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Sill plans warehouse location off sacred land

LAWTON, Okla. — Officials at Fort Sill plan to find a new location for a proposed warehouse that was the subject of a lawsuit by a Lawton-based Indian tribe that claimed the initial site was on sacred land.

Fort Sill’s plans were contained in a court motion filed by the U.S. government to dismiss the claim by the Comanche Nation.

In the declaration filed Oct. 30, Fort Sill Garrison Commander Col. Robert Bridgford says that on Oct. 15, he directed the Army Corps of Engineers to cancel the contract for the Training Service Center warehouse at the current site.

“Fort Sill will not now, or in the future, construct a TSC warehouse at the current site and will not revive the TSC warehouse project at a later date at that location,” Bridgford stated.

Attorneys for the Comanches still need to respond to the motion, said Bob Troester, first assistant to the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

Construction crews began clearing a site for the proposed warehouse in August, about one-third of a mile from the southern boundary of the Medicine Bluff Historic Easement.

But on Aug. 15, the Comanche Nation filed a federal lawsuit seeking to halt construction of the warehouse in that location on the grounds that it was one of the few remaining “viewscapes” of the Medicine Bluffs the Comanche Nation holds sacred.

“The cultural and religious significance of Medicine Bluffs to area tribes, especially Comanche and their members, has been well known by the Army for approximately 130 years,” Comanche Chairman Wallace Coffey said at the time.

On Sept. 23, U.S. District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti granted the Comanche Nation a preliminary injunction to prevent work on the warehouse, saying it appeared there was a “substantial likelihood” the Comanches would prevail in their claims under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the National Historic Preservation Act of 1996.

William R. Norman Jr., lead attorney for the Comanches, said they intend to object to the government’s plan to dismiss the claim because they want the preliminary injunction made permanent to protect the site in the future.

“We are objecting to it,” Norman told the Lawton Constitution. “The defendants (the U.S. government and Fort Sill) are arguing that the case is now moot because they’ve determined not to proceed with the construction of the specific warehouse.”

In the Oct. 30 declaration, Bridgford said his decision to terminate the contract and find another location is necessary in order to provide adequate TSC facilities to support the soldiers currently at Fort Sill and prepare for the realignment of additional soldiers to Fort Sill in accordance with the 2005 round of Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC.