Good O' Boy Roundup Report - March, 1996


5. 1984

OIG received the first allegation of racially insensitive conduct: a Treasury agent recalled the presence of a small lawn statue of a black jockey figure at the 1984 Roundup. We estimate that 270 people attended this Roundup; we identified 68 of these individuals and interviewed 47 of them, including 5 DOJ attendees. Treasury OIG interviewed an additional twelve attendees. Other than the one report, no one else reported seeing any racially insensitive conduct in 1984.

For the first time the Roundup was located at the private campground, and witnesses recalled some Canadians attending. The beer truck was on site for the entire Roundup and some individuals became extremely intoxicated. An ATF agent won the Redneck of the Year contest. The official T-shirt reflected the Roundup moving from the national park to a private campsite, at least partly because of the beer issue.

1984 T-shirt
Fig. 10

Although the rule against women had not been officially lifted, three women employed by DOJ and at least one employed by Treasury attended the Roundup. Two of these women went only to go whitewater rafting and did not spend the night. The other two stayed overnight. Each woman indicated that Rightmyer personally welcomed her and made sure she encountered no problems while at the Roundup.

The two who stayed all night said they did not encounter any problems from male attendees while at the campground.