<+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
[forwarded by Pat Morris. Thanks...]
http://www.heraldonline.com/community/story/0,1325,131027,00.html
Mediator to try to settle suit
By Susan J. Stabley The Herald
(Published January 28, 2000)
COLUMBIA - A federal judge Thursday ordered the Catawba
Indian Nation's leaders and dissident members to meet with a
third-party mediator in an effort to resolve a lawsuit filed by the
dissidents.
The tribal leaders and the dissidents must agree to a meeting
date within seven days.
At issue is a 1998 lawsuit filed by 16 members of the tribe
against the Catawba's Executive Council, demanding new
elections and alleging misuse of $50 million received in 1993
from a 153-year-old land claim dispute.
The judge issued the order after the two sides voluntarily
agreed to mediation, said longtime tribal attorney Jay Bender.
Bender views the upcoming mediation meeting as "very
positive" and hopes the first session of talks will be set for next
week.
Dissident members also are looking forward to the talks.
"I'm for anything that can get a voice back to the people," said
dissident Jack Canty. "It's more like a dictatorship than a
democracy. The tribe voice has been taken away from every
major decision in business ventures."
He cited the leadership's recent decision to partner with a
Charlotte developer to create a business park as an example.
The issue of election should be a priority of the mediation talks,
federal Judge Joseph Anderson Jr. said in his order, filed
Thursday. Columbia attorney Bill Boyd has been assigned as
mediator at the rate of $250 an hour.
Mediation is an informal, non-binding dialogue in which a
third-party attorney attempts to resolve differences in a lawsuit.
All talks are confidential and cannot be used in court.
On Jan. 16, the dissident Catawbas offered to drop a lawsuit if
tribal leaders hold an election by Feb. 5. The group has called
for elections for years, as required under the Catawbas' original
constitution filed in 1978, said dissident member Bill Harris.
Tribal leaders said they were advised by the U.S. Bureau of
Indian Affairs to hold off elections until the tribal membership roll
was finished and a new constitution was adopted.
But this month, the bureau reversed its position, siding with a
federal judge's statements and the dissidents' argument that the
leaders likely erred by not holding elections. The bureau also
said the release of the finalized roll is "imminent."
According to a federal statute, a membership roll was
supposed to have been published within a year of a 1993
settlement. The list must be published three times as a public
record before becoming final. The roll was published for a
second time in the Federal Register on Dec. 22.
The roll is important because those listed qualify for a share of a
$50 million settlement from a 153-year-old dispute. Listed are
2,107 Catawbas eligible for their share of 15 percent of the
settlement, already more than $8 million including interest.
---
Contact Susan J. Stabley at 329-4063 or sstabley@heraldonline.com.
****************************************************************************
http://www.heraldonline.com/localnews/story/0,1321,130517,00.html
Catawbas plan to develop 300-acre business park
By Lee Simmons The Herald
(Published January 26, 2000)
The Catawba Indian Nation is partnering with a Charlotte
developer to create a 300-acre business park in Rock Hill.
The Catawbas and Childress Klein Properties of Charlotte plan
the park on the former Riverview Farms, located between
Celanese and Mount Gallant roads and bordering the Catawba
River. It would be developed over the next 10 to 15 years.
The two signed a letter of intent over the Christmas holidays to
do the project and are finalizing the deal this week.
"We had a great meeting last Thursday with the (Catawba
Tribal) Council," said Chris Thomas, a marketing principal with
Childress Klein. "We may have some formal agreement by the
end of the week."
The park would be part of a joint-venture project between the
Catawbas and Childress Klein that includes the eventual
redevelopment of the former Rock Hill Mall on Cherry Road.
Buck George, assistant chief of the Catawba Indian Nation,
offered few words on the projects except that an official
announcement could be forthcoming soon.
The business park would be one of the largest in York County
and would bring millions of dollars of business investment to the
area.
A 1998 study by Michael Bunce of Land Development Services
estimated a proposed 209-acre business park near the airport
could bring $97 million and 3,400 jobs to the area, based on
actual investment in Rock Hill's Airport Industrial Park. That
project never happened.
Childress Klein Properties also works with the Rock Hill
Economic Development Corp. in Waterford Business Park in
eastern Rock Hill. The company developed sites there for Paxar
Corp., Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co. and Kings Electronics Co.
Inc.
Childress Klein's experience with Waterford and other
commercial developments initially attracted the Catawbas'
interest, said Jay Bender, a Columbia attorney representing the
tribe.
"When you see what they've developed, they have a track
record that is impressive," Bender said.
Because talks are preliminary, it's not known whether the
proposed park would rise inside Rock Hill city limits. The land in
question is unincorporated, but the city is nonetheless
interested in what happens there, said Clay Andrews, executive
director of RHEDC.
"We're just glad to see them (Childress Klein) here, and we'll
certainly serve as whatever ambassador we can," Andrews
said.
The business park site and mall-redevelopment project likely
would tap into money the Catawba Indian Nation won in a $50
million land-claim settlement reached in 1992, Bender said.
"A development like this goes through several stages," Bender
said. "You have an introduction, a courtship, a marriage and
then the part where you start having kids. We're at the start of
the marriage stage."
Any redevelopment of the former mall would move on a faster
schedule, Thomas said. Proposed is a complete demolition of
the existing structure, including Catawba Bingo, and
constructing in its place an "up-scale, open-air" mall, he said.
The total investment would well surpass $10 million, Thomas
added. Catawba Bingo eventually would reopen at a new,
yet-to-be-announced location.
The city of Rock Hill also has offered its support of the mall
proposal, Andrews said, and can provide any street-side and
landscape improvements that would better the chances of
attracting new retail to the 34-acre site at Cherry and North
Anderson roads.
"It's good because the city is very interested in trying to kickstart
that effort," Andrews said. "What you have emerging is perhaps
one of the first big projects for the North Cherry Road
revitalization effort."
---
Contact Lee Simmons at 329-4064 or lsimmons@heraldonline.com.
<+>=<+>
KOLA Information: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
KOLA Petitions: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
KOLA Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm
<+>=<+>
if you want to be removed from the KOLA
Email Newslist, just send us a message with
"unsub" in the subject or text body
<+>=<+>