Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

TAHLEQUAH, OK - A federal court has ruled against the United Keetoowah Band in a motion to intervene in a 13-year old case brought by the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations to collect damages from the federal government for misuse of the Arkansas Riverbed. The river bed and banks are owned, from Muskogee to the Arkansas border, by the three tribes.

“…the Court is heretofore unconvinced that the UKB has a definitive stake in the bed and banks of the Arkansas River…” wrote Edward Damich, Chief Judge in the Federal Court of Claims, in his opinion denying the UKB’s motion to intervene.

“The court has affirmed what the United States Supreme Court has said since 1970; that the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations are the rightful owners of that portion of the Arkansas Riverbed,” said Julian Fite, general counsel for the Cherokee Nation. “Once again, federal courts have denied the UKB’s attempts to take something that is not theirs, never has been theirs and never will be theirs.”

Damich also condemned the UKB for seeking to intervene in the 11th hour, just as the United States Senate takes up legislation that would leave the three nations with title to the Arkansas River bed and banks and settle claims against the United States for $40 million.

“The UKB waited to bring its motion to intervene until August 30, 2002, shortly after the House Resources Committee unanimously approved the bill and it became apparent that the pending legislation might have a realistic chance of being passed by Congress prior to the end of the current legislative session,” Damich wrote. “(The UKB) avoid(ed) entering the litigation until it became apparent that settlement might actually come to fruition.”

“This ruling should clear up any doubt as to ownership of the Arkansas Riverbed, and eliminate any roadblocks the federal government might have in bringing this issue to a final settlement after more than 35 years of litigation,” Fite said.