DANVERS - Jan Schlichtmann, the lawyer depicted in "A Civil Action," last night told Danversport residents affected by the Nov. 22 chemical plant explosion that he couldn't solve their problems.
But he knew who could.
"It's you," Schlichtmann told about 100 people, many still displaced by the blast, who went to the Riverside Elementary School gym to hear him speak. "You are the ones who can solve this problem because you're the reason why the problem has to be solved.
"You have the power, if you choose to exercise it," he said.
Schlichtmann's message resonated. By a show of hands, Danversport residents overwhelmingly supported forming an association to represent the neighborhood's interests. Within two hours last night, residents had selected a seven-member steering committee among their neighbors.
"We don't have time to think about it, we have to do this now," Lori Ataya of 26 Bates St. said before the vote.
Schlichtmann, a Beverly resident, said he would be willing to assist the newly formed association in whatever way he can. "We'll figure out, step by step, where we go from here," he said after the meeting.
Schlichtmann rose to prominence after filing a lawsuit on behalf of Woburn residents in the 1980s alleging that family members contracted cancer from drinking water contaminated by local chemical companies. The legal case led to a book, "A Civil Action," and a 1998 movie starring John Travolta.
Since then, Schlichtmann has represented neighbors in other environmental cases, including a similar alleged cancer cluster in Toms River, N.J.
He drew on those experiences last night to emphasize the value behind Danversport neighbors uniting. As a group with one voice, Schlichtmann said they will be better able to deal with insurance companies and CAI Inc., the ink manufacturer who occupied the chemical plant with Arnel Co., a maker of paint products.
"You become a player in the process, and it allows you to be a part in the decision making," he said.
Schlichtmann didn't discuss filing a lawsuit. "In litigation, people don't talk to each other, they fight," he said.
Instead, he said the neighborhood association should seek to operate outside a courtroom. It should sit down around a table with representatives of CAI and Arnel. The truth comes out easier under such circumstances, according to Schlichtmann.
"Your goal is to understand what happened," he said. "Unless you understand what happened, you can't make the future safer, better and healthier."
One resident suggested waiting to form an association until federal and state investigators had determined a cause of the explosion. Schlichtmann stressed the need to act now, despite the still unanswered questions.
"If the authorities had everything under control you would have gone from 2:45 a.m. to 2:47 a.m. in dreamworld," he said, referring to the night of the blast. "But you woke up to a nightmare."
Ed Sanborn of Riverside Street said the meeting was a "terrific beginning." Susan Tropeano, one of the residents who invited Schlichtmann to Danversport, said things developed faster than she thought they would. "I figured everyone would have to go home and think about it," she said.
State Rep. Ted Speliotis also spoke and pledged to press insurance companies to come through for residents with damaged property. Danvers Public Health Director Peter Mirandi offered himself to the association as a resource.
Residents began the meeting describing, one by one, the problems they face. They said they wanted to return home, to not have to worry about money or the hassle of dealing with insurance companies. They said they wanted to feel safe again and make sure another explosion is prevented.
"We're all in the same boat. We're trying to turn an absolutely negative thing for all of us into a positive," said Tracey Greene of 24 Bates St. "If we come together, we can attack all the things that are on everybody's mind. We can have more power."
