September 5, 2013
A Colorado Community Media Publication
ourarvadanews.com
Jefferson County, Colorado • Volume 9, Issue 15
Harvest Festival Check out all of the festival coverage inside our special section.
Sigg trial may leave county Venue still undecided By Ashley Reimers
areimers@ourcoloradonews.com
Left to right, Ken Freiberg, Jack Weaver and Gene McCracken, are all former Rocky Flats employees who have been helping the museum prepare its latest exhibit on workers’ lives during the 1950s, as well as advising on the museum as a whole. Photos by Clarke Reader
New home, goals for Rocky Flats museum Olde Town site on mission to collect oral history By Clarke Reader
creader@ourcoloradonews.com
T
he Rocky Flats Cold War Museum has a new location, new name and a new mission. Now operating under the name of the Rocky Flats Institute and Museum, it is now located in the Jehn Center at 5690 Webster St. in Olde Town Arvada. According to Connie Bogaard, the museum’s executive director, the move is a temporary one to help save money for a building of their own, which can be dedicated to exhibits and preserving the history of the Rocky Flats plant. The museum is preparing to launch a capital campaign to raise money for a permanent site for the museum. The initial campaign will be for $2.5 million, and Bogaard said the museum has created a new website that makes donating easier, has created more fundraising options — including a mobile exhibit that could visit places like the Arvada Center and History Colorado Center — and partnerships to help raise money. “We will continue with our temporary exhibits here, and will keep working to collect oral histories from people who used to work at Rocky Flats,” Bogaard said. “That’s really the most important thing we’re trying to do here, because every story is unique and contribute’s to Rocky Flat’s history.” The museum’s new mission — which is reflected in the name change — is to make the museum a place where people can come to put the work done at Rocky Flats, and the Cold War, in the proper global context, and discuss the modern nuclear situation. “We want to be able to engage in conversations about what it meant to live by Rocky Flats, the ideas proposed for the land and the toll road that would go near-
The new location of the Rocky Flats Institute and Museum, 5690 Webster St., is now home to the exhibits which tell the story of Rocky Flats, and examine life during the Cold War. by,” Bogaard said. “The plant is gone, but the issues around it are not.” While the capital campaign is launched, Bogaard is already planning the next exhibits for the museum. The newest will open in October, and will focus on the workers at Rocky Flats in the 1950s. Helping out with the exhibit — and the museum as a whole — are former Rocky Flats employees Ken Freiberg, Jack Weaver and Gene McCracken, who meet every Wednesday at the museum. “We want to help educated older people and younger people, especially the younger people, many of whom have not even heard of Rocky Flats,” Freiberg said.
“We want to try to tell both sides, but that can be difficult.” Freiberg added that people who worked at Rocky Flats help nearby cities, from Arvada to Westminster and Louisville, grow. McCracken said it’s important that people should not forget the Cold War, what it meant and how it changed the lives for countless people the world over. “There were a lot of misconceptions about the plant, how it was and what we did there,” Weaver said. “We’re now able to tell people about some of that, show what we and others did, and why they did it.” For more information on the museum, visit www.rockyflatsmuseum.org.
The Austin Sigg trial may or may not end up in Jefferson County. During the Aug. 29 motions hearing, Judge Stephen Munsinger ruled that he will make his decision whether or not to grant a change of venue to the defense during the jury selection process, which begins on Sept. 20. “I don’t know if we can seat a fair and impartial jury. I won’t know that until the jurors get here,” Munsinger said. “I want to acknowledge the defense for their efforts in keeping information out of the public domain.” Munsinger’s decision came after a long testimony from Paul Talmey with Talmey-Drake Research and Strategy Inc. who conducted a survey of potential jurors. Talmey and a team of trained interviewers conducted 707 phone interviews throughout Colorado, with 303 of them done in Jefferson Sigg County, 203 of them done in the metro area and 201 of them done outside of the metro area. Those surveyed were asked over 20 questions, beginning with screener questions followed by questions regarding the abduction and murder of Jessica Ridgeway and the Sigg case. Talmey testified that his findings from the survey showed a high use of social media, like Facebook and Twitter, as a means of information gained on the case by those interviewed. “There’s a difference between getting information through a passive form and an active form and in terms of this case people are activity involved with the case,” Talmey said. “Whether it’s through email or making comments on Facebook or Twitter, people aren’t just acknowledging the case, they are involved.” Talmey said according to his findings, those interviewed in Jefferson County had a “very high awareness of the crime” and that the crime “rang a bell with people.” He said the recognition of the crime from people surveyed was much higher in Jefferson County than it was outside the county. He suggested to the judge to change the venue of the trial. “I’d say it will be hard to seat an impartial and fair jury in Jefferson County and the metro area,” Talmey said. “There are too many people with too much information.” Also during the hearing, Munsinger Sigg continues on Page 16
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