They are happy that another company is going bankrupt. They are an evil self centered tax exempt corporation.
No Cow Creek interest in cycle maker
STACY D. STUMBO
The gentle purr of an Indian Motorcycle' s engine has been a melancholy sound for the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians since a federal court in Denver denied its bid to take ownership of the company' s name and trademark several years ago.
When Indian Motorcycles announced Monday that it would halt production and lay off its entire work force, citing financial troubles that could force it into bankruptcy, tribal officials said it was karma.
" There' s a time in life for things to even themselves out," Cow Creek Chairwoman Sue Shaffer said.
Indian Motorcycle Chairman Frank J. O' Connell told 380 workers at the company' s Gilroy, Calif., plant Monday that they would immediately stop manufacturing because a deal with a major investor fell through. O' Connell said he had received calls from dozens of other investors, and still hopes that the company would return to operation.
" It' s really a sad story," Shaffer said. " We put a lot of energy and effort into it. We really could have made something of it, but now, we' re just not interested."
Indian introduced the first motorcycle with an electric starter and complete electrical system in 1913. Before World War I, the company was the largest motorcycle maker in the world, producing more than 20,000 bikes a year.
The original company stopped production of the bikes in 1953.
In 1995, the Cow Creeks became part of a lawsuit in Denver to claim the company' s name and trademark for people of American Indian ancestry, citing the 1990 Indian Arts and Crafts Act. The federal law requires that anything representing itself to be American Indian is made by American Indians.
The Cow Creeks were on the verge of signing a trademark facilitation agreement, had invested $3 million for the right to manufacture the bikes, produced a prototype using a Detroit-based expert' s design, and had purchased land to build a manufacturing plant in Douglas County by the late 1990s.
The agreement would have put nearly 50 percent of licensing fees, roughly $7 million annually, in the pockets of the 535 recognized tribes in the United States, and would have offered other tribes the right of first refusal on supplying parts and other inventory for the plant.
" It would have created a lot of jobs," Shaffer lamented. " Everything was ready."
Then, unexpectedly, the contract was given to a Canadian firm for $17 million. The organization started production of the bikes in 1999.
" Something strange went on in the courts with the receiver in Denver," Shaffer said.
Within four years of receiving the trademark, the Canadian company amassed thousands of fans, more than 200 dealers nationwide and a soaring brand image. The list price of a new Chief can exceed $23,000.
Indian was on the verge of profitability, but O' Connell and the board decided last week it couldn' t continue manufacturing. Given the steep costs of its assembly line and design studio, O' Connell said, the company was not financially viable.
" (It) needs to go down a different path with a different cost structure," he said in an Associated Press story Monday.
Shaffer said although the Cow Creeks resent the way the issue played out, the tribe has found other ways of improving the county' s economy, including a more than $20 million development in Canyonville.
" Five years from now, we hope to be employing half-again as many employees as we are now," Shaffer said. " We are moving ahead."
Location: Adirondack Moutains USA Member since sept/02
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RE: Indian Tribe Shows More Greed Then Ever Before!
Some things aren' t ment to be. With the way motorcycles are catching on today you would think Indian' s(motorcyles) would be one of the better sellers. Sounds like the old story of bad management.
RE: Indian Tribe Shows More Greed Then Ever Before!
I agree but for the " tribe" to be happy about 380 families being without an income?
Quote:
citing financial troubles that could force it into bankruptcy, tribal officials said it was karma.
" There' s a time in life for things to even themselves out," Cow Creek Chairwoman Sue Shaffer said.
Indian Tribe Shows More Greed Then Ever Before!
