Deseret News Archives,
Monday, May 26, 1997

Tooele County still at risk
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I applaud your newspaper and your reporter Lee Davidson for revealing what happened during the 1950s and 1960s, particularly at Dugway Proving Ground and in Tooele County. It's a tragedy that it took 46 years for the truth to surface concerning what our own government was about as it abused its own citizens in the name of Cold War strategy.

The abuse continues in Tooele County by the government. Although open detonation of old ammunition had occurred for 40 years at the Tooele Army Depot, north area, the 1990-91 season was especially aggressive. Old ammunition of all sorts was being detonated as much as 32 times a day, just seven miles from the community of Grantsville.

Many homes, especially those in direct line of the detonation pits and in the north part of the city, where the ground is very unstable, received damage.

Recently released statistics, from the state of Utah, reveal the facts that the death rate from cancer per 100,000 for Tooele County was 124.3 in the years 1991-95. In the state as a whole, the rate was 95.5 per 100,000. The cancer death rate in the county during those years was the highest in the state.

I believe there is a direct correlation between open detonation and the high cancer death rate in the county during those years. My hope is it will not take 46 years to determine the truth.

The plume is back in town, as old ammunition is once again being detonated at the north area, though not as often as before.

I can't help but wonder what future cancer statistics will reveal.

Janet Cook
Grantsville