Prior to Feb. 3, East Palestine, Ohio, was a small, unassuming village in the northeast corner of Columbiana County, Ohio, close to the Pennsylvania border. The middle-class suburban community is considered safe and affordable, with a median home sales price of $140,000.
But all that changed when the village came under the national spotlight following the derailment of a Norfolk Southern Railway freight train carrying hazardous chemicals. Since then, there have been televised and published reports of animals and fish dying, people becoming ill, plus the constant fear of contaminated ground water.
