a) Allegation of persons checking cars
for "niggers" and OIG findings
An individual, who at the time was a Department of Justice employee but is currently employed at the Department of Treasury, reported that late one night, at approximately 2 or 3 a.m., he overheard someone say, "Check the cars for niggers" as cars were returning from local bars. He does not know if anyone actually checked the cars or whether this was an idle comment of a bystander. He did not investigate and did not report it to anyone. Indeed, he did not report it to us until his third interview. [ / He was interviewed initially in a brief telephone survey conducted of all Justice employees identified as attending any Roundups. He was interviewed at length in a joint interview with Justice and Treasury OIG personnel. Subsequent to that interview, he requested that he be reinterviewed. He was again interviewed by Justice and Treasury OIG personnel. ]
In his initial interview he thought he had first attended in 1991 but later changed that to 1990. His confusion about the dates and his initial failures to recall this incident suggest that he may have mixed up an event from 1990 with an event in 1991. Similar conduct did occur in 1990 during the day, and one witness recalled hearing similar statements one evening that year.
We cannot rule out that someone outside the treeline suggested checking cars while a long line of cars waited to get into the campground. But as no one else reported such conduct in 1991, the more likely possibility is that the witness confused the two years. In any event, because he failed to take any action, we have no information as to whether anyone engaged in "checking" cars and, if so, who was the responsible party.
We also have no information that any of the Roundup leaders were informed about such conduct. The witness did not report it to anyone. Based on the usual pattern, the registration people would have already retired for the night and thus been unaware of this conduct. If such conduct occurred, no one appears to have challenged it or otherwise done anything about it.