Are the Arkansas folks in an oil spill just whining?

Or should they suck it up and just let their kids play in the river of oil in their streets?

Sherry Appleman awoke abruptly in the middle of the night less than 48 hours after a pipeline rupture last month sent thousands of barrels of heavy crude oil into the streets and swamps of Mayflower, Ark.

"I couldn't breathe. My throat and nose and eyes were burning really bad," recalled Appleman, who lives on Lake Conway, about a mile outside the 22-home evacuation zone -- but next to a slough now full of the thick, sticky diluted bitumen. "I could smell that horrible smell. I got really scared."

After nine days of headaches, stomachaches and a persistent sore throat, Appleman's sleep was disturbed again on Monday night by what she perceived as a "strange noise" coming from the lake. She spotted three guys in a boat equipped with a computer and large video screen netting several dead fish from the popular fishing spot. According to Appleman, the men ignored her questions and shined a spotlight on her as she tried to take pictures from the shore with her iPhone.

"I can't figure out half of the stuff that is going on," said Appleman. "They haven't given us any answers."

ExxonMobil, owner of the ruptured Pegasus pipeline, maintains that none of the leaked Wabasca heavy crude mined from Canada's tar sands region has migrated into Lake Conway. The company also said air quality has remained safe for residents outside the immediate cleanup areas.

Nevertheless, health concerns are increasing. The local elementary school sent home eight children last week after they became ill breathing the petrochemical fumes. John Gray, Mayflower School District superintendent, said that while an oil odor was obvious inside and outside the school building that day, air monitoring showed chemical levels were safe.

Public health advocates said they believe this is just one of many mistakes made since the March 29 spill.

They have every right to be angry.

They should be glad the oil pieline is there. That takes precedence over people.

This spill affects 22 homes.

No, but s 65 year old pipe is living on borrowed time. All the more reason to build a NEW pipeline like Keystone. There are thousands of miles of pipe all over the country.

No. They are wheezing from the fumes.