It is not often that a case from our area winds up in the Supreme Court, but that is precisely where the issue rests now about whether Jim Thorpe's remains should rest in peace in the borough, which renamed itself in his honor, or whether they should be reinterred in Oklahoma.

We believe the Sac and Fox Nation's appeal to the highest court in the land is without merit. U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo in Scranton in April 2013 ruled that the borough was considered a museum. The borough rightly appealed this arcane ruling, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals last October overturned Caputo's decision, saying that the law he cited was intended to apply to museums. The borough of Jim Thorpe is not a museum."Thorpe's remains are located in their final resting place and have not been disturbed," the appeals court said in its ruling. "We find that applying (the repatriation law) to Thorpe's burial in the borough is such a clearly absurd result and so contrary to Congress's intent to protect Native American burial sites that the borough cannot be held to the requirements imposed on a museum under these circumstances." We agree that the Nation is grasping at a nonexistent straw.The Nation launched a campaign in early June to bring back the remains of the legendary Thorpe, who was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century in a poll of writers and broadcasters conducted by The Associated PressUnfortunately, the Nation decided to continue pursuing this ill-advised lawsuit. "This is his family's wish. This is his own personal wish to come home to Oklahoma, to be buried," said Nation Chief George Thurman." The tribe and Thorpe's sons are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the borough.Other members of the family have praised borough officials and the residents of our area for the care and respect they have shown for Thorpe's memories by the tasteful memorials that have been erected. Thorpe is buried along Route 903 in the borough, where a memorial site was constructed to honor him.This is a matter of fairness and justice, and that is why we feel that the borough must hang tough and assure that there is due process in this Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act case, the first time the high court has ever been asked to hear this type of lawsuit. Officials in Jim Thorpe should be commended for their efforts to respect the contributions Thorpe made during his storied career.You can help in this effort.Thorpe, a professional football and baseball player who won gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon events during the 1912 Olympics and became a pioneer in the early days of the National Football League, died without a will in 1953.His third wife, Patsy, had his body seized by police during an American Indian funeral service. When state funding for a proposed Oklahoma memorial fell through, she looked elsewhere to bury her husband.Patsy Thorpe sought six different locations in Oklahoma to find what she believed would be a suitable burial location. Efforts by the Indian nation to enlist the help of the state of Oklahoma to intervene to bury his remains on Sac and Fox Nation land went unheeded.While in Philadelphia, Patsy Thorpe heard about the proposed merger of Mauch Chunk and East Mauch Chunk and entered into negotiations with officials. She made an agreement to take Thorpe's remains there in exchange for $500 and for naming the community after him.As you might imagine, this legal struggle costs money. The borough's legal expenses so far are about $27,000. While this is just 1.3 percent of the borough's 2015 general fund budget, there will be more costs. The borough's attorney, William G. Schwab, estimates that additional expenses could top $25,000, depending on what happens at the Supreme Court level.Schwab said the court will have a conference in September and has several options on how to proceed, including whether to issue a Writ of Certiorari, which orders a lower court to deliver its records in a case so that the higher court may review it. The U.S. Supreme Court uses certiorari to pick most of the cases it wants to hear.Just as the residents of the two communities gave generously of their nickels and dollars in 1953, we are asking area residents who believe in preserving Thorpe's remains in the borough for which he is named to come forward again and help in this noble cause by donating to the legal defense fund.Two donations have helped get the ball rolling: The Jim Thorpe Sports Hall of Fame raised $7,820. Anne Marie Fitzpatrick, who runs the Jim Thorpe birthday events, raised $950 with canisters placed in businesses throughout the borough.Individuals, organizations and businesses from all over the region can help by sending a check in any amount to the Borough of Jim Thorpe, 101 E. 10th St., Jim Thorpe, PA 18229. On the memo line, write "Jim Thorpe Defense Fund."Mayor Michael Sofranko says this is a "great idea.""We welcome any help we can get and would appreciate it very much," Sofranko said.We would, too.