Most foul fares fairest of all for cleanup man.

• Position: People - Contaminant Control Inc., Mark Vestal - Brief Article

Mark Vestal loves dirty businesses. The dirtier, the better. If they have asbestos, mercury or lead, great. Anthrax, even better. That's why Vestal is at the Brentwood postal-processing center in Washington, D.C.

Vestal, 39, is president of Fayetteville-based Contaminant Control Inc., which cleans up hazardous materials. His latest project--decontaminating the mail facility that handled the anthrax-laced letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschie--is his most challenging yet.

Contaminant Control is a subcontractor for Pittsburgh-based IT Corp. on the Brentwood job, cleaning a million-square-foot building. Two postal workers died from anthrax after being exposed to the disease there. The first challenge for the Fayetteville native was finding a crew. "When we got the initial call in October, they wanted me to bring 14 people. A lot of my people balked, so I felt I had to go."

Since then, 100 Contaminant Control employees have been to Brentwood, working in shifts. They started by vacuuming the entire building for spores. The center was sealed, and an anthrax-killing poison sprayed throughout. In early February, Vestal was hoping the building would reopen in April.

Vestal confesses to being jittery while working around a deadly bacteria. Certainly, his wife and five children worry. But he reassures them that he's taking every pre...