Where I Stand 1980 — Hank Greenspun: Nuke driver merely acting accordingly

Friday, Feb. 2, 2001 | 9:15 a.m.

Note to readers: This column by Sun founder Hank Greenspun appeared on Oct. 3, 1980.

Drunkenness is an evil of the worst sort, but a drunk driving a truck filled with nuclear waste is a peril to human health and safety without parallel.

Normally I am not one to encourage the reckless guzzling of alcoholic beverages. But there are times when a good stiff drink is necessary to carry out one's appointed rounds. Especially when it is delivering nuclear waste to the dumpsite in Beatty.

Maybe that's why the driver of a truck marked with radiation stickers felt he had to stop at Circus Circus for a belt, which resulted in his arrest.

There is little question that no people in their right minds would transport such material, with the appalling safety record of leaks, unless they were under the influence.

They would have to be awfully stupid to take such risks while sober. Some of them probably drink to forget the eruptive content of the stuff they are transporting and the risk of losing their health and their lives.

So jailing a drunken driver, who, in reality, is drinking in self-defense, is a miscarriage of justice. The persons who belong in jail are the people who permit the dumping of the waste.

And among that evil group are the members of the Nevada Bad Board of Health; Gov. Bob List, who should have closed the dump down and kept it closed; and possibly the attorney general, who is legally attempting to abate an illegal activity.

It is fortunate for the citizens of Nevada that the nuclear waste-carrying truck and its drunken driver were found in a Strip hotel parking lot.

It is elementary in the state that if any action should be taken by local or state officialdom, the way to get it on is through the casino owners. These are the "juice guys," because in some fashion they have discovered the secret of getting things done.

Perhaps if all waste-carrying trucks were routed through hotel parking lots where they could leak radiation all over the hotel and gaming patrons, it would take no time at all for Gov. List to get his marching orders and the nuisance would be abated immediately for all time.

Casino owners can be awfully critical of anyone or anything that might imperil the flow of bucks over the tables. And if any people permit it, they do so at their peril.

The Bad Board of Health is still deliberating about whether to renew the lease of the dump operators to continue polluting the air, land and underground water tables for the next thousands of years.

Even with all the increased awareness of the dangers posed by the dumpsites and leaking radiation, these miscasts still have to deliberate to determine if there are any dangers.

About the same time the waste-driving drunk was arrested, more leaking containers of radioactive material were discovered at the dumpsite. This is the 13th reported incident this year. How many are unreported will never be learned. And all the while the radiation burns, the board members fiddle.

The Bad Board of Health is composed of doctors, or at least that is what they call themselves. And if a doctor has not yet learned that radiation can cause cancer, he should be buried with the waste that is carried by the drunken drivers.

Throwing them off the board should be a minor consequence of their transgressions against the citizens. The Medical Board should look to their licenses.

An alternative would be for the governor to turn his back on this sinful bunch and do what his office empowers.

List doesn't have to use the board as a shield for his own indecision and, if he persists, his fate should be as theirs.

Meanwhile we encourage all drivers of trucks bearing radioactive material to park in Strip parking lots while getting drunk in the lounges.

Get the Strip owners riled and something will be done, because when the industry bosses talk, everybody listens.

And if they don't, maybe we'll all have to get drunk so we can forget the constant fear we live with and the perils we subject our children to as long as the dumpsite is open.

Does anybody really care?