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Show kV DAILY Saturday. Marrfi J ft 2007 HERALD A5 EDITORIAL BOARD President & Publisher Randy Wright, Executive Editor Donald W. Meyers, Editorial page editor Linda Shetton, Public adviser Jim Hunter, Public adviser Richard Davis, Public adviser DIT01IALS Oaig Dennis, IN OUR VIEW Compensate all downwinders Mary Dickson After the recent cancellation of the Divine Strake test, a reporter asked me what GUEST was next for OPINION downwinders. It didn't take me long to answer. "Now we push for the expansion of compensation." If our recent victory showed anything, it is that when passionate people unite an on issue, they can make a difference. It's been 56 years since nuclear testing began at the Nevada Test Site, but downwinders are still waiting for justice to be served. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act provides compensation to downwinders in only 22 rural counties in southern Utah, southern Nevada and parts of northern Arizona a geographic designation that has always been far too limited. Confining compensation to this narrow corridor of the West has been one of the primary reasons that most Americans continue to erroneously assume this was the only area affected by radioactive fallout. I suffered thyroid cancer and lost my sister to an autoimmune disease. When I tell people I am a downwinder, their first response is, "Oh, I didn't know you grew up in St. George." I grew up in Salt Lake City in an area where, at last count, 51 people suffered or died from various cancers and immune system diseases. I hear similar stories from people in Utah County, elsewhere in northern Utah and beyond the state's borders. None of us are covered by RECA, a program that has always been problematic. RECA never was about justice. It was about political expediency. Fallout sickened and killed many more people than those who have been compensated under RECA. A National Cancer Institute study released in 1997 bears out just how limited RECA is. According to the study, which was mandated by Congress, virtually every county in the continental United States received some level of fallout. A map from the study shows estimated doses of Iodine-13- 1 to each county. Northern Utah is as red as southern Utah. In fact, high fallout counties in north A Buffalo Chip to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. for endors- ing authoritarianism over common sense in Utah high schools. On Friday, Huntsman clubs bill (HB signed the anti-ga- y 236) carried by Rep.. Aaron Tilton of Springville and Sea Chris (who n else?) Buttars of West Jordan. protests unconvincingly that the bill was not anti-gaSorry, sir, that was the underlying purpose of HB 236 from the get go to stanch the controversial alliance formation of clubs. Failing in a frontal assault last year, Tilton and Buttars have now resorted to subterfuge by creating a gauntlet of regulations and administrative approvals for all clubs that they think will get the job done. No sacrifice is too great for these guys. Xf ern Utah, Idaho and Montana differ little in exposure levels and health consequences from RECA-eligib- le counties. While we've known since the 1997 NCI study and even earlier that northern Utah got as much fallout as counties in southern Utah, Congress has done nothing to address RECA inequities. In 1982, Larry Anderson, then director of the Bureau of Radiation Control, told Utah Holiday magazine that the early 1960s tests were conducted only when surface winds blew north, resulting in more fallout over northern Utah. "I am convinced," Anderson said, "that northern Utah has received every bit as much fallout as Southern Utah.'' "No county line or barb wire fence stopped the fallout and neither should it be allowed to stop the application of justice for all those exposed," says Preston Truman, a downwinder in Malad, Idaho, who heads Downwinders United. In April 2005, the National Academy of Sciences Board of Radiation Effects Research charged to resolve the issue of compensation expansion concluded that, in light of current knowledge, existing geographic boundaries for RECA make no sense because the entire country was affected. It was up to Congress to act on their findings, but nothing has happened. We are still waiting for compensation to be justly applied. The case can easily be made that entire state of Utah, Idaho Survivin Walter Reed and Montana deserve to be part of RECA. There is no question that our government lied to us, misled us and endangered us during the years of nuclear testing in Nevada. Now, they have a responsibility to fairly and adequately compensate all those whose health they compromised. I urge downwinders throughout these states to call on their Congressional delegations to address what can be done to obtain equal compensation for equal exposure for all downwinders. We stopped Divine Strake. We can expand compensation. Justice i Cesotim ecu Monrton "To think that men and women are serving their country in the most honorable and courageous way possible and all we give them is a dilapidated, building to recover is a disgrace. My fear is that Walter Reed is just the tip of the iceberg, and merely highlights the pervasive and systemic mistreatment of our service members." Sen. Charles Schumer, in a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in which he asked for an independent commission to investigate all medical facilities run-do- w) demands it. I Mary Dickson is a downwinder and a writer. She lives in Salt Lake City. post-comb- and recommend changes. Beehives & Buffalo Chips )S) WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER 1: (ft safety training for Scouts in the future. Buffalo Chip to Hector Gon-zalez, Peter Sanchez and Daniel Garcia for thinking Utahns are stupid. The Bronx trio flew to Utah with the plan to steal as many iPods as they could from area Target stores. Their modus operandi involved distracting a store employee while one of the gang shoved the music players down his pants, which contained materials to fool the electronic theft detectors. They managed to make off with 39 from Target in Riverdale but failed in CenterviHe. They were caught when they tried to get away on Interstate 15. For thinking they could pull a fast one on Utahns, these guys get to spend five years here admiring the scenBeehht to the Boy Scouts ery from behind prison bars. Let's give them a Bronx cheer along SS of America's Great Salt Lake Council for agreeing with a Buffalo Chip. to pay $330,000 for a fire Scouts 'Js Beehht to Lone Peak High were accused of starting in the School's jazz band for getIBntas in 2002. Scouts workting a chance to strut its ing on their wilderness survival stuff. The band will be performing badge lit campfires while the at the Next Generation Festival in area was under a fire ban. The Monterey, Calif., later this month. sparked theoretically campfires The band will be one of 40 from a wildfire that scorched 14,200 tjS Til-to- "We have failed to meet our own standards at Walter Reed. For that, I'm both personally and professionally sorry." Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who was in charge of Walter Reed from 2002 until 2004, when he became the Army surgeon general. The hospital not only has terrible living conditions for wounded soldiers, but has also been accused of a complicated bureaucratic system, creating a wait as long as six months for therapy for patients. gay-straig- acres and destroyed several buildings. Utah and the federal government sued the Scouts to recoup firefighting expenses. Under the settlement, the Scouts will also plant 9,000 tree seedlings. The Great Salt Lake Council also agreed to provide fire iP-o- slwnid n- - -- yJ k, Lone Peak. . ' nnve KKTf I Reed around the country to participate in the jazz festivaL The band is only the second Utah group to play in the festivaL Curtis McKen-dricLone Peak's band teacher, took Skyline High School's band to the festival before coming to MALLARD FILLMORE D00NESBURY Garry Trudeau WHALUSB rr71 . 1 I ( Y Bruce Tinsley |