Local News

Mother makes 7-hour trip looking for closure
BY JAMES GILBERT, Sun Staff Writer
Published on: September 21, 2005

The mother of a Far West Water and Sewer Co. employee who died nearly four years ago after breathing toxic sewage gases while working on an underground sewer tank, says she plans to make the 7-hour trip from her home in Nevada every week to attend the trial.

"I’m a basket case. I haven’t had any closure," Carol Borieo said during a break from the trial recently. "A piece of my heart will be gone forever."

Borieo, who lives in Beatty, Nev., said it’s been difficult sitting close to the stand and listening to the testimony about the day her son, James Gamble, died.

"It’s like I’m reliving everything all over again, but it’s something I have to do," she said. "There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about my son."

Gamble’s mother isn’t the only family member making the trip to Yuma to attend the trial. Also attending are his grandmother Darlene Pickett, stepfather Ed Thrasher and sister Amanda Christmann, who testified last Wednesday.
"It’s been really hard on his sister, too, because they were both really close," Borieo said.

Gamble had worked for the company for about a year when he died.

Borieo said she had been proud of her son over the past year because he had worked hard to straighten out his life after getting in trouble with the law and being sentenced to a term of intensive probation.

"He turned his life turned around," she said. "He was even going to church every Sunday."

Saying she believed in the court system, Borieo praised prosecutors Mark Horlings and Christina Fitzpatrick of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for bringing criminal charges against Far West.

"Bless (Horlings’) heart," Borieo said. "He’s been with me since day (one) and has stood by me these past four years."

Borieo said she would like to see an example made of Far West because she is worried what happened to her son could happen again if the company isn’t punished.



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