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Show Court's sheep decision stirs a number of feelings The recent decision by Judge A. Sherman Christensen to order the lawsuit of southern Utah sheepmen against the United States reopened because of fraud by the United States (see related stories on page Al) brings to mind a number of deep-seated feelings concerning the government, the people and the right of the people to know. First, the Iron County Record is extremely pleased to learn of the judge's decision to given these sheep ranchers, many of them our friends and neighbors, a chance to finally really have their day in court. Twenty-seven years ago, the record was never brought to light. The day in court was, in some ways, a sham. Now, things are different. Hearings and changes in the law have brought out evidence that was supressed during the trial. The sheepmen may finally get the court's decision that, yes, their sheep were killed by the nuclear testing; and, yes, the government of the United ntes of America is responsible. Of course, the coui t .. ill need to decide that, but now it can be decided fairly and openly. Second, we are pleased, that even though it has taken 27 years, our system has worked. No matter how hard the bureaucracy worked to the contrary, the individual, it appears, has finally won out. It still is a government for the people, and this decision seems to give us hope in a period when it may appear hard to realize that at times. We doubt that this type of reversal or revelation could have happened in Communist countries. It may be late, but at least it finally did happen. And, finally, and we don't point this out simply because of selfish interests of the media, we think this whole episode, all 27 years of it, points out what can happen if laws concerning freedom of information in-formation and open meetings are tightened up by the president and Congress as they are currently : attempting. The information that has finally given these southern Utah sheep ranchers a possibility of justice in a fair court was freed up, after all these years, because of a movement over the past decade to loosen up laws allowing the government to hide information and materials. The information wasn't really known until documents that were formerly classified (for what reason we are not sure) were declassified and brought to the light of day during the Kennedy hearings in Salt Lake City in 1979. Yet, President Reagan and our own senator, Orrin Hatch, are trying to turn back to some of this former secrecy by tightening up the Freedom of Information Act and other laws and regulations governing the information and materials generated every day by our government. We are not in disagreement that sometimes these laws get out of hand and that sometimes they need a bit of reworking, but we heartily disagree with the wholesale changes being suggested by the current administration and Congress. The case now before the courts on behalf of these southern Utah sheepmen is only one example of what openness in government can do for the people. The 27 years of darkness and misunderstanding in between shows what tightened freedom of information in-formation laws can do to that openness. |