by Ken Quintanilla
Guam - Tiyan landowner Benny
Crawford isn't giving up on the idea that landowners like himself will be
compensated for land the government took from them. A law would have given them
former FAA and Marbo
Cave property in exchange
for the land that was taken from them in Tiyan.
A Superior Court judge however has prohibited the Ancestral
Lands Commission from transferring the land temporarily until a pending lawsuit
is resolved over whether the law is organic.
Crawford says he's sad that the case has languished in the court system,
telling KUAM News, "The sad part about it as spokesperson for the Tiyan landowners
is the fact that the law with Superior Court says when there's a motion before
the court and its under advisement a decision should be rendered within 45
days, so this sat before Judge Barcinas for a year. And during that time I lost
some land owners, maybe about six of them, they were first generation
landowners and for me that was the sad part."
There approximately 78 estates and roughly 1,000 acres of
land is involved in the transfer.
Crawford is confident that the court will rule in favor of transferring
the property as the law states giving landowners property size for size.
