Millions of young persons in this country are unaware that Salt Lake City was once endangered by nerve gas from Dugway. A shift of wind could have wiped out thousands. The wind blew other ways. Five thousand sheep and uncounted wild creatures perished.

It was kept a military secret locally, but journalist Seymour Hersh came to Utah and told us about our close call. Later, Tom Pettit of NBC produced a chilling documentary of the great kill. About a year after the event, local headlines - banner headlines - reported it.

After another sheep “kill,” the spokespersons blithely stated, “Oh, they ate halogeton.” After generations of sheep avoided that plant, suddenly thousands ate it? The same logic was employed when wild horses perished in the “Danger, Anthrax” area of the West Desert. “They drank poison water” was the government's explanation. But generations of horses knew not to drink that bad water.

Dugway is reactivated, we surmise, to invent diseases. I speculate disease organisms will be more difficult to contain and control than nerve gas. One courageous official has questioned Dugway's procedures. Others rail against tobacco smoke.

Ethel C. Hale

Salt Lake City