney at that time, and I told him s what was going on. He said that he would get back in touch EVELYN BERGER ASSOCIATES, STENOTYPE REPORTING KERvlCE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROLINA
o .
Hoopengardner - Direct I with me.
2 He tried calling Duke Power's Attorneys, talked with 3 them. Ho contacted, let's see, that was, I think that was 4 Thursday was the 13th, I'm not e::actly sure--no, it wasn't a 5 Thursday because it was a Nednesday.
6 He said if I wasn't back in work on Monday, call him 7 back. I wasn't at work on Monday and I called him back.
8 We set up an office meeting. I filed my C-Il 9 Discrimination Harassment. I called the Department of Labor, 10 Federal, and I talked to Mr. Settler and I shared with him, I 11 asked him about any information on discrimination and harassment .
12 He asked me why and I shared with him what Duke Power 13 did, and within just a day later, it was on a Friday, I think 14 it was an CSHA Inspector came up and talked to Frank Contrill at 15 the Cooling Towers.
i 16 It was a stocky man with a red beard, an OSHA 17 Inspector.
18 l Q I'm a little confused--
19 A l This was after I called--
20 Q You are already off the site?
21 A 1:n off the site.
l 22 O How do you know this guy, stocky and red hair--
l l
23 A I have people, I have contacts. Anyway, so he went up l
v+ 24 and talked to Frank Contrill, just Frank and nobody else, and
/
f 3 then left.
I l
l EvELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE CMARLOTTE. NORTM CAROLINA
Hoopengardn2r - Direct 42 1 Steve Alexander called me on Friday night about 6 10, 2 told me to report back in on the work site on Monday morning.
3 I told him to contact Mr. Dailey, that I was going 4 through him and that I gave him his telephone number. So 5 Monday morning I called Mr. Dailey and told him that.
6 He called and he told me to wait until I heard from 7 him. Monday morning Steve Alexander called me about ten after 8 10:00 and asked me why I wasn't in on the work siter and I told 9 him that I go through my Attorney now, as I told you Friday. ;
10 You need to contact him, and he stated then that you 11 need to come to work or something about you are supposed to be 12 in on the work site.
13 Tuesday I didn't go in, I called Dailey and talked to 14 him. He told me to just wait. Tuesday night about 9:30 Mr.
15 Dailey called and told me to go back into work on Wednesday. I 16 went in on Wednesday.
l 17 John Scruggs and Frank Contrill had me up in the Main 18 Office. They suspended me again, or whatever, and took me out 19 of service. If you want to classify it as that, for another 20 investigation.
21 Mr. Alexander did state on the phone Monday morning 22 that Duke Power did make a mistake pertaining to insubordination 23 and not following oral and written instructions.
' - 24 My Attorney was trying to get my back pay. He was i 25 trying to get the results of the investigation down on papert EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERvlCE. CMARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
Hoopengardnsr - Dir:ct -
43 1 and he was trying to get my financial burden because of Duke 2 Power's wrongdoings, that i had to carry.
3 He was trying to get his finances freed, and those are 4 the things he was trying to get. So I went in Wednesday and 5 they pulled me and took me out of service.
6 They had it already written up and they said I had no 7 contact with the job site on Monday or Tuesday when Steve 8 Alexander called me, himself, on Monday morning and knew why I 9 wasn't in on the work site.
10 Then on September 4 they called me back in. I had my 11 exiting review. They paid me off. They paid me until the 27th 12 of August. My last day was the 13th, of working.
13 They terminated me on the 22nd. I have papers to show 14 they said I was on unexcused absence. One says it is 15 insubordination for not following oral, written instructions.
16 I don't know if they really made up their minds what 17 they--they just wanted to get rid of me.
18 Q So that is it?
19 A No, sir.
20 Is that. it- for you at the Catawba work site? What are Q
21 you going to tell me about now?
22 A Well, I would like to share some of the things 23 pertaining to other workers that I've experienced about that
- 24 had the same thing done to them pertaining up in the Cooling 25 Tower Utilities.
c,.ou~.
mov~ .. .. ...oci.r... muom. mo riu. ...vic.. c~.. torr.. ~onr j . - -- .- .- -
i Hoopengardn2r - Dircct 44
- 1 Mr. Shaw sent one of his laborers down in the 30-foot 2 canal and wanted him, laborer wanted a ladder to get down and a they said go down the cliff or hit the gate. ,
4 He went down the cliff and the cliff gave way and he 5 busted up both his knees pretty bad. They gave him his sick 6 time, too.
7 Q Anything else?
8 (Discussion off the record.)
9 to MR. CARR: We are d,oing this pursuant to duly 11 notified Depositions. It is our position that when 12 Mr. Hoopengardner shows up, if we are going to get some resistance from that we will get the Board to issue a 13 14 subpoena first thing in the morning.
15 MR. GUILD: That is not the point.
16 MR. CARR: If you are not finished with yours, i 17 fine. You did not t a k e Depositions Monday, Tuesday, 18 and Wednesday of this week. We could have let the t
l 19 Board resolve the thing.
20 MR. GUILD: This is no reason to be a pain in the 21 neck about it. Seriously, we find ourselves facing a 22 critical problem.
23 MR. CARR: The critical problem is solely of your 24 own making.
25 EVELYN BERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CMARLOTTE. NORTH CAROUNA
+
- 45
.- 1 2 (Whereupon, the Deposition was adjourned at 3 12:25 a.m., to be concluded on 5/20/93.)
4 6 I, Noland L. Hoopengardner, hereby certify that I have read 7 and understand the foregoing transcript and believe it to be a 8 P. rue, accurate and complete transcript of my testimony.
9 10 Noland L. Hoopengardner 12 This Deposition was signed in my presence by Noland L.
13 :Koopengardner on the day of ,.1983.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 i
EVELYN SERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE REPORTING SERVICE. CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROUNA
., f , . ' ,
- 1 l
2 CERTIFICATE 3 STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA 4
COUNTY OF MECKLENBURG 5
I, Lynn B. Gilliam, do he,reby certify that 6 the proceedings were by me reduced to machine shorthand in the 7
presence of the witnesses, afterwards transcribed upon a type-8 writer by me, personally; and that the foregoing is a true and 9
correct transcript of the proceedings.
10 I further certify that these proceedings were 11 taken at the time and place in the foregoing caption specified.
12 I further certify that I am not a relative, 13 bounsel or attorney for either party or otherwise interested in 14 the outcome of this action.
15 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my 16 band at Charlotte, North Carolina, on this the I day of 17 ) 2/ , 1983.
V 18 19 20 21 mh 22 LY$dtB.GILLIAM Court Reporter 23 24 25 EVELYN GERGER ASSOCIATES. STENOTYPE SaEPORTING SERVICE CHARLOTTE. NORTM CAROLIN#,
- _ _ _ _ . . _ _ _ . . , . _ _ . _ _ . . _ _ _ _ - _ . . . . - . . _