f) General witness credibility
The 1989 Roundup was the first Roundup for which we received a substantial number of extremely serious allegations of specific racist misconduct. It was also the first Roundup for which we received sharply conflicting evidence about various events. Thus, witness credibility became even more significant to drawing any conclusions about what actually occurred in 1989.
First, because of the seriousness of the allegations we made a special effort to locate and interview people who attended the 1989 Roundup. Second, we also made special efforts to speak to a broad range of witnesses, including federal, state, and local law enforcement attendees, registered civilian attendees, and local resident attendees. Third, we carefully assessed the witnesses' credibility, particularly those who were in the best position to be aware of particularly relevant facts. Although it would take too long to review this analysis for each of the witnesses regarding the 1989 Roundup, using the considerations outlined at the beginning of this section, a number of highly credible witnesses provided information that was especially valuable, including the registration coordinator, as discussed previously. [/ For a specific assessment of Rightmyer's credibility, see infra p. 140. ] Furthermore, as almost all of the evidence was contrary to Hayward's recollections, the sheer weight of this evidence was an additional important factor in our conclusions regarding the 1989 Roundup.