. >> don bennett grew up in toms river and ran in the river as a young boy, just downstream from where the plant dumps. dd >> it was bizarre to a teenage kid swimming in what looked to be just another river. the water was always ice cold evenen in the middle of thehe summer. when you came over here, the swinging bridge, it was a popular swimming place with young people. ifif your nose was working anan your eyes were working, you would certainly r recognize something was really wrong. >> don's connection to toms river isn't just water. for over 30 years, he worked at the local newspaper and was one of the first reporters to ciba geigy chemical dumping. >> according early on to the report ciba geigy commissioned was about a m million gallons a day was seeping in the seepage pits they hadad created on the plant site. i was goining into the groundnd wateter. that was a million gallons and they thought that was 40% of the waste they were creatining everery day. >> the rest, the 60% were being discharged directly into this river. >> when they come here e in 196 there wasn't anybody nearby to