By Monica Wepking, Editor Charles Mix County Commissioners at their Thursday, September 10, 2009 meeting went into executive session regarding litigation with four attorneys present. Attending the meeting was Charles Mix County (CMC) States Attorney Pam Hein, former CMC States Attorney Scott Podhradsky, Lake Andes Attorney Tim Whalen, and a special attorney for CMC Tom Tobin. County Auditor Angie Meyerink said the minutes will reflect that after executive session a motion was passed, two votes to one, to hire Tobin to seek additional time to file for a petition of re-hearing, in the event the county/state wants to do that, in regards to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals panel's August 25, 2009 ruling and to attend a meeting on behalf of the county with landowners. Commissioner Sharon Drapeau was the lone 'no' vote to hire Tobin. "I voted against hiring Tobin attending the landowner's meeting because I believe information should be for everyone not just an exclusive meeting for certain landowners. Tim Whalen was to make arrangements for that meeting." Calls to Whalen regarding the landowners meeting have not been returned. Drapeau learned that there's an estimated 160 partials (6,000 acres) of non-Indian owned fee land acquired after 1948 that was included in the reservation status set by the appeals panel. The panel's ruling called a patchwork of 37,585 acres of land in Charles Mix County, Yankton Sioux Reservation. The deadline for the county and/or state to ask the full court of appeals to review the appeal panel's decision would be October 9, 2009 unless an extension is granted.