Signs taken down at cancer treatment center after Ch. 2 gets involved

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Channel 2 Action News has gotten results for some cancer patients whose room-with-a-view was marred by an ugly sign posted by DeKalb County.

"It's not the kind of thing that people want to see when they come down for treatment," said patient Ryan Hennes, who agreed to speak with Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland as he received an IV treatment at Immune Recovery Center in Dunwoody.

The treatment room overlooks what had been a garden and waterfall.

"It's just absolutely therapeutic to the patients that come here. It's what they need to heal and to relax," Hennes said.

Strickland asked the clinic owner about a sign tacked to a tree outside.

"Does this make this room less peaceful?" Strickland asked Dr. Ed Bradford with the center.

"It certainly does," Bradford responded.

The waterfall was destroyed when a feed pipe broke and eroded the landscaping. A stench soon followed, signaling a county sewer pipe had also failed.

The county pumped raw sewage from the pond and posted health hazard signs that were only supposed to be up for seven days. Friday was day 18.

"I blame the county for their non-responsiveness to try to get this resolved," said building owner Livia Whisenhunt.

Only hours after Strickland got involved, a building employee shot pictures of a county worker taking down the sign.

The building owner has an engineer investigating whether the county's broken sewer caused the trouble that flooded and destroyed the waterfall.

The county told Strickland a private contractor damaged the sewer, and there's no connection to the damage to the waterfall.

The estimate to fix the landscaping runs more than $35,000.

WSBTV