BELMONT, MI — When Joel Stelt retired as a protective services worker for Kent County, he made a list of travel destinations to take his wife, Sandy, a clinical psychologist, to visit over the next decade.
Joel and Sandy invested their life savings into a home on House Street NE they bought 24 years ago because the two wanted a large lot and woods around. It was the home in which the couple planned to live out their retirement years together.
That was before Joel died on March 26, 2016 at age 61 of liver cancer.
The sudden and unexpected loss devastated family and friends. But today, Sandy Wynn-Stelt wants answers. That’s because 17 months after her husband died, state workers and a consultant for Wolverine World Wide knocked on her door with terrible news.
Her well, from which the couple drank water for decades, is poisoned with extremely elevated levels of toxic waste chemicals that are linked to liver problems and other serious illnesses.