Graves hold stories of common cause

Article and photograph by Janet Monti

Cutline: Tona Henderson and J Truman (right) look at the graves of downwinders Paul Cooper and Sherri Garmon. Monte Bright takes a photo of Cooper’s grave with a replica 1850s camera.

For 24 months, the graves of two Emmett victims of nuclear tests were within a stone’s throw of each other — watching over the Emmett Valley from the Emmett Cemetery. That is, until the eve of the Downwinders Convention last month. Then mortals knew what Sherri Garmon and Paul Cooper knew — they both tried to champion the cause of downwinders, he in the 1970s, she in the newest decade. And both died before effective change was implemented from the federal level.

Tona Henderson from Emmett and J Truman, who grew up in Enterprise, Utah, and now lives in eastern Idaho, each knew one of these now-silent victims. Both Henderson and Truman have become vocal in the cause of Idaho’s Downwinders, Henderson just in the last few years, Truman for decades. As they visited Cooper’s grave, they talked about what he dealt with three decades ago and the ongoing battle they still pursue.

“Paul was at the Nevada Test Site. He died of leukemia. He was certain it was from exposure to the bomb tests,” Truman shared quietly. Cooper’s story hit national recognition in the fall of 1977 and helped get of national coverage of his plight and the plight of thousands of others who were exposed to the nuclear tests, both in Nevada and the Pacific. “He helped trigger the first round of hearings for veterans to get recognition.” Cooper was treated in Salt Lake City and began his cause there.Continued from page 1A

When the cancer went into remission, he returned to Emmett. He died at 44 years of age on Feb. 13, 1978 at the Veterans Hospital in Boise. “His wife was the first to file for widow’s benefits. He died knowing what happened and what caused his cancer.”

Cooper also served in Korea and Vietnam. He was buried with full military honors at the Emmett Cemetery. His obituary was printed in the Messenger Index and reads, in part, “Paul R. Cooper, 44, nationally prominent Army veteran who attributed his fatal leukemia to radiation exposure as a witness to a 1957 nuclear bomb test at Yucca Flats, Nev., died. ...”

Although Cooper knew radiation exposure caused his cancer, Cooper never knew that in 1990, Congress passed the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act that would compensate those directly exposed to several specific cancers. He never knew that the National Cancer Institute released a report in 1997 linking Iodine-131 from nuclear fallout to thyroid cancer. He never knew that Utah Senator Orin Hatch would lead a change to compensate civilian citizens who were exposed — but only those who were exposed in a handful of counties in Utah, Arizona and Nevada — none in Idaho.

Garmon found out about RECA in 2004. Fighting cancer herself, Garmon took up the charge to get Idahoans the recognition and compensation afforded others. Just like Cooper, Garmon’s story brought national coverage and a new round of outrages as Idahoans realized they missed the boat on recognition from the government they thought would protect them. Before Garmon died, Henderson jumped into the cause. A hearing was held in Boise in November 2004 by the National Academy of Sciences to obtain comments from Idahoans on changing RECA to include Idahoans. Based on this hearing, a report was issued in the spring of 2005 recommending that Congress consider changing how RECA is implemented. Thus far, no action has been taken on this report.

At the downwinder convention last month, Bob Ford from US Senator Mike Crapo’s office, said that now Crapo is “trying to figure out what would work in the political climate” created by the new Congress. Prescreening clinics that are in some of the counties covered by RECA are an asset to people. Funding more could be difficult. Crapo is also considering if there “are other actions that would benefit downwinders in lieu of the $50,000,” said Ford.

Sitting as unknown sentries, do Cooper and Garmon wonder who will join them before change and recognition are done?