비바카지노 Viva Investigates: Where does legal battle over Providence Mill Dam stand?
There's no decision yet in a legal battle over a southern Indiana dam where a teenager died last year.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the city of New Albany were in court Tuesday over the Providence Mill Dam.
Tuesday's hearing is the latest in a series of back-and-forth between the DNR and New Albany over the rocks the city put in the dam following the death of 14-year-old Andre Edwards Jr.
The city filled the dam in August 2024, three months after Edwards got caught in the current created by the low-head dam.
However, the problem is that the city didn't have state or federal permits to do it.
Indiana DNR took legal action to require them to remove the fill.
"They are still continuing to impact the waterway," said Meredith McCutcheon, deputy attorney general for the Indiana Attorney General's Office, representing the DNR.
On Tuesday, McCutcheon argued the city has engaged in a pattern of delays in the case.
"I made over 10 attempts to get a satisfactory and a mutually convenient time for a deposition," she said.
The attorney for the city, Gordon Ingle, denied the claims.
In a new legal filing, the city claims the DNR has engaged in "one-sided" discovery tactics, which border on bad faith.
"We went straight from nothing to the, what I would call, the nuclear option, a motion for default," said Ingle.
"If this is such a problem, DNR could go in and take care of the problem today," he added.
But a decision didn't come on Tuesday.
Instead, the judge says she needs time to review the court cases both sides referenced in their arguments.
While she didn't give a specific date for a decision, she said she will take a look at the cases "promptly."
As they await the decision, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is still requiring the city of New Albany to submit restoration plans on how it will remove the fill at the dam.
They have until June 23 to submit plans.