RE: A disinterested public

[Steve Tarlton <steve.tarlton@state.co.us>]

How to keep the public interested is a very real problem. I oversee closure activities for the state for the Rocky Flats cleanup. We've got some of the scariest stuff in the world ("radiation", "plutonium") and unless there's a problem, it's hard to keep any but the hard core interested. Unfortunately, most of the issues are complex enough that we need to educate people to be able to appreciate the decisions that need to be made, and that's much harder in the heat of a crisis. Recognize that this is a ubiquitous problem, which is why major corporations and politicians spend millions on advertising. My advice is to try to find and educate that interested and involved hard core and get them to help represent the situation to others later. (p.s. Hi, Marilyn)

Steve Tarlton