Grave Protection Ballot Loses; Wetland Report Shows Burial Area Not Protected.
Native American burial protection ballot measure loses; pro-big box officials get voters out to oppose measure that would take 10 acres of the White Ash Swamp (where an eye witness saw Native burials dumped) out of a 45-ace commercial strip on French King Highway. In January, 2005 Greenfield releases its own wetland study that indicates, contrary to the pre-referendum claims of several Town Councilors, that the area where Native American bones are believed to have been dumped is not protected from development under wetland laws. The attorney for the Mackin estate, which owns the 10 aces and the adjoining 17 acres where they hope to put a big box retailer, breaks off talks with the Narragansett Tribe, and The Friends of Wissatinnewag, Inc., after the loss of the referendum. As a result, concerns grow over the fate of the disturbed graves.