Jun. 19, 2006 - 20:24 MST

DEEP THOUGHT

It has long been a custom for Grand Jury proceedings to be kept secret. But in the case of Rocky Flats there seems to be the drive by the jurors to make it public. An article in the Rocky Mountain News June 16th by Chris Barge of that paper deals with that situation. Herewith quoted in full:

FLATS JURORS MAY GET TO GO PUBLIC

Ruling revives hopes that story can be told

" They can't break their silence yet, but the Rocky Flats grand jurors, who have been barred for 14 years from revealing what they learned during their investigation of the bomb plant, had their hopes of someday talking publicly revived by an appeals court Thursday."

"U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch ruled last year that jurors couldn't speak about the case and that their reports and testimonies were forever sealed. The ruling came in response to an unprecedented civil action filed by jurors demanding that the public be allowed to know what they learned about the nuclear weapons facility when they met from 1989 to 1992."

"Matsch told the jurors that while he was sympathetic to their cause, he didn't have the authority to allow them to break with the federal rule of criminal procedure, which seals grand jury proceedings."

"The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision Thursday and remanded the case back to Matsch. In a 30 page opinion, the court explained tht Matsch had the authority to provide an exception to the rule, if he wanted to."

"The grand juror's lawyer, Jonathan Turley, was elated by the development. He said the jurors hope that Matsch, having now been given clear authority to reverse his decision, will do so."

"After 10 years, they are still here, trying to disclose the reason they took their historic stand in the Rocky Flats grand jury room," Turley said of his clients."

"The government is reviewing the court's decision and we have no further comment," said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver."

"Rocky Flats, which occupied 6,400 acres north of Arvada, produced triggers for nuclear wepons until it was shut down more than a decade ago. The FBI opened an investigation in 1987 into possible crimes against the environment at the plant, which had been operated by Rockwell International from 1975 through 1989."

"In 1989 the grand jury was empaneled. For 2 1/2 years, jurors heard from more than 100 witnesses and pored over hundreds of boxes of evidence."

IN 1982, PROSECUTORS REACHED A PLEA DEAL WITH ROCKWELL, WHICH PLEADED GUILTY TO FIVE FELONIES AND FIVE MISDEMEANORS. THE COMPANY AGREED TO PAY $18.5 MILLION IN FINES."

"That year, the grand jury issued a report, but now-retired Judge Sherman G. Finesilver refused to make most of it public."

"Eighteen members of the grand jury filed a petition in 1996 "seeking permission to release information and freedom to speak publicly about their experience as grand jurors and their perceptions of the conduct of government employees and the Department of Justice lawyers," according to court documents."

"I can tell you it's worth the fight," Turley said, "Their testimony is comsistent and it is very troubling."

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To me, it seems, that the grand jurors want the public to know the depths that Rockwell descended in conducting their business at Rocky Flats, and the conduct of the government's lawyers. Their persistence in keeping up their clamor is to me a strong indication that honesty and good ethics was not a part of that company and that their record keeping of exposures to dangerous things is possibly suspect.

Rockwell pleading guilty to five felonies and five misdemeanors and paid over $18 million in fines, indicates to me that there was much skullduggery in process at that plant during the time in question.

It might also have a bearing on the cases of the ill atomic workers who are seeking comepensation from the government for their exposure to plutonium and other dangerous elements and compounds.

The jurors want to have their say and apparently feel that all should be made public for our perusal. There has been smoke over this matter since 1992, and it does seem to me that the ex-workers are the ones who have been burned.

But, who am I, a man unexperienced in matters of the law to spout off ? At the very least I think this is WORTH DEEP THOUGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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