[meteorite-list] NPA 09-08-1977 (Cape York) Meteorite Custody To California

[MARK BOSTICK]

Paper: Valley News
City: Van Nuys, California
Date: Thursday, September 8, 1977
Page: Page 11 (Section 1)

Meteorite custody to California

     California Wednesday was given custody of the "Old Woman" meteorite by 
the U.S. Interior Department, apparently ending a month-long legal battle 
over the space object.
     Interior Secretary Cecil Andrus informed U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston that 
while California now has custody of the three-ton meteorite, the federal 
government will retain title on the rock.
     A spokesman for Cranston's office in Los Angeles confirmed the report 
of the announcement.
     The effect of the decision means California may display the meteorite 
inside the state, and the federal government will not remove the "Old Woman" 
for study at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
     The space boulder's fate has been in limbo since July 29, when a 
federal judge in Los Angeles imposed a temporary restraining order against 
the government from removing the meteorite from California.
     The meteorite, believed to be the second largest ever found in the 
United States, is currently in repose in Barstow.

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