Japanese Wind

It is interesting to watch the mass hysteria in our country regarding the small amount of radiation from Japan that may blow in to the United States. It seems like the media hype is totally out of control.

After checking the mileage from Japan to the United States, one has to ask if the radiation from Japan is higher than the cell phones, x rays, airport scanners and all the rest we are subjected to daily?

I wonder how many of you that will read this are aware that here in Nevada, at the Nevada Test Site, the first atomic test, Operation Ranger, was conducted on Jan. 27, 1951. The final nuclear test, Divider, was conducted on Sept. 23, 1992. In between, there were 99 above ground tests and over 800 below ground tests.

The test site is approximately 64 miles from Las Vegas and as the crow flies less than 100 miles from my home town of Moapa . Prevailing winds from the test site did not blow over Las Vegas, however they blew over Moapa, the surrounding Moapa Valley and into the Saint George, Utah area.

I remember those days well, they were a family event, on the days of the test we would set up our chairs outside and watch the mushroom cloud from the bomb until it completely disbursed and was gone from sight.

The next day Government workers would show up retrieve the ID cards the gave to us the week before, which mysteriously had changed colors, scan us and our cars with Geiger Counters which more often than not made loud noises as they moved them around the cars and us.

Those were happy days for my dad because the Government washed his car for free. No, they never did anything for us, no showers, no Iodine pills or anything like that.

You may have heard of me, I am what is commonly referred to as a Downwinder.

We were all contaminated with a lot higher doses of radiation than will blow across the seas to the United States From Japan. I have lost family and friends to cancer who lived in the downwind area, but not much outrage or media coverage was ever given to that.

I guess my story doesn't matter since it was in the past and we are all going to die from one thing or another anyway.

"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind"