Paper: Valley News City: Van Nuys, California Date: Thursday, September 8, 1977 Page: Page 11 (Section 1)
Meteorite custody to California
California Wednesday was given custody of the "Old Woman" meteorite by the U.S. Interior Department, apparently ending a month-long legal battle over the space object.
Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus informed U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston that while California now has custody of the three-ton meteorite, the federal government will retain title on the rock.
A spokesman for Cranston's office in Los Angeles confirmed the report of the announcement.
The effect of the decision means California may display the meteorite inside the state, and the federal government will not remove the "Old Woman" for study at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
The space boulder's fate has been in limbo since July 29, when a federal judge in Los Angeles imposed a temporary restraining order against the government from removing the meteorite from California.
The meteorite, believed to be the second largest ever found in the United States, is currently in repose in Barstow.
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