LittleCricket

read this in the Tennessean today...

CHATTANOOGA: American Indian actvists contend a proposed swap of TVA land is a bad deal , regardless of what archaeologistsfind on an island that a developer wants to exchange.
Arxhaeologist Lawrence Alexander predicted his research on privately owned Burns Island in Marion county , Tn. is as rich in heritage as Moccasin Bend , now a national park.
Chattanooga developer John Thorton , who is paying for Alexander's resaerch , has proposed exchanging 220-acre Burns Island & two other properties for 576 acres of TVA-owned riverfront land adjacent to Little Cedar Mt.
Thorton wants to build a $250 million resort & residential development on TVA property between Interstate24 & Nickajack Dam.
A TVA official has said a utility's board is tentatively scheduled to decide on Thorton's proposel at its May meeting in Tupelo, Miss.
Prelimanary archeological surveys of Burns Island in the 1970s & 1980s turned up artifacts dating back about 2,400 years.
Tennessee archaeology records show 19 significant sites reanging from "Middle Woodland shell rings to a Mississippian mound & village area."
" The archaeology of Burns Island deserves further protection from cultivation , erosion ,and unauthorized excavation, " Alexander wrote in a recent literature & records review.
Tim Meeks ,a Chickamauga said he has direct ancestral ties to Little cedar Mt. dating to the 1700s. He fears the mountain's ridgetop , which is not part of the swap, also could be developed.
Thorton has said he would keep the ridge intact & contends protecting Burns Island is a fair trade-off."He's using a good public relations tatic to do this", Becky Gregory , a Shawnee, siad."If he's really earnest about wanting to protect Burns Island, he could not to it by swapping the land."
state archaeologist Nick Felder said Lawrence's fieldwork would help understand how prehistoric Indians adapted to the land." You can think of an island like this as basically a library of information on how Indians used this piece of property."
A dilapidated barn sits on top of a leveled prehistoric mound on the island.The island was known as Lowrey Island iun the 1800's after Cherokee chief , Col. John Lowrey, who operated a ferry there until is death in 1817.Burial sites have been vandalized & artifacts looted.
Alexander said a research on the land near Little Cedar Mt. has not shown any archaeological sites , and he believes they are mostly submerged as a result of the dam.
Chattanooga anthropologist Raymond Evanas disagrred , saying the shorline near Little Cedar Mt. is " one of the most historical significant places on the Tennessee River."
Tom Kunesh , a leader of the Sacred Little Cedar Mt. Defense Coalition will aggressively oppose the land swap.

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Life is a mystery to be lived not a problem to be solved

Wojapi4Me

This might be an actual issue, but for some reason these "Indian" activists come out of the woodworks when there's a chance to be interviewed in a paper or be on TV. They feel it somehow validates them. I'm sure the federally-recognized tribes with ties to the site have already been contacted and are working with the proper authorities. These idiots always try to step in and do the work already being done by real Indians and tribal governments.

I've seen it firsthand when a group of these same-type idiots opposed a road in Townsend, Tenn. As with any road project int this area, an archaeological survey was being completed prior to the main construction. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians cultural department - staffed with cultural traditionalists and trained archaeologists - was already working with the Tenn. DOT. Apparently, the activists - led by Carl "Two Feathers" Whitaker thought they knew better than those guys though. This guy actually told me that the archaeologists were playing soccer with the skulls of Indians and throwing bones around. The dig site was located right off a pretty major state highway with a lot of traffic. There was not one report from anyone of people playing with skulls or bones.

Different site - different idiots - same situation.

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If pro is the opposite of con, then wouldn't progress be the opposite of...lol

Badmutha

Tom Kunesh is another Ward Churchill. He's about as Indian as Doris Day.

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Fish eyed fool!

LittleCricket

I'm actually concerned about the development of this land
rather than discussing the personalities(even if they are idiots) that were interviewed for this article.

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Life is a mystery to be lived not a problem to be solved

Jammer

This is a hard battle and subject to discuss on developing in the south from ky to tenn to many of the other southeastern states. With their being so many tribes within those areas through out history not to mention the hunting grounds and ceremonial grounds, it would be hard to develope without uncovering somethings wether it be a few pottery fragments to a burial ground. In most cases the government usually wins out. Now wether that depends on how many actually protest against it or not I have no clue. With the popluation growing as it so rapidly is today, I would say it is safe to say that we will be coming up on this subject more and more in the near future. All of my family still lives in the southeastern states from ky to tenn to ga and over in nc. In nc and ky I can go to my families homes and walk in a good 5 mile radius and uncover alot of things, from arrow heads to bowls to knives and everything else. God only knows how many burial grounds lie within these mountains and valleys.

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There should be a law against stupid people being able to breed!