KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Mayor criticizes AG's office amid E. coli probe
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Associated Press - March 3, 2009 8:24 PM ET
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The mayor of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, is criticizing Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson for suggesting that a deadly E. coli outbreak may have been caused by contamination from poultry farms. The E. coli outbreak killed one man and made hundreds of people sick. It was linked to the Country Cottage restaurant.
Mayor Shawn Bates says Edmondson unfairly attacked his town and hasn't proven anything.
Charlie Price, a spokesman for the attorney general, says he is puzzled that Bates would take issue with the state trying to protect the health of the people the mayor represents.
Meanwhile state health officials continue analyzing at least 17 samples taken from private water wells in the area that showed E. coli.
Edmondson released a report last month saying the well at the restaurant "is, and has been, contaminated with poultry waste and associated bacteria, including E. coli."
The poultry industry denies the claims, saying the tests didn't identify a link between bacteria in water wells and poultry.
Edmondson is suing 13 poultry companies saying the waste has polluted the Illinois River watershed.
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