Supervisors informed of potential hurdle to new cell tower

By: 
Robert Maharry

The new communication tower located on the Grundy County Secondary Roads property may run into a rather bizarre roadblock as a Native American tribe based in Wyoming is requesting a study to ensure that there are no artifacts along its path.
           
“This has never come up (before), and this is why I’m kind of concerned about it,” County Engineer Gary Mauer said during Monday morning’s board of supervisors meeting. 
           
The Northern Arapaho Tribe, headquartered in Riverton, Wyoming, has declared its intention to conduct an ethnographic study on the tower because they moved from southern Canada through the upper Midwest before settling in the West, and it could cost the county up to $2,500. According to Mauer, an archaeologist told him the idea was “ridiculous,” and unsurprisingly, board members were less than enthused about the proposal.
           
“If (the northern Arapahos) want to migrate to Grundy County, Iowa, buy a bunch of houses and provide employment, then it might be a different story,” Supervisor Barb Smith said. 
 
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