Neighbors look forward
to end to excitement

Vera Kurima has lived on Paula Drive for 52 years.

Vera Kurima: The Paula Drive neighbor has largely been kept from home since Tuesday

The last time she experienced so much excitement was in the late 1980s, when she found an 8-foot boa constrictor sleeping in the stone wall fronting her home at 1611 Paula Drive.

"They told me it was at least 15 feet long, and it had such a nice skin," she said. "I think it was someone's pet."

Since Tuesday, Kurima has been allowed to enter her home only to retrieve medicine and clothing. She and the occupants of two other homes at 1611 Paula Drive were forced to leave when vials of an undisclosed yellowish substance were found at the address.

The vials were discovered under the home of Kelly McArthur, at 1611-A Paula Drive, behind Kurima's home.

Yesterday morning, as reporters and photographers watched military, police and firefighters prepare to move the vials, Kurima asked McArthur: "When can I go back? My plants are dying.

"I want to go back."