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.