Fort Sill project halted by injunction

2008-08-21

LAWTON, Okla. (AP) _ A federal court order has stopped work on an expansion project at the Fort Sill Army Post that the Comanche Nation claims would be built on sacred ground.

U.S. District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti granted the temporary restraining order Monday that stops construction of a warehouse intended to be the new home of the post's Training Service Center.

Col. Robert Bridgford, the Fort Sill garrison commander, held a news conference on Aug. 14 claiming that the warehouse was approximately one-third of a mile from the Medicine Bluff National Historic Feature and that discussions with the tribe were ongoing.

The Comanche Nation filed a lawsuit in Oklahoma City federal court the following day to stop the warehouse construction, which is part of an expansion ordered by the Army's Base Relocation and Closure Commission in 2005. The BRAC changes could add as many as 10,000 active duty personnel, students and family members at the post.

"Contrary to what the Army is saying, Comanche Nation was not consulted about TSC warehouse construction activities near Medicine Bluffs," Comanche Chairman Wallace Coffey said in a statement this week. "The Comanche Nation adamantly opposes any construction on our sacred site."

Coffey said the tribe tried to talk to Fort Sill officials "but they haven't been listening, and that's why went to court."

The tribe's lawsuit claims that the construction will obliterate one of the few remaining "viewscapes" of the sacred Medicine Bluffs and unduly burden the exercise of religious ceremonies of its members.

Medicine Bluffs has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.

"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," Coffey said.

Coffey said Fort Sill officials ignored the tribe's requests to move the proposed warehouse to a different site, saying the complaints were received too late.

Fort Sill Public Affairs Officer Jon Long said the post will let the injunction issue play out in the courts.

___ Information from: The Lawton Constitution, http://www.lawton-constitution.com