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Show Sheepmen recall event, feel something went wrong By BRUCE LEE Record Editor CEDAR CITY McRae Bulloch pauses for a moment from feeding his herd of sheep just west of Cedar City and tells a story that has become all too common and well-known in southern Utah. ,-" It's a story of watching to the west as hugfe-, clouds of radioactive" dBstfI mushroomed up from the Nevada Test -Site ahd then settled wherever the "prevailing winds took them. "We used to sit in the wagon and watch the bombs light up the sky before daylight," says Bulloch, who in 1953 was herding sheep on land which bordered the test site where the United States government was experimenting with nuclear bomb blasts. "We didn't i know what the heck was going on at the time." But he and the other ranchers who believe they lost thousands of sheep because of the radiation know what's going on now, and they have been trying for nearly 30 years to get the government to admit its part and pay for the damages. The sheepmen have recently filed another suit in Fifth District Court in Parowan (see story on page Al). The first suit, a test case involving only the Bulloch sheep, was . filed in Federal court in 1956. The sheepmen lost that one, and the government is still denying any part in the loss of the sheep. Bulloch says, and his brother Kern agrees, that no one ever warned them about the possibility ol danger, but they used to watch front; their sheepwagons as the radioactive dust and particles drifted from the huge mushroom clouds up the valleys and settled on the ground, the snow and the animals in the area. The brothers remember seeing army trucks going by, but they only stopped once. Kern Bulloch remembers that the men radioed their base to ask what to do about the sheepherders in the "hot spot," and they were told, if there were !! Qnly:iwo,.,-to;teave,them there.j.-?: i .irThe en WUWtiltt was-the sheep eating the radiation-doused plants and snow after such a test that caused the large numbers of death in the herd. And it didn't take long for the problem to appear. A month later, when the sheep were moved into lambing sheds and pens, they started dying, and many of the baby lambs were born deformed or stillborn. "We really lost a lot of lambs," said McRae Bulloch, estimating that from their 2,300 head of sheep, they lost 300 to 400 ewes and 1,200 lambs. ' "We lost a lot of lambs," added A C Seegmiller. "There was a big loss sustained. There's no question about it." . In all, 11 sheepmen filed suit against the government for the losses that year. But the government blamed the problem on malnutrition, something the sheepmen say is completely erroneous. The suit currently before the District Court against several individuals alleges fraud and coverup, and a current suit against the United States government in federal court is attempting to reopen the 1956 case because of fraud at that time. And the sheepmen do feel that they, and possible the courts, were deceived! Kern Bulloch gives an example: When government scientists came to investigate originally, they took a geiger counter to a pile of the dead sheep, with one investigator commenting that there was so much radiation that "the needle -about jumped the post." However, the story was different in court. Bushnell, in the suit alleges that the scientists were coerced and persuaded into changing their stories. - "I think they ( the government) figured if they paid us they'd have to open it up to everybody," said McRae Bulloch. The suit is asking for $15 million in actual and punitive damages, but Bulloch says that it really isn't unfair. He, and others agree, that they had to sell much of what they had, to overcome the financial losses caused by the dying sheep. They all tell stories of selling water permits and land and herds to get out of debt. And several say that only recently have they completely overcome , the setback. The herd of over 2,300 that the Bulloch brothers had inherited from their father has dwindled to two small herds of 600 apiece. The family sold water permits and grazing permits on the winter range. "They done us wrong, and they should have to pay for the damage That's only fair," says McRae. Bulloch. But he really isn't bitter. He trusted his government, and he feels that it did him wrong. He says the government needs to be able to do this type of experimentation, but that it should be done safely. "What I feel bad about," he concludes, "is, if they knew they were going to hurt us, why didn't they warn us ahead of time." That question, among others, goes to court this summer. |
