Oxford city officials ignore calls to save 1,500-year-old Indian-built mound
Associated Press
July 07, 2009
The Alabama Historical Commission says this is the largest Indian-built mound in the state, but Oxford city officials are going ahead with plans to have it leveled.OXFORD — City officials have ignored another protest over the city’s decision to destroy a stone mound on a hill behind the Oxford Exchange created by American Indians 1,500 years ago.
Tony Castaneda, of Anniston, and Sharon Jackson, of Fruithurst, who claim to be Indian elders, presented Mayor Leon Smith with a petition Monday containing more than 600 signatures of people opposed to the site’s destruction. The Anniston Star reported Tuesday Smith became agitated when the two arrived at City Hall, took the petition and went back inside.
Castaneda and Jackson collected more signatures at City Hall that evening. The state Historical Commission says the mound is the largest of its kind in Alabama. The city paid to have part of the hill taken down for fill at a Sam’s Club.
When not blogging politics, I spend time involved in trying to preserve the precious few pieces of our Native American heritage in the South. This article is a particularly absurd example of what happens. A colleague contacted a Native American official who responded: "The law is no help in Alabama. State law amended in 1979 makes it illegal to disturb any grave except the grave of an Indian. I am not kidding. Dead serious." It’s hard for me to imagine such a thing.
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