Wiretap fear killed paper, they say

The publisher, Marvin Summerfield, and editor David Cornsilk are plaintiffs in a U.S. District Court wiretapping lawsuit that seeks $1 million in damages from Byrd and three other people.

Summerfield and Cornsilk, who said their telephone conversations were illegally intercepted, testified in federal court in Tulsa on the seventh day of the lawsuit trial, which is expected to go to the jury this week.

Both said they had been divorced in part because of rumors that they were out to overthrow the Cherokee government of Byrd, who was defeated this year in an effort to serve a second term.

Summerfield and Cornsilk said they began their newspaper, the Cherokee Observer, in the early 1990s as an alternative to a publication produced by the tribe.

Summerfield testified that the Observer began to fail after he and Cornsilk raised the allegation that their telephone conversations had been taped.

Summerfield and Cornsilk said news sources from within the tribe and close to it stopped calling with tips in fear that their telephone conversations would be intercepted by a third party.

Summerfield said the newspaper was last published in July 1999.

Rob Martindale, World senior writer, can be reached at 581-8367 or via e- mail at rob.martindale@tulsaworld.com.

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