How the 1992 CO poisoning deaths of a woman and her young son sparked change in Raleigh's public housing
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- When news of possible carbon monoxide exposure at Durham's McDougald Terrace reached former Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker, he says it brought back memories.
"Really sad memories," Meeker told ABC11. "We had a similar situation in Walnut Terrace in 1992 when a mom and her infant son were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning and a lot of other people poisoned as well."
It was in November of 1992 that Lorraine Hinton and her son were found dead in their apartment above a boiler room.
Eventually, it was determined they died of CO poisoning.
Hundreds of other Walnut Terrace residents complained of CO poisoning symptoms.
An investigation revealed internal Raleigh Housing Authority memos from months earlier in which a maintenance supervisor warned of potential CO problems.
Years later, without admitting guilt, the RHA paid a $400,000 settlement in the case.
Not long after Hinton's death, the public housing landscape in Raleigh began to change.
"That really was the start to the housing authority thinking about replacing those older projects," Meeker said. "First it was Halifax Court, then Chavis Heights, then finally Walnut Terrace. What you had over a 15-year period, and it took time to get the funding, was have all three of those projects taken down and then replaced with modern housing."
The developments now consist of mixed housing for middle, moderate and low-income residents.
Some studies have shown that packing poor people into housing complexes doesn't help lift them out of poverty, but bringing them into other neighborhoods does.
That's one reason replacing rundown apartment buildings built in the 1950s and 60s with mixed-income housing has been a nationwide trend led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development which oversees many public housing complexes.
Meeker was surprised to see there are still 60-year-old housing complexes in Durham and that, at one of them, Raleigh's history with carbon monoxide in public housing may be being repeated.
"It's unfortunate that somehow in public life that people don't learn from mistakes particularly if it's someone else's mistake they are not watching carefully enough. And certainly, this lesson that Raleigh learned was a hard lesson for Raleigh. And it's unfortunate that not everyone else learns the same lesson at the same time," he said.
Although carbon monoxide poisoning in three recent infant deaths at McDougald Terrace in Durham has now been ruled out, some residents have confirmed CO poisoning and high CO levels have been found in dozens of units there.
Meeker suspects the situation at McDougald Terrace will spark an epiphany in Durham just like the situation at Walnut Terrace in Raleigh did 27 years ago.
"I think Durham leaders are progressive and they will address this situation as soon as they can."
