And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
* From: Tusweca <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Gravesite fight heads for trial
By Monica Whitaker / Tennessean Staff Writer
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/99/06/15/roadwork15.shtml
FRANKLIN -- The state's Commission on Indian
Affairs and more than a dozen Native American
residents can square off against state transportation
officials over an ancient gravesite in the path
of road construction, a Circuit Court judge decided
yesterday.
Judge Russ Heldman will hear native representatives'
evidence in an unprecedented trial starting June 25.
At stake are the 800-year-old remains of two Native
American infants unearthed in Williamson County
near Hillsboro Road and Old Hickory Boulevard.
Also at stake is "progress."
If Native Americans with no clear blood ties to a
specific body can object in court every time
construction crews hit an Indian grave, "it will make
building roads, building properties nearly
impossible," said assistant state Attorney General John
Sinclair.
"I've seen so many desecrations of my ancestors
because they say, 'Progress,' " Nashville resident
Medicine Bird Black Bear White Eagle told the
judge.
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The judge also ruled that the Commission on Indian
Affairs could stand in court against the Tennessee
Department of Transportation because it holds its
own "interest." State lawmakers created the
commission to promote Native American cultural and
spiritual rights.
Until now, courts had held that that "interest"
standing was reserved for blood relatives and could not be
claimed by a tribe or a group representing several tribes.
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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