State Fair stage hands claim they are being unfairly targeted

The ongoing state investigation has sparked anger from the union representing stage hands. State investigators served search warrants at a union hall Thursday.

The attorney representing the organization said members are being unfairly targeted.

 Fox59 exclusively obtained the following letter from attorney Bill Groth, who represents the stage hands union.

He writes:

"IOSHA investigators have made at least two and possibly more unannounced visits to Local 30’s office.

Please advise your client to cease any further unannounced visits.

"...It would appear that the State Fair deviated from standard industry practices in terms of weather-related evacuations and that it failed to follow its own evacuation policy in the face of clear and unequivocal warnings…

 "...Our perception is that there have been repeated attempts by state officials to shift the focus to engineering and structural issues, including insinuations that the workers involved in erecting the roof structure were themselves to blame.

 "Rather than putting Local 30 in a defensive posture by these document requests and unannounced visits from investigators, we would hope that IOSHA will respect Local 30’s rights to monitor and participate in the state’s investigation."

 The Department of labor responded with the following statement, saying it "obtained a civil search warrant today from Civil Marion Superior Court No. 1 for the IATSE Local 30 office to obtain documents relating to the State Fair accident investigation.

 "To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation into the terrible tragedy at the State Fair, no further information regarding the investigation will be released until the entire report is presented publically."