Mercury tests

Gerald Griffard, 0.1 parts per million

In a quiet fishing hole surrounded by cypresses, Gerald Griffard plucks a cricket from a cage, puts it on a hook and casts. 'There are three or four in here, you can see them. They like crickets best.'

Gerald is 17 and eats fish as much as he can. 'There's one looking at it,' he says, motioning to a fish swimming in the tea-colored water. Mosquitoes buzz around, looking for flesh.

Though he eats fish every day, his mercury levels were extremely low, almost nondetectable. Scientists haven't yet figured out why some people who eat lots of fish have high levels of mercury while others don't.

'I caught a 45-pound flathead yesterday, and threw it back,' he says. Moments later, he reels in a small fish. Too small, and he throws it back in.

Louis 'Perry' Williamson, 3.63 ppm

River Williamson, 1.52 ppm

Kristie Williamson anxiously looked forward to seeing the results. Her husband, Perry

, told her that he and their son, River, had participated in a test for mercury poisoning from eating fish they caught in the Little Pee Dee and other nearby rivers. He told her that a newspaper reporter cut some of their hair, sent the samples to a lab and said they'd be notified of the results. She wondered why so much time had passed and she hadn't seen them.

She knows about concerns over mercury from eating fish from tainted rivers. But her husband said he wasn't concerned. He had caught and eaten fish most of his life, and taught 11-year-old River how to fish. They enjoyed father-and-son outings on the rivers. 'We eat a lot of fish,' Perry says.

Kristie worries a bit about the bad headaches her son gets once a month and the stomachaches but she doesn't know if those are symptoms of mercury or some other problem. Otherwise he seems fine. He's a 'B' student in school.

They all cut back on eating river fish after the hair samples were taken, but she kept looking for the test results to arrive so she'd know if there was a problem.

Then she found them — Perry had hidden them from her. 'My husband is in denial.'

Valda W. Garner, 0.24 ppm

When he was in World War II, Valda W. Gardner remembers when he and his buddies blew up four miles of beach in the South Pacific. 'It looked like a cloud from hell.'

Now he spends much of his time fishing, driving from his home in Charleston Heights to fishing holes on the Edisto and Black rivers, where he joins his buddies on the docks for a toddy or two. They roll their eyes and smile when he starts talking about his time in the Navy on subs. 'You'll need six hours if you get him started.'

Corbin Roberts, 2.93 ppm

Corbin Roberts loves eating catfish and brim. He's just 22 months old but has been eating them since he was able.

CJ, as his parents call him, recently tested high for mercury in his system. The only possible source is the fish.

His dad, Shepard Roberts, says they hadn't really thought about it before, but they haven't eaten any river fish since the test. 'Nothing!'

His son hasn't shown any symptoms or anything out of the ordinary. 'None at all.' Still, Roberts said he plans to bring it up with the doctor on their next visit just the make sure.

CJ is just a 'normal little boy.'

For complete test results, visit www.charleston.net/mercury