Subjects
Federal laws
State laws
Some preserved sites.
Some history and culture
Controversies Concerning Archaeology
American Indian Voices
News Archive Index
Return to main Learn page
Please inform the webmaster of any broken links!
| News Items
Native American found guilty of trespassing
http://www.indianz.com
Posted by ErthAvengr to NDN AIM
Cherokee woman guilty for praying
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2002
A Cherokee woman who went to a country club to pray on an Indian mound was
found guilty by a jury of trespassing.
Barbara Crandell, 74, said she got tired after praying and rested on the
country club golf course. She was ejected from the private facility.
Crandell was fined $250 plus court costs but said she doesn't intend to pay.
She said she would have rather gone to jail.
Get the Story:
Native American found guilty of trespassing (Gannett News Service 11/8)
By SUSAN DIMAURO
Gannett News Service
NEWARK --A Cherokee woman found guilty Thursday of trespassing at
Moundbuilders Country Club maintains she had historical and religious
privilege to be there and should not have been convicted of the misdemeanor
charge. After hearing testimony all day, the jury of two men and six women
deliberated for about a half hour and found Barbara Crandell, 74, guilty of
criminal trespassing. Judge Thomas Marcelain fined Crandell $250 plus court
costs and ordered her to follow the rules restricting access at the country
club. Prosecutor Harvey Shapiro requested Crandell be banned from the country
club until she admitted wrongdoing. "I'm not going to pay a dime," Crandell
said after the verdict in Licking County Municipal Court. She earlier had
told Marcelain she would go to jail instead, but he did not respond.
Crandell, 6634 Township Road No. 19, Thornville, testified she went to pray
June 26, got tired and sat to rest on the mound near the No. 10 hole. She
claimed she was then taunted by golfers. She later was arrested. Visitors are
not permitted in the area of the golf course she visited that day. Crandell
testified she did not understand signs posted around the course indicating
restricted access to non-members. When asked if she was a member of the
country club, she said, "No, I don't have $10,000. I don't play golf, sir.
"I'm a descendant of the people who built it, and I went there to show my
respect and pray." When asked for her reaction to the verdict, she said she
was not surprised "considering the fact we could not use the documents and
call witnesses we wanted." Riley Crandell, Barbara Crandell's son and
attorney, planned to introduce into evidence a lease the country club has
from the Ohio Historical Society that indicates the Octagon mounds are public
grounds open from daylight to dark during the summer. Marcelain did not allow
such evidence because "the language which refers to an agreement that the
land is to be open to the public at all times ... is not set out in the deed
so as to be enforceable. "The language that is set out to be enforceable is
the language that requires that the property be maintained," the judge wrote
in a decision. Marcelain also did not allow testimony by people Riley
Crandell said could offer information about the mounds' historical and
religious significance.
Originally published Friday, November 8, 2002
Go to News Archive Index |
