News Updates SUMMER-2001 News

Governor defunds Tennessee Indian Commission

Gov. Don Sundquist used his line-item veto power recently to kill a $50,000 budget request for the Tennessee Indian Commission. The request was made in the budget by Sen. Thelma Harper (D-Nashville) and the funding is largely for the salary of the Commission’s Executive Director Troy Heap.
Critics of the governor have said he is purposely trying o kill the Tennessee Indian Commission and has been slow in naming members to the Commission board. Gov. Sundquist has said in the past that he believes the board has been largely ineffective and is favor of abolishing it.
The Tennessee Indian Commission is the state’s only representative body for Native Americans and has been politically toothless since 1998 when there was a massive exodus of its board members in protest of the Governor’s handling of the commission and the appointment of non-Native Americans to it.
"The Governor has never been friendly to the Tennessee Indian Commission," said one former commissioner, "and it does not surprise me that he would defund it in order to stop its existence. The problem is that Tennessee is probably one of the richest Native American sites in America and there needs to be some representative power in place to address those interests. I personally believe the construction stoppage on 321N near his new Blount County home in Townsend and the fact that we have found a powerful voice in spite of his efforts is the reason for his obvious attempts to take away our only voice in Tennessee state government. All we can do is hope that a new administration will see the value of having such a commission in Tennessee, especially with a Native American heritage that goes back more than 10,00 years."

NASHVILLE – With the legislature considering a number of important issues such as TennCare, the state budget, and tax reform, a bill entering the House to add the words "In God We Trust" to the state flag is causing more frustration than conversation.
The bill was first introduced in the House by Rep. John Windle (D-Livingston) and was co-sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Tim Burchett (R- Knoxville). The legislation drew immediate fire from organized atheism groups in Tennessee and the American Civil Liberties Union. Representatives from both groups say that adding the phrase "In God We Trust" would be unconstitutional "because the bill supports monotheism and doesn’t take into account the fact that some religions worship more than one God."
Others say the slogan would be a welcomed addition to the state flag as the motto is found on other state flags, official seals and the national currency.
The official Tennessee State Flag was adopted in 1905 by the Tennessee General Assembly and has remained unchanged since its design. The three stars each representing the "three grand divisions of Tennessee."
Last year, members of the legislature called for a state issued pamphlet that shows in which direction the state flag is supposed to be flown as many citizens of the state are apparently presenting the flag upside down.
Because of the expected controversy over the bill and the fact that the General Assembly is getting ready to start looking at controversial "tax-reform measures and state revenue generating" the bill was tabled in the senate, meaning that it probably won’t be considered this session.

 

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Elementary School Construction causes controversy

FRANKLIN — A battle is brewing in Franklin again over the fate of a historic structure in Franklin. Preservationists across the South are trying to stop the construction of a new elementary school across the street from the Harrison House, where Gen. John Bell Hood prepared his troops on the eve of the Battle of Franklin. A battle noted in world military history as being one where the largest number of generals were ever killed in a single battle and involving a charge that eclipsed Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg by more than four miles.
While heavy equipment is moving on the site, preservationists from across the South are waging an e-mail campaign against what they see as the continued degradation of historic Franklin site.
''Franklin's a tough nut to crack,'' said Joe Avalon, who runs the Internet site www.civilwarinteractive.com. It means a lot to the Civil War community simply because of the devastation that occurred there. The city’s record for preserving things is not good.
We've gotten, well, probably a couple hundred e-mails from out of state expressing dismay over Franklin in general, this issue in particular. We have to imagine that the people who live in Franklin are as sick of the sprawl and build-up as we are, but our guess is that they don't want to be lectured by us out-of-towners.''
School board members say they have received numerous e-mails and some of the officials have said the school will be built at the site, but protestors say they will keep up the protest until they get some answer to their questions.
"Franklin is one of the most historic sites in Tennessee, said one protestor, "and city officials could care less about seeing that these places are preserved and trying to paint those who want to preserve them as a bunch of crazy protestors. It is as if the school board officials have no thought for the past and I feel trying to explain to them the historic value of the property is like throwing pearls before swine for what it’s worth. You can not teach school students about history if you keep throwing concrete and buildings over the sites where it happened."
Historic Preservationists say they are watching the City to see if Franklin will work with preservationists or try to find a compromise to the problem.

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GSMNP reports first elk calf born in Park’s herd

 

GATLINBURG – Officials with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reported the birth of the first elk in the Park in more than 150 years last week.
According to reports, the 40-pound male calf was born on Friday June 22, but was not located until Sunday evening hidden in a blackberry thicket close to the meadows in Cataloochee Valley.
The University of Tennessee graduate student who is conducting on-site monitoring of the experimental elk release project began searching for the newborn after being alerted on Friday by ejection of a transmitter implant from the elk cow. All pregnant elk cows were implanted with a transmitter in their birth canals to help biologists know when the calves were born. Biologists believed earlier that nine of the 12 cows in the herd were pregnant, but learned later that there are only eight pregnant cows in the herd.
Researchers used telemetry devices the following Saturday morning to locate the apparent site of delivery, but worked another day and a half before locating the male calf around one third of a mile from the site of delivery.
Park Wildlife Biologists Kim Delozier says elk will normally move their newborn calves some distance away from the site of delivery as a survival mechanism.
"Elk calves are most vulnerable to predators in the first few days after birth," says Delozier, "and the mothers will distance them from the birthing site, which could attract predators."
Biologists placed an expandable radio collar on the new calf to help them learn about the survival rate in the wild – an important part of the five-year experimental project. The animals in the Smokies experiment all came from a wild herd at Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky where they have not been exposed to bears or other potential predators.
The recent birth has Park officials excited and hopeful that the experiment will prove successful in the Park.
"We are pleased with the announcement and the success of the elk experiment to date," said GSMNP Park Superintendent Michael J. Tollefson. "We ask that the public be good stewards and not to approach to elk, particularly female elk with calves, which are known to charge people in defense of their offspring and will probably rejoin the herd in a couple of weeks."
Officials also said for those who come across a herd in the Park to take photographs from a distance and do not under any circumstances approach the herd of try to get close for a better photograph. Elk, like all wildlife in their natural habitat, can be aggressive animals and will attack if they feel threatened.

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$5 million in funding approved for
GSMNP upgrades

 

GATLINBURG – Rep. John J. Duncan (R-Tennessee) and Rep. William L. Jenkins (R-Tennessee) announced last week that the Interior Appropriations Bill, which passed the House, increased funding for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by $5 million.
The Congressmen were able to secure $300,000 for repairs to historic structures located in the Park and $4.7 million for the restoration of the Research and Science Center operated by the Park Service.
"I am pleased that we were able to obtain this additional funding for the Smokies," said Rep. Duncan, "which will help address some of the maintenance and construction backlog in the Park. Members of the Tennessee Delegation have always worked together well in Congress to the benefit of our state. I am pleased that Congressman Jenkins and myself were able to secure this funding for the Great Smokies."
According to officials, the $300,000 will be used to hire staff and purchase materials to help restore and perform maintenance on the 77 cabins and another 100 historic structures located throughout the Park.
Rep. Duncan also said the $4.7 million will be used to restore what has been called an inadequate science lab used by the Park Service. The research carried out at the Science Center is crucial to the long-term health of the Park – now involved in the All-taxa biodiversity study, which is working to identify all life forms within the boundary of the Smoky Mountain National Park. The study is attracting students and professors from around the world to the park to participate and assist in the studies.

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Committee formed in legislature to study

‘slave reparations’ in Tennessee

NASHVILLE – Rep. Henri Brooks (D-Memphis) has formed a committee in the General Assembly to look into whether or not descendants of slaves in Tennessee should get reparations. The seven member committee is expected to take a year to study the proposition.
The formation of the committee immediately set off a fire-storm among many members of the General Assembly, who see the ideology behind the committee formation as being flawed and one that should have never been put together.
"You don’t really want to know what I think about this," said one legislator. "Tax payers should not have to foot the bill for what is generally regarded as one of the most ridiculous and asinine committees ever formed. There are so many other important things we need to be putting our efforts towards accomplishing in Tennessee."
The "slave reparations" movement has been gaining momentum in America among many blacks over the last year. Black activists claim that America’s compensation of Japanese for their interment during W.W. II and the compensation of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust are substantial grounds for them to petition America to compensate descendants of African slaves living in the United States.
"This is a movement that is doomed to fail," said political analyst Lowell Lynch, "there isn’t a single person alive today who was a slave or owned a slave in the United States. With both the Japanese and the survivors of the Holocaust, there were thousands still living and nations willing to redress the grievances that were committed against them personally and their parents. On a historical note, those pushing this slave reparations movement need to realize there isn’t a single race of humans under the sun who haven’t been held as slaves at one time or another by another race. It was a world-wide trade that existed for five thousand years. In addition, numerous paintings from the 12th and 13th century in the Middle East show black sultans being attended by white slaves. Many of those slaves escaped or were sold back to Europe and immigrated to America. So, if you use the same historical argument these activists are making, there are many whites who can make claims against Africans. African nations were just as involved in the slave trade as any other European nation and today the only slave-holding nation left is the black led Islamic government of Sudan."
The slave reparations movement has pulled in some big-name attorneys who say they will file lawsuits to force the issue and begin what many legal experts say could become an expensive tax-payer funded class action suit. There are also many organizations that have been accused of using the "slave reparations" movement as a way of fraudulently making money.
One such "slave reparations" organization operating in North and South Carolina is now under investigation for holding a series of meetings at black churches allegedly showing blacks how they can avoid paying income taxes by claiming their ancestors were slaves. The information was reportedly being sold to those interested for a fee of $50. Investigators allege that the meetings are aimed at mostly poor and lower income blacks.
Tax experts with the Internal Revenue Service say that no law exists that would allow any such deductions and any information in that regard would be public knowledge.
"I think we are really missing the point here," said one legislative staffer, "Tennessee tax-payers are paying for this committee and they should not receive one cent for this. It is an insult to the intelligence of Tennesseans of every race and this should not take a year to decide.

 

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UPDATE.... Historic cemetery unifies
preservation groups

 

SEVIERVILLE – Representatives from the Sons of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Daughters of the War of 1812, Native American Indian Movement, and other historical groups in Sevier County and East Tennessee gathered Saturday in the First Baptist Cemetery in Sevierville to protest a proposed road that will run through the historic site endangering graves of the region’s earliest settlers.
Archaeological surveys in preparation for the road have also uncovered evidence of a Native American presence that could also be damaged by excavation of the site.
According to reports, the road project was originally conceived during the Gov. Ned McWherter Administration, but shelved because of various historic concerns. It was later revived under Gov. Don Sundquist as part of his road and highway construction projects in East Tennessee, but has run into massive protests from numerous local historical preservation groups and descendants of those buried there.
The Sevier County Native American Indian Movement first brought attention to the road controversy this past Memorial Day and has worked closely building ties with local historical groups to protest the road project and stop the construction.
"I was pleased with the turnout," said N.A.I.M. spokesman Carl Whittaker, "every time we have held one, we have seen the numbers get larger and larger as people become aware of what is at stake here. This is a sacred ground to all our people in Sevier County regardless of their race or creed and those who took time to turn out and voice their opinion is very encouraging."
The groups gathered again at the cemetery on Wednesday July 4 to see that the graves of the citizens who served in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 are properly decorated with American flags and will again protest the actions of the Tennessee Department of Transportation as well as Sevier County for allowing the project to move forward.
Representatives from all groups represented said they will continue to do whatever it takes to stop construction on the project and preserve the historic site for future generations.

Historic preservation finds common ground

SEVIERVILLE – While ceremonies were held throughout Sevier County on Memorial Day honoring the servicemen and women who served this nation, a small cemetery off of Emert Street with the remains of veterans who helped found this nation lay empty, no American flags on their headstones, no ceremonious recognition of their service, just the threat of a bulldozer’s plow that could see a roadway built through it.
It is a road construction controversy that could bring representatives from Native American organizations and local historical societies together in an effort to stop the proposed construction.
The City of Sevierville and the Tennessee Department of Transportation is in the planning process of building a bridge over the Little Pigeon River and putting a road known as the Love Addition that would reportedly cut into the edge of the cemetery to connect the road with Dolly Parton Parkway. Some officials say, however, the right of way and possibly part of the road itself will run through one of the oldest cemeteries in East Tennessee. Other sources say archaeological surveys on an adjacent part of the grounds has also produced Native American artifacts.
The old First Baptist Cemetery in downtown Sevierville has been long recognized as a historic site and currently a small park sits on the site with benches. The church to which it used to belong was the first denomination to establish itself in Sevier County. Its first clerk, who is buried there, was a member of the Virginia Militia during the American Revolution.
Most of the headstones have become unreadable over the years and the rest have just disappeared from weathering and age. A stone marker dedicated on July 4, 1976 during America’s Bicentennial celebration stands in the center of the park.
Representatives from the Native American Indian Movement and other organizations held a memorial service on the site last Sunday and say they will do what they what they can to protect the site from construction.
"We wanted to hold a ceremony here to honor our ancestors’ memories," said N.A.I.M. spokesman Carl "Two Feathers" Whitaker. "This and the McMahan Indian Mound are two sites we know of where there was a Native American presence in Sevierville and this one is as endangered as the other sites in Townsend and Gatlinburg. We have to protect these if we are going to preserve our heritage and culture. The proximity of this site near a historic cemetery is a unique opportunity for us and citizens of Sevierville to work together to prevent the destruction of both of these historic sites."
Local historians are also upset at the idea of a road running through the historic cemetery and say they will make every effort to stop any construction plans that will affect it.
"We are still studying it and seeing what can be done, " said one historian. If nothing can be accomplished then we look forward to working with the Native Americans on a common goal of saving this historic site. Unfortunately, there is no Repatriation Act for early settlers’ graves and, if this road goes through like it seems to be laid out, it will destroy the cemetery. I just hope that our only saving grace isn’t the discovery of a few Indian artifacts – that would be a sad fact. At some point, we have to say enough. Find a way around it, don’t build it, or move the road somewhere else, but don’t disrupt a cemetery that contains the remains of some of our founding citizens. It seems sometimes our drive to attract tourism dollars here over-rules our desire to retain the very things that made this region so interesting in the first place."
Other citizens were upset that the state or Sevierville would even consider putting a road through the cemetery.
"This is one of the most disrespectful things I have ever heard of," said one Sevier County resident. "It is a recognized historical site and a place of interest for many Sevier County natives who have relatives or descendents buried there. Surely the state is going to find a way around it or something."
For Native Americans and local historical groups, this is one of those rare occasions when they will find themselves working to preserve land that both sides feels deserves historic preservation.
Only one other such incident has occurred in Tennessee in recent years that brought both Native Americans and historic preservationists together and that issue was the preservation of Shiloh National Park, where both an ancient Mississippian Village and a battlefield causeway of the Military Park were threatened by erosion from the Tennessee River.
Representatives from the Five Civilized Tribes and historical preservation groups throughout West Tennessee joined forces to get the National Park to repair the problems.
Unlike Shiloh, however, there is no federal rule, other than the Indian Repatriation Act, that can be enforced to stop the construction and only if archaeologists doing required surveys can unearth artifacts that would point to a prominent Native American presence.

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321N Phase II construction
bids could be delayed by a year

 

GATLINBURG – The biding process for Phase Two of U.S. Highway 321N road widening construction in Gatlinburg could be put off for more than a year. Officials say an archaeological resurvey of the region has revealed ancient Indian artifacts and some archaeologists believe there could be a Native American historical site that could rival the one uncovered in Townsend last year.
Native American organizations have protested the Phase Two construction project saying that simple spade tests have shown settlements in the region and, under the Federal Indian Repatriation Act of 1973, a full archaeological survey must be done of the region before any construction gets underway.
The original archaeological survey of the region allegedly produced no Indian artifacts, which led many to believe the company had poorly performed its task, following the announcement from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that their archaeologist had produced numerous Indian artifacts during similar spade tests near the Greenbrier entrance to the Park.
"We were excited to get the news last week that bidding on the construction could be delayed for a year while they study the region, " said one Native American Activist. "The original surveys were little more than a ‘scrape and go’ process that yielded nothing and allowed the Tennessee Department of Transportation to go ahead and start making plans to widen the highway. This gives us some breathing room and allows us to get a comprehensive professional survey of the region which will allow us to study what is found. National Park Archaeologist Pai Lin Yu has really turned up some interesting items on her own with her testing of the region and we know that there had to be a settlement or hunting village there of some kind. There has never been a real survey of the area and we want to make sure that one will be done before TDOT starts throwing asphalt over it."
The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indian’s Historic Preservation officer James Bird has been following the project and the controversy and says he is concerned that proper archaeological work has not been done to date on the Phase Two project and he wants to get a full survey before construction starts happening.
Phase Two, which runs from Pittman Center to the Little Pigeon River, has been noted as having the traditional land and water features that would have made it an attractive place for early Indian settlement.
Phase One construction on 321N is already underway and has drawn fire from environmentalists – many of who have been arrested for protesting the construction work and causing the Gatlinburg Police Department as well as the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office to add extra patrols on the construction site.
The protesting has drawn the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation into the controversy and local environmentalists say they will continue their protesting of the Phase One work claiming the construction work is doing irreparable damage to the Park’s ecosystem and will lead to more as the number of automobile traffic will increase tremendously.

Tennessee Online receives award for Medal of Honor Event By Linda Lewanski Contributing Editor
	Tennessee Online's Ed Hooper

Tennessee Online’s Ed Hooper was one of 24 Tennesseans honored by the Tennessee Historical Commission during the state’s 26th annual observance of National Historic Preservation Week.
The week is sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Gov. Don Sundquist issued a special proclamation commemorating the week.
Hooper received the Historic Preservation award for his work during Pigeon Forge’s Celebrate Freedom! for the "Grand Salute to America’s Greatest Heroes" that was held at the Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in cooperation with Chattanooga’s National Medal of Honor Museum of Military History. Museum volunteers Ann Moyers and George Bales headed up an educational exhibit on Tennessee Medal of Honor recipients, which featured Medal of Honor recipients Col. Roger Donlon, Col. Lee Mize, WWII recipient Desmond Doss, Rudy Hernandez, William W. McGill and the Andrew York family, who spoke to the numerous school groups that attended the 11-day event.
Hooper also featured Tennessee Medal of Honor recipients in a number of Looking Back columns that aided the museum’s interpretation of the artifacts presented in the Pigeon Forge display.
"The Grand Resort Hotel’s display on Tennessee Medal of Honor recipients was one of the highlights of the City’s Celebrate Freedom! event," said Knoxville teacher Marianne Russell. "We were amazed at how the children sat and listened to Col. Donlon and the others talk about their experiences. We don’t really teach military history in school anymore, even about famous Tennesseans, there is just no material there to do it with and that was a great opportunity for the children to learn it first-hand. Mr. Hooper, the museum, and all those involved should be commended for putting it all together. We are hoping to put together a field trip where the kids can go to the museum and see the rest of the exhibits."
Hooper says he is honored to receive the award and that credit for the Grand’s Salute to America’s Greatest Heroes" success is owed to many people as well as the City of Pigeon Forge.
"The volunteers at the Medal of Honor Museum really put together a great display for the event and many of the recipients put off other appointments to attend," said Hooper. "The staff at the Grand Resort Hotel and members of the Kerbela Temple’s Legion of Honor also have to be commended for their efforts. Those of us who put this together did so with the intent and purpose of allowing local school children the opportunity to learn about Tennessee’s famous veterans and meet real Medal of Honor recipients. I was glad that many of the local schools took advantage of the opportunity."
In addition, Hooper’s work documenting the lives and actions of Tennessee veterans also drew comment from state and military historians, who said his efforts on the preserving the memories of Tennessee’s Medal of Honor recipients should be commended as well.
"Mr. Hooper’s work researching and documenting these men and women isn’t an easy task as his columns show," said one Tennessee historian. "In many cases with veterans, he has to file Freedom of Information Requests with various military branches and government agencies and sometimes work with foreign governments to get the information needed to tell the whole story. While his military history subjects are fascinating, what I find most impressive about his work is the fact that he is able to write about Tennesseans of note regardless of their race or gender. He is the only person who has received the Tennessee Historical Commission award for his preservation work as both a broadcast and print journalist. Many of us hope that he can eventually bring these stories back to the air where we can preserve a real-life copy of their stories."

NASHVILLE – Two Tennessee men have been arrested for stealing one of the most historical documents in French history – the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed by Napoleon and reported stolen in 1988 from the French National Archives in Paris. The Treaty forced Napoleon to renounce his claim to the French Empire and consigned him to exile on the island of Elba.
An indictment, which was filed in U.S. District Court in New York says John William Rooney, 69, is accused of stealing the Treaty and other historical documents from the French National Archives in 1988.
Marshall Lawrence Pierce III, 39, (AKA Frederick Tomcezak), is accused of allegedly approaching Sotheby’s auction house about selling them at auction.
The two men were arrested Tuesday in the home they share in Monteagle, Tenn. Both Rooney and Pierce were charged and released on $20,000 bond and ordered to appear in court April 5.
Federal officials contacted last week said they had little information on the men, but both apparently are highly educated – Rooney was a visiting history professor at The University of the South in Sewanee during the 1995 and 96 school year.
The federal indictment alleges Rooney not only stole the Treaty of Fontainebleau and four letters of ratification signed by Napoleon I, King Frederick William III of Prussia, Emperor Francis I of Austria and Tsar Alexander I of Russia, but also accuses him of stealing 30 letters of King Louis XVIII of France.
Rooney’s alleged accomplice Marshall Pierce, who also holds a P.H.D., reportedly approached Sotheby’s in 1995 and 1996 with the documents reportedly telling the auction house that he had purchased the documents from a lady in Lyon, France. According to reports, he mailed the treaty to Sotheby’s and signed an agreement consigning it to be sold at auction. He also reportedly inquired about selling the letters as well.
Sotheby’s listed the documents for sale and agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation recognized the items as stolen.
While Sotheby’s listed the items as valued between $50-$75,000., French historians say the documents are far more valuable.
"It is hard to put these in proper historical perspective," said a French historian with the University of Tennessee. "You could put these documents in the same realm as letters and Treaties signed by George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, but even that pales in comparison because Napoleon was such a world figure who’s impact on history has only been accomplished by a handful of men."
The 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau is believed to be the only copy of the treaty and is allegedly being held by the F.B. I. in New York. Federal officials in New York and Tennessee contacted last week would not comment on how the documents were stolen or smuggled out of the French National Archives without alerting security.
Officials are being very tight-lipped about the case – saying they will not comment on an ongoing investigation.

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UPDATE-Claim filed against GSMNP in
2000 bear-attack death of Cosby woman

GATLINBURG – The family of Glenda Bradley has filed a $3.5 million wrongful death claim against the Great Smoky Mountain National Park claiming the National Park Service made "mistakes in its handling of Ms. Bradley’s death." The 50-year-old Cosby resident and Sevier County teacher died last year after Park officials say a 112-pound bear sow and her yearling cub mauled her during a hike along the Little River Trail and the intersection of the Goshen Prong Trail. Bradley and her former husband Ralph Hill had gone to the Park that day so he could fish while Bradley hiked. According to reports, the two were attempting to reconcile their relationship. Bradley was regarded as an experienced hiker and knew the trails she was walking.
The claim, which was filed with the United States Department of Interior in Washington, D.C. by Knoxville attorney Sidney Gilreath, alleges that the Park was negligent in the resource management of the black bears and reportedly had evidence that the bears exhibited behavior that should have warned the Rangers of potential trouble. Rangers at the scene of the incident killed both the sow and cub. The carcasses of the bears as well as the body of Glenda Ann Bradley were autopsied and evidence allegedly showed that the bears had fed on Ms. Bradley.
The incident marked the first time in the history of the National Park Service that someone had been killed by a black bear, which led to the formation of a committee to study the issue and recommend any changes to help avoid future incidents when visitors encountered black bears in their natural habitat.
The final report on the incident was released earlier this year and cleared the Ranger’s activities at the scene of the incident and his refusal to fire on the bears immediately upon his arrival at the scene for fear of hitting bystanders or other Rangers responding to scene. Officials in their final report also stated that there would be changes made in the way the they inform hikers of encountering wildlife in the Smoky Mountains at all visitor’s centers. In addition, the Park has revised back country signs warning people about bear encounters and is devoting designated time in their law enforcement training program to problem bear management. According to earlier reports from the Park Service following the incident, the bears were known to officials as part of an ongoing study of wildlife in the Park, but had exhibited no behavior considered unusual for a bear in the wild.
National Park officials would not make a statement on the wrongful death claim as a matter of policy regarding comments on pending litigation. The Knoxville attorney has indicated if he cannot get a settlement from the Department of Interior, he will file a lawsuit in Federal Court.

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Human remains found in Hunley
submarine excavation

KNOXVILLE – Local historians who returned from Charleston, S.C, last week said they were excited by the announcement that scientists excavating the C.S.S. Hunley had discovered six remains that have been identified by Smithsonian Institution scientist Doug Owsley as human. The remains are believed to be the remains of the nine man crew lost in the Confederate submarine shortly after sinking the Union warship Housitanic in Charleston Harbor on Feb. 17, 1864 –making it the first submarine in history to accomplish sinking an enemy vessel.
The submarine was raised from a sand bar last summer near Charleston and taken to a climate-controlled facility and began the slow process of excavating the sand and clay-filled vessel.
The conservation organization "Friends of the Hunley", who have been monitoring the excavation and raising money to preserve the Hunley, issued a statement saying that the scientists had uncovered three ribs, part of a belt and pieces of clothing in the front section of the submarine. Scientists also found a corked glass bottle, a wooden shelf, and what is believed to be the controls to one of the submarine’s two ballast tanks. The primitive tanks were used to raise and lower the ship. To submerge, the crew would fill the tanks with water and then pump it out when they wanted to surface it. A Friends of the Hunley spokesperson said if the scientists discover the valve was open, it would help tell the story of final minutes of the submarine crew and that they were trying to dive or submerge.
Many Tennesseans have been keeping up with the excavation on the Internet and actually visited the site of the excavation.
"From what I saw when I was there," said Knoxville resident Stephen Miller, "the scientists are having a time digging through the sand and accumulated sediment that has filled the submarine over the years. It is definitely a toothbrush and finger operation where every grain of material is studied and it is going to take a long time to completely excavate the sub. At the time we visited, they were sort of keeping hopes low that any human remains still existed in the submarine so I am sure this has been a shot in the arm for the team working on it. "
Miller said he was surprised by the number of people who toured the facility and watched the excavation.
"You have people from all walks of life watching it – archaeology students, historians, you name it ," said Miller. "The fact that the sub’s inventor was a Tennessean was one of the reasons I wanted to visit the project while I was in Charleston. I hope that the scientists can find more remains and artifacts that will help tell the story of the submarine’s last mission. "
Researchers with the project say they would like to uncover enough remains so forensic experts will be able to reconstruct the crew member’s faces. Once the project is completed, what remains are found in the submarine are expected to be buried next to the others who died testing the vessel with full Confederate military honors.
Miller says he would like to see a delegation from the U.S. Navy present at the final ceremonies.
"The Navy currently has a sub-tender ship named the U.S.S. Hunley in honor of H.L. Hunley," said Miller, " and I hope the Navy will be involved in the ceremonies. This is a

 

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Tennessee Wildlife Resources Foundation(TWRF) needs your support!

 

PBS Seeking Volunteers

PBS seeks willing families to go back in time and live as pioneers in 1880s Montana for a new television series. Participants will dwell for six months on the frontier as late nineteenth century settlers would have done--building their homes, farming and hunting for their food. In particular, PBS strives to tell the stories of all those people who made their lives on the frontier. As history shows, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans were represented on frontier lands. We encourage people with these backgrounds to apply. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please contact me via email or phone. For more information about the project, look at the Web site: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse

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