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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Dallas Morning News
Byline: Karen Brooks
Mar. 25--TEXAS CITY, Texas -- Andy Voelkel's first job was at one of the local oil refineries, when he was 17 and nothing else in town paid half as much as climbing the scaffolds.
It was his brother's first job, too. And his best friend's first job.
In fact, pretty much everyone in this Texas City native's life either works in the refineries or used to, before retiring or quitting or being forced out by an injury.
"If you don't have a degree and you work on the coastline, that's all you do is work in the refineries," said Mr. Voelkel, 36, who can see the BP refinery from his front yard. "Most of the people in this town, that's what they do."
In this part of Texas, they know danger comes with the job. It is a cruel irony in Texas City that the petrochemical industry that employs a larger share of the population and provides them with a rich tax base also is involved in the very events that sometimes scare, injure or kill them.
Now 36, Mr. Voelkel has given...
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