Pamela Musgrove, also of the McSwain Community, said she has been diagnosed as an aplastic anemic.

“I was going to the doctor every week for congestive heart failure and for aplastic anemia,” Musgrove said. “We stayed across the street from the mill, American Woods. I’ve had a lot of problems.

“I’m 38 years old and I take 22 pills a day,” she said. “I can’t keep a job because of my illness.”

Dorothy Harkless and Bettie McDonald from the Beaver Meadow Community in Jasper County had similar issues.

“We want some justice,” McDonald said. “There were a lot of people left out. Most of the people in Beaver Meadow didn’t get anything. ... They did us wrong.”

Harkless agreed.

“We feel like we were sold out,” Harkless said. “People were done unfair. ...There should have been a better way of doing this.”

Kirk acknowledged that there were more than 1,000 people with claims. However, the lawyer said he had nothing to do with the court’s decisions concerning who would receive compensation.

“The court appointed a special master, who determined the people who would receive compensation,” he explained. “The special master looked at the people’s medical records.

“I am not the special master,” Kirk reiterated. “The special master looked at what diseases that could be medically-related to chemical exposure from dioxin polyaerometic hydrocarbon and ended up with 69 people.”

Kirk said those involved in the settlement included people in Jasper and Forrest counties.

“We didn’t get anything,” Moody said. “We want to get compensation for our illnesses. The people that got paid had the same illnesses that me and my family have.

“It hurts,” she added. “We feel that we were unjustly done. ...We need some justice done.”

Kirk said the courts decided who would receive compensation.

“During our court proceedings it was determined that American Woods did not have insurance to cover this claim,” Kirk said. “Final orders have been entered in this case. ... The U.S. District Court ruled that because American Woods’ insurance did not cover this, they were not liable. ... Then, we appealed that decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, which affirmed the declaratory decision.