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2002-07-18
by Joel Davis
of The Daily Times Staff
Maryville, Tenn.
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction Wednesday to halt
extension of the Pellissippi Parkway from Old Knoxville Highway to East
Lamar Alexander Parkway.
U.S. District Court Judge Todd Campbell heard oral arguments on the
matter earlier in the day in U.S. District Court in Nashville.
``We are delighted,'' said Susan Keller, president of Citizens Against
the Pellissippi Parkway Extension.
``We feel like this is part of a democratic process that has been
fulfilled. We hope this will lead to an environmental impact statement
being done to look at the effect not only on us that are losing property,
but on the whole community.''
CAPPE attorney Joe McCaleb argued the Tennessee Department of
Transportation did not prepare a needed environmental impact statement
before beginning the third leg of the Pellissippi Parkway Project.
``This is a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of
the human environment,'' he said.
``It doesn't matter whether TDOT is doing the acquisition or the Federal
Highway Administration is doing it. It's a major fed action and both of
those defendants should be required to comply with the National
Environmental Policy Act and do a full environmental impact statement.''
CAPPE filed its lawsuit June 7.
According to court documents, CAPPE claims the defendants have violated
the national Environmental Policy Act in approving the project ``by (1)
failing to prepare and circulate for public review an environmental
impact statement concerning the project; (2) by preparing an inadequate
and erroneous environmental assessment; and (3) by finding erroneously
and contrary to the information and data available that the project will
have `no significant environmental impact.'''
The CAPPE lawsuit named TDOT Commissioner J. Bruce Saltsman Sr. as a
defendant as well as U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Norman
Mineta and officials of the Federal Highway Administration.
``We're very optimistic,'' CAPPE Vice President John Rush said.
Previously, the Federal Highway Administration cut off federal aid for
the project because of the lawsuit.
``Obviously, our group is pleased the Federal Highway Administration is
willing to take a step back and let our case be heard,'' Rush said.
The defendants claimed the motion to halt work on the project was moot
because the FHA had voluntarily suspended federal funding, that the
decision not to do an environmental impact statement was not arbitrary,
and that they took a ``hard look'' at the environmental impacts of the
decision to perform an environmental assessment.
An environmental assessment is a less thorough study than an
environmental impact statement.
No government funding
A TDOT spokesperson previously said work on the parkway would continue
despite the FHA withdrawal of funds and continue with state funding, but
the judge's decision prevents that, for now.
``He stopped the Federal Highway Administration and TDOT from going
forward with any construction, financing, land acquisition -- anything at
all involving the Pellissippi Parkway -- until we had a complete full
hearing on whether or not there should have been a full environmental
impact statement instead of the cursory environmental assessment,''
McCaleb said.
McCaleb said it is his understanding the ruling has no impact on the work
being done on the parkway from Cusick Road to Old Knoxville Highway.
Wednesday's ruling stated: ``The court finds that the Plaintiff has a
probability of success on the merits that the federal defendants'
decision not to do an EIS was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of
discretion.''
The court further said the studies undertaken by the defendants ``fail to
take a `hard look' a the need for the project, induced growth and
potential inconsistencies with local planning, air pollution and ozone
impacts, impacts on the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and impacts
on those whose livelihoods depend on the working farms which would be
condemned as part of the project.''
Thirty-nine tracts
The extension will take approximately 39 tracts of land, which would
directly affect 42 residents and one business.
TDOT has chosen a 4.5-mile route for the proposed extension.
The route follows a mostly southerly direction from where the parkway
currently ends at Cusick Road to East Lamar Alexander Parkway close to
Morning Star Baptist Church, 3412 E. Lamar Alexander Parkway.
Robinson of CAPPE portrayed the decision as a win for Blount County
citizens.
``I know how much hard work citizens have put in regards to this project.
I also know that today we have prevailed,'' Robinson said.
``Today's victory was by the people, for the people and for the common
good of the citizens of Blount County.''
McCaleb said the case is now referred to the federal magistrate, who will
meet with the attorneys to set up a schedule for taking depositions and a
trial date. The trial could be six months or more away, the CAPPE
attorney said.
Cherokee wants trial in golf course case
Woman, 73, pleads innocent to charges
July 17 2002
By SUSAN DIMAURO
Advocate Reporter
Barbara Crandell walks away from the bench after pleading innocent to charges in front of acting Judge David Branstool on Tuesday. Riley Crandell, her son in foreground, represented her in court. (Kevin Graff, The Advocate)
NEWARK -- A 73-year-old Cherokee woman who allegedly refused to leave a historic American Indian mound at the Moundbuilders Country Club has pleaded innocent to misdemeanor criminal charges and wants her case to go to trial.
Barbara Crandell, of 6634 Township Road 19 N.W., Thornville, was arraigned by acting Licking County Municipal Judge David Branstool on Tuesday on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing, fourth-degree misdemeanors.
With television camera was rolling, Crandell's attorney and son, Riley Cambell Crandell, asked Branstool to read the charges aloud -- a right that usually is waived by defendants and attorneys in court.
Branstool continued a recognizance bond.
Barbara Crandell allegedly went to the Octagon State Memorial at the golf course June 26 with the intention to pray for the people affected by the fires in the West. She got tired and sat to rest on the mound on the No. 10 hole, then was taunted by two golfers, she said.
The area in which she rested was not in the way of any golfers, Riley Crandell said. But country club president Skip Salome said she was in danger of being hit by golf balls.
Salome told her to leave, but she responded that the area was public property and asked to be left alone to pray.
"I would go there if Tiger Woods was playing if I was called by the spirits that day," Barbara Crandell said Tuesday.
Salome allegedly left and returned with two Newark police officers, she said. After arguing with Salome and the officers, Crandell threw her cane at Salome when she feared she was in danger but did not strike him, she said. Salome said he was struck on his leg by the cane.
She then was arrested and taken off the course.
"I only go there in a spiritual way. I don't go to antagonize anyone," she said.
"I feel the spirit of (the people who built the mound). They are my ancestors. They're my people."
The country club has a lease from the Ohio Historical Society for the property through 2078. The agreement began in the 1930s.
"We want to try to go to heart on the issue of whether it's private or public property," said Riley Crandell, citing the 1933 deed that calls the area "an archaeological and historical site for the use, benefit and enjoyment of the public."
The country club and the Ohio Historical Society recently agreed to suspend play and hold open four days to allow people to explore the Earthworks site, built 2,000 years ago by Hopewell Indians.
The most recent open day was June 17. Others remain scheduled for Aug. 12 and Oct. 19.
Riley Crandell said the open days don't comply with the public benefit indicated in the deed.
Observation areas and signs for the Octagon also are present at the country club.
Ancient bones halt excavation project in southern Wisconsin
Statewire
http://www.startribune.com/stories/568/3042542.html
Published Jul 7, 2002
JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) -- Ancient bones found near a lake in southern Wisconsin
temporarily halted a homeowner's plan to build a garage.
State archaeologists found a jaw bone and bone flakes when they sifted through
dirt in the homeowner' s front yard. They will rebury whatever they find.
" Under state law, this area will be protected as a burial site, " said Robert
Birmingham, archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society' s
preservation division.
The construction project can continue after everything is documented and
surveyed at the site along Lake Koshkonong, more than 10 miles north of
Janesville in Jefferson County.
The homeowner, who declined to discuss the find with The Janesville Gazette,
must redesign the construction project so it does not disturb the site,
Birmingham said.
Archaeologists believe an ancient American Indian home and burial ground once
stood on the spot, Birmingham said.
Bones and bone fragments are often found near Lake Koshkonong, which has a
history of ancient burial discoveries and is on the National Register of
Historical Places, said Leslie Eisenberg, the society' s burial site program
coordinator.
Archaeologists were monitoring the excavation because the property is
protected by a covenant signed by the homeowner, Eisenberg said.
The homeowner receives a property tax exemption in exchange for allowing
archaeologists to be present during any ground disturbance on the property,
Eisenberg said.
Tribe alleges highway officials desecrated burial places
3 July 2002
By RICK ALM
The Kansas City Star
An American Indian tribe is suing Missouri highway officials and others for allegedly desecrating ancient burial places and storing human remains and other artifacts in a Jefferson City hotel, among other places.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City by the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma, said such actions violated federal law and had been occurring for more than 12 years.
The lawsuit also alleged that as recently as June 8, state highway workers improperly removed items from a known burial mound in the path of a planned new section of U.S. 136 in north-central Missouri near the Iowa border.
Several state highway officials on Tuesday disputed the allegation about the U.S. 136 project and insisted that the agency had observed all state and federal laws regarding American Indian and other human remains.
The tribe wants a court-supervised receiver to be appointed to inventory and dispose of all human remains and other items in accordance with federal law, plus an order requiring the state to pay unspecified damages "for desecration, damage and impairment of the (tribe's) cultural heritage."
The lawsuit said the situation "causes religious and spiritual turmoil for the plaintiffs and their individual members, as they are the protectors and keepers of their ancestors' remains and sacred places.
"Tribal members and ancestors who remain unburied are not at rest and remain uneasy and forever disturbed until a proper reburial."
Defendants include state agencies and individuals in the Departments of Natural Resources and Transportation, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Division of State Parks and the State Museum. The U.S. Department of the Treasury, which provides some financing for state highway construction, also was named.
The tribe claims Missouri officials since 1990 have refused repeated requests to transfer excavated bodies and artifacts to the appropriate organizations under terms of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Instead, it said, remains found in various excavations are being held improperly by state agencies including the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Some remains are in storage in the old Union Hotel in Jefferson City, the tribe said.
A spokesman for the Missouri attorney general's office, which will defend the case, said the office had no comment.
However, several state highway officials on Tuesday took issue with many of the tribe's allegations.
Bob Reeder, a state cultural resources expert, said officials were caught off guard by the lawsuit.
"We were surprised," he said. "We thought we had a really good rapport with the tribe."
Reeder said since the mid-1960s, 23 sites containing human remains had been discovered by state highway workers. Not all of those sites involved American Indian burials, he said.
If remains are American Indian, he said, it takes a lot of time to determine which of a possible two dozen tribes the person might have belonged to.
"We have tried to comply with all state and federal law, particularly over the last 12 or 13 years," said transportation department general counsel Greg Schroeder.
In every case to date, Schroeder said, all human remains and other objects have been turned over to state historic preservation officials or to the university.
At that point, he said, those agencies are responsible for disposing of the items under the law. The university, for instance, recently published a legal notice that it was preparing to repatriate one set of Indian remains, Schroeder said.
The Oklahoma Sac and Fox claim membership and property interests throughout the region, including historic land claims in Missouri, Iowa and Michigan, said Sean Pickett, the tribe's Kansas City lawyer.
A separate band of the tribe, the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri, operates a reservation casino north of Topeka, Pickett said.
Pickett said that based on news accounts over the years, the tribe also believes at least some artifacts and remains have been given away to people not authorized under federal law to receive them. Those persons were not named in the lawsuit.
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