From: Wendat@aol.com
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 20:40:33 EDT
Subject: PERMANENT PROTECTION OF THE HURON CEMETERY

Summary of Recent Events Concerning Litigation to Prevent Desecration of Huron Cemetery

On August 31, 1998, the Wyandot Nation of Kansas (and Individually Named Plaintiffs - George D. Zane III, Janith K. English, Darren Zane English, Marie Hathorn, Florence M. Bickenbach-Brown, and Ruby L. Vickers) and the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, in Case No. 96-4130, consented to dismissal of their lawsuit against the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma.  Their case against the United States Government and various officials and employees of the United States Government was not affected.  The court also granted plaintiffs in Case No. 96-4129 and 96-4130 permission to depose Heather Sibbison and Robert Anderson of the Department of the Interior, key players in the controversial decision to declare the Huron Cemetery a reservation and approve Class III (Las Vegas Style) gaming upon it.

On that same day, August 31, 1998, the Wyandot Nation of Kansas received word from the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma that the federal government had approved the Settlement Agreement between the Wyandot Nation of Kansas and the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma entered into July 11, 1998, which provides, among other things, for the immediate and permanent protection of the Huron Cemetery.

Pursuant to provisions of the Settlement Agreement requiring the dismissal of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas' lawsuit upon federal government approval of the Settlement Agreement, on Wednesday, September 9, 1998, at approximately 9:05 PM CDT, the Wyandot Nation of Kansas and Individually Named Plaintiffs, through the tribe's attorney general, Holly R. Zane, filed a motion moving the Court for an Order dismissing the Wyandot Nation of Kansas and Individually Named Plaintiffs as plaintiffs in Case No. 96-4130.  The motion does not affect the Governor of Kansas' and the other Kansas Tribes' suits against the federal government.  We await the Courts' order granting our motion.

I would like to thank Creator and our tribesman, both living and dead, for their everlasting love, support and guidance these many years in our struggle to protect Our Sacred Burial Ground.  May those interred in Huron Cemetery never be roused from their slumber and may the recently planted seeds of healing and harmony blossom into a True Tree of Peace.