[meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite

From: Linton Rohr <lintonius_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:07:50 -0700
Message-ID: <42B2D4616B9449009BA41E78BD4E2391_at_D190TH71>

Thanks for the update, Phil.
Nice to know it's "in a little plastic box deep in the Mason-Clarke
Meteorite Vault in the Smithsonian".
I wonder who paid for the building repairs.
Linton

----- Original Message -----
From: "JoshuaTreeMuseum" <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com>
To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 11:22 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite


>
> 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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Received on Fri 18 Mar 2011 03:07:50 PM PDT