After Rocky Flats was demolished and most of the former nuclear weapons site became a wildlife refuge, former grand jury foreman and Colorado legislator Wes McKinley fought to ensure its history didn't disappear with the buildings. His years-long campaign for explicit signage raised a question Colorado is still debating: What should visitors be told about what happened at Rocky Flats?

The Rocky Flats grand jury controversy is about more than a decades-old criminal investigation. It raises continuing questions about public access to historical records, government accountability, preservation of evidence and how communities can understand what happened at a former nuclear weapons facility when important records remain sealed or difficult to locate.