Tribe disputes land sale
Photo provided
The buyers of two parcels of Illinois Valley real estate have found their recent purchases contested by a Native American group that insists the properties are tribal land which should never have been offered for sale.
The Quiet Title action was filed in Josephine County Circuit Court Tuesday, July 24 by Chief John Gray Eagle Newkirk, of Central Point, on behalf of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe. The suit alleges that the defendants wrongfully appropriated the real property for their own benefit, identity theft, and elder abuse. Newkirk is 84 years old.
Among those named in the action, along with the buyers, are the sellers, Chief Hidden Wolf and his wife Mary Jane Wolf; First American Title Co.; James Dole, attorney; real estate agents Kendon Leet and John Jones; and a notary public.
The land in question -- totaling 65 acres straddling the East Fork of the Illinois River in Takilma -- for decades was home to the New Age Mission Church (NAM).
NAM is reported by the Oregon state attorney general as having merged with one organization, Wolf Spirit Society, which then was merged with Newkirk’s Confederated Tribes - Rogue-Table Rock, the surviving not for profit organization, which assumed the assets. Much legal wrangling has ensued between interested parties. However, a title search made since the beginning of this year showed Latgawa, which is not a federally recognized Indian tribe, still holding the title,
On Thursday, July 26, Newkirk, using a badge identifying himself as a tribal official, served papers to one of the buyers residing on the Takilma Road property. The action brought the attention of Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson.
“I heard there was someone down here flashing a badge and playing police,” Gilbertson said later that afternoon.
“Mr. Newkirk has agreed that if he has anymore papers to serve,” the sheriff said, “he will contact us and we’ll uphold the law,”
“I find the whole situation fairly comical and repetitive,” said Leet. He stated that Newkirk has tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to secure rights to the property through the legal system.
First American Title in Grants Pass referred all inquiries to its Portland office. Dole did not return a phone call from this reporter last week and was then said to be unavailable until Aug. 6.
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