And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 16:46:43 -0500 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The Olathe Daily News: 10/07/99, Oyler plans to assess fee with merger Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" http://www.joconews.com/ODNNews/HdLineStory4.html Oyler plans to assess fee with merger Elvyn J. Jones Daily News Reporter Jimmie Oyler of DeSoto has managed to find synergy between two current headline-grabbing issues - the merger of Sprint Corp. with MCI WorldCom and the future of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant. Oyler, reportedly principal chief of the United Tribe of the Shawnee, said he served notice on WorldCom of the tribe's intent to assess a one-time user fee for the company transmitting telecommunications signals "above, upon and below" the reservation. Reading from an 1854 treaty with the Shawnee Indians, Oyler said the tribe is to receive just compensation for all roads and rights of way through the reservation. The reservation at that time included all of Johnson County and part of Douglas County. Oyler maintained no action by the federal government ever diminished the Shawnee reservation and that his tribe, unrecognized by the federal government, has the rights to past treaties, a claim disputed by the Loyal Tribe of the Shawnee in Oklahoma. Jeff McClanahan, of the Kansas Corporation Commission, said Oyler's proposal is essentially a franchise fee - a tax that cities, counties and other jurisdictions charge utilities for use of public lands for rights of way. No such franchise fee exists for airwaves, McClanahan said. Oyler said his tribe's user fee would be 1 percent of the $115 billion Sprint deal. Oyler proposes that the tribe could use the money for the environmental cleanup of Sunflower, which would then be turned into a buffalo preserve open to the public. The state of Kansas and the federal government are negotiating the transfer of Sunflower. The deal ultimately would turn the property over to Oz Entertainment Co. for the cost of its cleanup. "It's all a gamble, ain't no doubt about it," Oyler said of his user-fee tax. "But like they said in the WorldCom deal, 'what's $10 billion between friends?'" Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
