Red River Boundary Agreement
Looked Likely But Hit A Snag

OKLAHOMA CITY —(AP)— A lawyer for the Oklahoma state Senate says a proposed agreement to redefine the Texas-Oklahoma border along the Red River has hit a snag.

The south bank of the river has been the border between the two states for many years, but exactly how the bank is defined has been a subject of dispute, Michael Kiefner, a staff attorney for the Oklahoma Senate, said late last week.

The Oklahoma Red River Boundary Commission voted not to support a new plan defining the bank as the vegetation line, Kiefner said.

"We want to be cautious," said Sen. Robert Kerr, D-Altus, chairman of the Oklahoma commission.

He added that Oklahoma could lose land, including property taxes, if the vegetation line isn't drawn right.

"We were rushing too much to try to accommodate the Texas commission."

Representatives of some Indian tribes wanted more time to study the proposal's affect on their property rights and sovereignty.

The tribes acknowledged they joined the debate late, but asked for time to consider all proposals to determine whether land the tribes own along the Red River would be affected.

State Rep. Howard Cotner, D-Altus, said the Oklahoma commission was acting too fast. He also said he didn't like the idea of defining the state's boundary by the vegetation line because it would shift with time as trees, plants, and shrubbery died or grew in different places.

"We haven't solved anything with the proposal we adopt the vegetative line," Cotner said.

Frustrated Texas commission members chided the Oklahoma commission for not being ready to make a decision and said they must give a finished proposal to the Texas Legislature in January to get approval before the current commission expires.

"This solution is not hard. It's simple," said Bill Abney, chairman of the Texas Red River Boundary Commission, which proposed using the vegetation line.

"We have the only reasonable solution to this problem that's been there since the Louisiana Purchase. If this is going to be solved this millennium, we need to do it now," Abney said.

The commissions were appointed to determine what state has jurisdiction in which area, not to make decisions that change private property lines. Supreme Court rulings have set the boundary at the south bank of the Red River, but the river shifts so much that in some areas the line evades definition.

The Oklahoma and Texas Red River Boundary Commissions continue to negotiate and will meet again before the end of the year, Kiefner said.