i go down to the office, and there s two fbi agents sitting there. you ve stolen this from federal land, and we re coming here to seize this. i got a phone call from peter larson, because it wasn t just the fbi. it was personnel from south dakota tech. it was personnel from other federal agencies, and it was the national guard. the u.s. attorney at the time, kevin schieffer, got reporters together in the federal building in rapid city and announced that the seizure was ongoing. the purpose of our action this morning is to preserve the scientific knowledge and integrity of these fossils. then, of course, the entire press corps hopped in their cars and we drove to hill city. they were supposed to take things related to sue, but they took everything. they went through all of our offices, all of our desks, all of our mail trays, taking mail opened, unopened. somebody called me and said the fbi s got crime scene tape around the institute, and
everyone, stay back! stay back, you ll be thrown to the ground and arrested. we ve got everything under control here. we don t want any trouble. we had people from all over the community, all over the black hills trying to help. it was amazing the support that we had. we were fighting on everything we could think of from the sue freedom run, to petitions that we took, to the state capitol. i would talk in front of groups anywhere. terry was so involved in this case. he lived it. one of the most moving things in my life to see was this wonderful group of people here, supported us getting sue back. the u.s. attorney, mr. kevin schieffer, made a terrible error.
tape around the main building. do not cross. police line. do not cross. it was hard to know what was really happening at that point. i go down to the office, and there s two fbi agents sitting there. you ve stolen this from federal land, and we re coming here to seize this. i got a phone call from peter larson, because it wasn t just the fbi. it was personnel from south dakota tech. it was personnel from other federal agencies, and it was the national guard. the u.s. attorney at the time kevin schieffer, got reporters together in the federal building in rapid city and announced that the seizure was ongoing. the purpose of our action this morning is to preserve the scientific knowledge and integrity of these fossils. then, of course, the entire press corps hopped in their cars and we drove to hill city. they were supposed to take things related to sue, but they took everything. they went through all of our offices, all of our desks, all of our mail trays, taking mail opene
fight over sue. officials thought their problems were over when kevin schieffer was replaced. enormous amount of money the government is spending to put one group of people out of business that s so vital to the community. it s been nearly 18 months since sue was seized from this warehouse. allow us some rights. charge us with something, let s go to court and let 12 people decide. i couldn t give them any information to help them incriminate people at black hills institute. they thought i was going to be able to tell them all sorts of terrible things the institute did. they didn t do anything wrong. they talked to my attorney
you can be all right in this quarter section, but if you get off a little bit remember, this is before gps. if you get off a little bit to the wrong place, you might be dealing with a whole another set of regulations. the tribe claimed that because morris williams, being a member of the tribe, had not purchased a $100 permit to sell something, the fossil should be forfeited and therefore they own the fossil. and of course the government said that it was government property and that that was because of the trust land issue. the seizure and the subpoena were the brainchild of acting u.s. attorney kevin schieffer. he was a controversial figure, as a u.s. attorney, because he hadn t had a lot of experience practicing law. he had the ability to drive some people crazy. i do have a fair amount of litigation experience. i have not had courtroom