Feb. 15, 2006 - 17:48 MST

ROCKY FLATS

Ill conceived in the beginning to my way of looking at it. Rocky Flats was put in a place where it is all downhill to the City Of Denver. Heavy, heavy hung over the dome of Denver all those years of atomic manipulation. An accident slightly larger than any that happened there could have flooded Denver with atomic pollution.

Having known a few people who once worked there and after talking with them was told that workers machining beryllium were not cautioned about the poisonous capabilities of that metal, especially in its powdered form -- were told it was safe. And in talking with others about misdirection afloat during the manufacturing years, it is easy for me to form an idea of the predominant philosophy there.

Evidence of the gall of the industrial complex was shown in court on Tuesday. It is in regard to a class-action lawsuit filed by and for citizen property owners around Rocky Flats. Quotes from an article in the Rocky Mountain News of today by Karen Abbott, Charlie Brennan and John Ensslin - - - - Quote: "A federal jury awarded more than $350 million Tuesday to thousands of neighbors of the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons factory, despite plant operators' arguments that the decades of secret work there was careful, safe and vital to the defense of America during the Cold War." Unquote.

Seems that the health of many of the surviving workers at the factory indicates that there was not near enough care taken by management to see that the workers were safe from harm. And the individuals affected are still coping with the foot dragging arms of the administration for relief, dying as they wait.

As far as I am concerned the lawyers for the defense, in particular one David Bernick of Chicago were so far off base that it seems to be obvious that they are pushing to get off Scott free, when in actuality the soil in a 25 square mile area was contaminated. Quote: "But a lawyer for Rocky Flats operators Dow Chemical Co. and Rockwell International Corp. leaped immediately to his feet to challenge the verdict, alleging while the jurors were still seated that some of them may have bullied others into changing their votes." "Attorney David Bernick of Chicago demanded access to the jurors deliberation notes and asked Colorado U.C. District JudgeJohn Kane to let him question the jurors." Unquote

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The article is a long one, with sidebars and insets and a side column timeline. But the main thing in my mind is, can lawyers do that ? Isn't the normal course of affairs for the defense or prosecution to file an appeal ?

And just what in all that is good allows defense lawyers to demand to interview the jurors, an inquisition allowing interminable later legal manoeuvres and dragging the case into the century after this one ?

I am no expert, having been a juror in only one civil case. But I do remember the prosecuting lawyers hanging out in the corridor trying to talk to jurors. Most of us just moved on past them. Would I have shouted, screamed and pounded the rail if either side demanded to interview me ? You bet your sweet bippy I would and if push came to shove (cliche ain't it) I would have done jail time rather than permit any lawyer to interview me on the case that I had been sitting on.

Of course big corporations are pushing to the max, and as they say, "Money talks, big money talks louder."

On that barren stretch of pre-prairie with cobbles strewn about, between the foothills and the Platte River Valley containing Denver a factory was built to manufacture atomic weapons, that were never used. Maybe someday the Flats will be a nature preserve with all the governmental amenities attendant, and I am sure it will no longer be called ROCKY FLATS . . . . . . . . . . .

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