[meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite

From: actionshooting at carolina.rr.com <*actionshooting_at_meteoritecentral.com*> Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:55:22 +0000 Message-ID: <20110318185523.FNXGL.22687.root_at_hrndva-web03-z02> · actionshooting_at_meteoritecentral.com

--
Stuart McDaniel
Lawndale, NC 
---- JoshuaTreeMuseum <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com> wrote: 
=============
The landlords got outlawyered:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/whatever-happened-to-the-lorton-meteorite-/2011/03/04/AB14tMq_story.html
By Neely Tucker, Sunday, March 20, 11:42 AM
When last we heard, Everybody's Favorite Meteorite was locked up in legal 
limbo.
The oblong little rock from outer space lighted up the late afternoon sky 
across Washington on Jan. 18, 2010, and rocketed into a doctors' office in 
Lorton. Moving at a leisurely 200 mph, it crashed into examination room No. 
2 in the Williamsburg Square Family Practice, even though it did not have an 
appointment.
The startled (but unhurt) doctors, Marc Gallini and Frank Ciampi, donated it 
to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, which houses the 
world's largest collection of meteorites.
But then their landlords said not so fast: The 2-by-3-inch visitor from the 
asteroid belt was estimated to be worth at least $50,000 on the earth-bound 
meteorite market, in part because of its dramatic and well-documented 
entrance. Thousands of people saw its fireball descent (the museum has a 
photograph of the vapor trail), and radar sweeps documented its path across 
the region.
The landlords demanded its return. Gallini said of their behavior: "It isn't 
nice." Legal wrangling ensued.
We are delighted, a year later, that there is a happy ending.
The landlords eventually dropped their claims, the Smithsonian gave the 
doctors $10,000 for the Lorton meteorite (its formal name) in early 
February, and the physicians donated the check to the charity Doctors 
Without Borders last week. Linda Welzenbach, the meteorite collection 
manager at the Smithsonian, says it will soon be on public display, though 
no date has been set.
"We are very happy that it's staying at the Smithsonian," Gallini says. "We 
felt that where it's belonged since the beginning."
Deniz Mutlu, a member of the family that owns the building, said his only 
issue with events was that "we got portrayed as the bad guys."
"All we wanted to do was donate it to a different institution (Phillips 
Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire), where my wife attended school," he said. 
"The doctors wanted to litigate. They had pro bono counsel. We just let it 
go."
The meteorite, which existed for about 4.5 billion years floating around 
between Mars and Jupiter, now spends its time in a little plastic box deep 
in the Mason-Clarke Meteorite Vault in the Smithsonian. It has thousands of 
other little asteroid friends, including three from Mars, to keep it 
company.
Holding the Lorton meteorite with blue latex gloves, Welzenbach smiled.
"It's going to stay here where everyone can see it."
CURIOUS? Tell us what past Washington Post story or person in the news you 
want us to update. E-mail trents at washpost.com or call 202.334.4208.
------------
Phil Whitmer
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