This two-day special report by James Bruggers and Patrick Howington is another installment in the ongoing Courier-Journal coverage of environmental health issues related to "Rubbertown." The rubber manufacture that is a core of Louisville's chemical industry was started with federal money during World War II to produce synthetic rubber from alcohol produced by the area's grain distilleries. While the focus of the series is heath problems linked to the area's toxic air pollution and the environmental justice implications, it goes well beyond that. The social history of how a planned riverside resort turned into a largely African-American ghetto is explained as well as the economic importance of the chemical industry to the region and as a source of jobs for those whose health is impacted. The report describes the doubts and divisions within the community that is seeking redress from the companies, and one sidebar focuses on proposed company buyouts of the properties of residents near their fence lines, an emerging trend in other parts of the United States, including pros and cons from all perspectives. Packaged with other Journal toxic air coverage. (See http://www.courier-journal.com/cjextra/2003projects/toxicair/index.html).\