Although she no longer lives in Magna — her husband died four years ago from heart and lung problems and last year she moved to Murray — her son fulfilled his dream of moving back into the Magna home he grew up in and lives there now. Before moving, she actually became a supporter of Kennecott, and while admitting she never cared much for Joklik, agrees with the state's response to Kennecott, saying that the company is more transparent today.

In a 1991 Deseret News story about how Kennecott was trying to buy two houses in particular, a company spokesman said only that Kennecott was trying to purchase the homes to expand its buffer zone between mining operations and residences.

Kennecott's Greg Boyce, then-director for government and public affairs, said there was no basis or foundation to the rumor that the home purchases were due to fears of an unstable tailings pond. Boyce also said at the time that there was nothing to confirm the rumor that groundwater in the area was polluted. However, since 1991 Kennecott has spent millions on cleaning up plumes of polluted groundwater.

Ernest Magera, 2365 S. 8000 West, said back then he would either get his price and sell or stay put. Kennecott was offering $78,000 for Magera's home.

"I don't care if the tailings pond busts open, like some people say it will, and I get buried right here. It'll save on my funeral, and then Kennecott can put up a monument to me," Magera said in 1991. Magera died just over a year later at the age of 78.

By the end of Kennecott's buying spree, 39 Magna homes were bought, left vacant, then rented and eventually resold, all with only a few key Kennecott people knowing the reasons why, according to Gardner's document. There was no mention in the Deseret News in 1991 about the 1988 findings, known as the KL studies, by a Canadian engineering firm that discovered the risk at the Magna Corner.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com