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By JENNIFER LEARN-ANDES [email protected]
Tuesday, September 20, 2005     Page: 3A

Luzerne County commissioners say they’ll help fund a feasibility study to
explore whether to build a $10 million riverfront American Indian living
history museum and lacrosse field, but will require private investment from
tribal partners as well.
   
Wilkes University rowing coach Gerald Reisinger and other museum advocates
are forming a nonprofit group to oversee the project and look for private
donations for the facility, which would occupy the site of the former King’s
Department Store, later Reilly Classic Motorcars Museum.
    The feasibility study will cost about $70,000.
   
At the invitation of Reisinger, nationally recognized lacrosse player Gewas
Schindler attended a Monday morning meeting between museum supporters and
county officials.
   
He has agreed to be a volunteer liaison to seek funding from the American
Indian community and update leaders about the project. Schindler is the
grandson of the late Paul Waterman, who was chief of the Onondaga Tribal
Nation in New York.
   
At minimum, commissioners need letters from tribal leaders pledging money
if museum supporters want the county to commit its own funding, said minority
Commissioner Stephen A. Urban.
   
Commissioner Todd Vonderheid said a feasibility study will look at the
condition of the site, which he describes as a “very important” piece of prime
property facing the Susquehanna River in the center of what will be tens of
millions of dollars in government-funded recreation improvements.
   
“I want to be hopeful but at the same time conscious. I don’t like to
promise what we can’t deliver. We want to make sure we have a budget that
works and private investment,” Vonderheid said.
   
While the site might appeal to private developers, Reisinger dreams of
putting a museum on the 3-acre property that adjoins Nesbitt Park because it
is hallowed ground of the Iroquois, a place they negotiated peace.
   
A dedicated archeological site sits between the property and the river.
   
Commissioner Greg Skrepenak said he supports the concept because it
combines history, recreation and athletics.
   
A hotel, condominiums or time-share units, possibly rented to vacationing
families, would also be part of the plan to generate revenue to sustain the
lacrosse field and museum.