Lawsuit over Geronimo's remains dismissed

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local-beat/Geronimos-Fam-Cant-Sue-Feds-Yale-of-Skull--Bones-100352779.html

Geronimo’s Fam Can’t Sue Feds, Yale of Skull & Bones

By LEANNE GENDREAU
Updated 12:15 PM EDT, Tue, Aug 10, 2010

The battle between descendants of Geronimo, Yale University and a secret society over who has the famous Apache warrior’s bones is over, at least for now.

Apache’s descendants claimed that a Yale University Skull and Bones, an elusive secret society, stole some of Geronimo’s remains from a burial plot at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1918. Last year, 20 of them filed a suit in Washington, D.C. and a federal judge has dismissed it.

It is rumored that Prescott Bush -- father of George H.W. Bush and grandfather to George W. Bush -- was involved in taking the remains from Geronimo’s grave and bringing them back to their society in New Haven, a claim that has been disputed for some time.

In the lawsuit, the family named President Barack Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of the Army Pete Geren as defendants because Geronimo’s remains are the property of the federal government.

[tularetom]

1. At this late date how could they prove anything?

I'd love to see the Geronimo descendants awarded a bundle from these pricks, but there's no way they could convince a jury exactly WHO stole the remains.

I have no idea why the judge dismissed the suit but I doubt it had much chance of success.

[H2O Man]

3. "a bundle"

They are not hoping for a bundle of money. They want Geronimo's remains. The S&B "fellows" robbed his grave, put his remains on display in their "club house," and bragged about it for years.

The judge clearly erred when he identified the 1990 NABPAR law as applying only to items acquired since its inactment. There have been numerous situations where institutions that get federal dollars have been forced to return SacredObjects and human remains.

[tularetom]

4. Please don't think I'm defending these creeps

And admittedly I don't know all there is to know about this story. But there are a few things that I believe are pertinent that aren't addressed in this news article, like, has anyone outside of this "club" ever actually seen the skeletal remains in question? Have they been examined to determine whether or not they do in fact contain DNA common to the living descendants of Geronimo? Have the Ft Sill authorities ever determined that the grave of Geronimo was vandalized and the remains removed? Did this incident really take place or is it merely and attempt by a bunch of pampered snobs to show how brave they are?

I'm as indignant as anybody over incidents like this one, especially since there is a fair chance that my paternal grandmother who died in 1919 when my father was 2 was supposed to have been a member of the Ft Sill Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache tribe.

But I'm really not sure there is any there there. From my attempts to trace my grandmother I can tell you that those records leave an awful lot to be desired.

[H2O Man]

8. Yes, I know

that you are definitely not defending the grave robbers.

Goyaale' (aka Geronimo) was, of course, a powerful leader. There is no question that someone removed his remains from his grave. His family has been attempting to have his remains returned for reburial since shortly after the creeps robbed his grave.

The S&BS has no legal right to "own" any Native Americans' remains. The 1990 federal law mandates that any institution or group that gets any federal funding must return any/all Native American remains to the appropriate tribal group.

I remember when we were working with government representatives on the wording and goals of the legislation. Several museum-types were in a huff. A spokesman said, "Well, you people can't say exactly who these remains belong to." Chief Oren Lyons responded, "That may be true. But I can definitely say for sure who they don't belong to -- you."

Many non-indians are unaware of how common it was for ghouls to rob Indian graves in the early-to-mid-1900s. A dentist in Washington (state), for example, desired the skull of Hinmuuttu-Yalatlat, or Chief Joseph. He paid a freak to steal it from his grave. The dentist used the skull of this Holy Man for an ashtray in his den. It has never been returned.

[xchrom]

2. Why do these people have remains of anybody - let alone

He remains of someone with living family members?

Give back the remains and keep old
Nazi prescott's bones.

[G_j]

5. strange how there could be any question at all about a family

getting back the stolen remains of a family member.


"Judge Richard Roberts last month granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss, saying the plaintiffs failed to establish that the government had waived its right not to be sued without its consent.

He also dismissed the lawsuit against Yale and the society, saying the plaintiffs cited a law that only applies to Native American cultural items excavated or discovered after 1990."

[HopeHoops]

6. Just out of curiosity, was the judge a Bush appointee?

[SwampG8r]

7. or a yalie?