{news} Burton Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled

[smderosa]

Dear David:

Once again the Courant prints that: "Nancy Burton, a disbarred attorney and
Green Party candidate for attorney general, sued Bellantoni in Superior
Court".  Since this is the not first article about this case in the Courant
to raise this issue about Nancy, I think they are trying to raise some
impropriety in her going to court. It is clear that the Courant has decided
to put Nancy Burton in the worst possible light by saying that she is
disbarred without making it clear that she has done nothing wrong by going
into court as a private citizen. 

Perhaps you could argue that it is relevant to the article to mention her
status, but don't they have an obligation to inform the public that she is
not doing anything wrong, illegal, or unethical in pursuing a legal case as
a regular citizen?

I suppose there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Regards,
Mike DeRosa



     

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Subject: {news} Burton Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled

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http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-ctventure0802.artaug02,0,1745518.story

Smith's Grave Has No DNA
Lawsuit Over Archaeological Dig Also Settled

SARAH MISHKIN
Courant Staff Writer

August 2 2006

Time and acidic soil have eroded away all genetic material from the
200-year-old gravesite of freed slave Venture Smith, making it impossible to
salvage his DNA, archaeologists announced Tuesday.

Excavating the four graves of Smith and his family in East Haddam was part
of a larger project to document the genetic heritage of his descendants, now
in the 10th generation, as well as to learn more about a man who, according
to his autobiography, was brought from Africa at age 8 and died in
Connecticut as a relatively prosperous landowner.

Descendants had wanted to find DNA that would trace Smith to Africa and
remains that would attest to his strength and size. However, Smith's remains
were fully decomposed.

Scientists were able to recover genetic material from the grave of Smith's
wife, Meg, along with funeral artifacts from Smith's grave, including
hardware from his coffin.

"This was not a poor man's coffin, from what I've seen of it," said state
archaeologist Nick Bellantoni, who advised on the dig.

And the size of the coffin indicated it belonged to someone who was tall,
Bellantoni said.

Also on Tuesday, a settlement was reached in a lawsuit challenging the dig. 
Nancy Burton, a disbarred attorney and Green Party candidate for attorney
general, sued Bellantoni in Superior Court, urging the dig be halted to
prevent damaging or desecrating Smith's grave and headstone, which are part
of the National Register of Historic Places. Burton dropped the case in
exchange for an injunction from the court preventing any further work on the
grave.

Under the terms of the injunction, excavation can continue on the nearby
graves of Smith's wife and their two children, but Smith's grave must be
filled in without delay.

Chandler Saint, president of the Beecher House Center for the Study of Equal
Rights, which manages the documentation project, said archeologists on site
Tuesday morning double-checked that the excavation on Smith's grave was
complete and that no remains of Smith had been overlooked.

"We didn't compromise the project in any manner," he said of the settlement.

Descendants of Smith said they were still frustrated that Burton tried to
stop a project that was trying to document their heritage. But despite that,
and the disappointment of not finding Smith's remains, they found promise in
the artifacts discovered.

"She shouldn't have brought [the lawsuit] in the first place, but I wanted
to learn about my family, and I can still do that," said Ericka Buttram, a
ninth-generation descendant from Middletown.

The final settlement, reached after nearly three days in court, was due in
part to the assistance of New London lawyer Richard Dixon, who became
interested in the Smith proceedings because of his background in
environmental law. He represented pro bono Coralynne Jackson, the descendant
who spoke on the family's behalf in court.

"Everybody recognizes that this site is special - that was the basis of this
agreement," Dixon said.

The excitement generated by the site is not likely to die down soon, even
without Smith's DNA. A closing celebration is planned for Saturday, analysis
of the remains found will continue for many months, and the BBC will release
a documentary filmed by correspondents throughout much of the work. For now,
even the slightest encounter with Smith's resting spot excites those who
have worked there.

"They asked me if I wanted to help one morning," said Pastor MJ Hinchliff of
the East Haddam First Church of Christ, Congregational, in whose cemetery
Smith is buried. "And I was as close to heaven as I could be in this life."



Contact Sarah Mishkin at smishkin@ courant.com.

Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant


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