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SEATTLE — A group of prominent local businessmen, including an attorney representing this city, discussed a "poisoned well” plan aimed partly at forcing the Oklahoma City-based owners of the SuperSonics to sell the NBA team rather than move it to their hometown. 'Poisoned Well' strategy sought to bleed... Sonics cite struggles in Seattle Plan hatched to keep Sonics in Seattle ... Testimony in federal court here Friday also revealed that Wally Walker, a former star player and executive for the team, was given the duty of driving a "wedge” between the NBA and the Sonics' owners before a critical vote...

Could the Seattle Sonics be headed for Las Vegas? Owner Clay Bennett says if he can't get a new arena built in the Seattle area he has to look at moving the team, and Vegas would be an attractive market. The Oklahoma City businessman made the comments Wednesday at a meeting of the Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau. The N-B-A All-Star game was played in Vegas this year and the league is studying the possibility of locating a franchise in the gambling capital. Bennett has set an October 31st deadline for a new arena deal in the Seattle area. But...

A little twinge of anxiety always hits the community when the new neighbors move in. What do they do for a living? What kind of music do they listen to? Are they sociable or are they loners? Are they loud? Do they park the chassis of their beaten-up cars on blocks on the front lawn? And do they contribute money to anti-gay groups? Seattle, we have a problem. Seems a couple of the Sonics' new hefty financial backers, Aubrey McClendon and Tom Ward, have been willing to spend backup point guard money to support former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer's...

Sonics sold to Oklahoma investors 05:01 PM PDT on Tuesday, July 18, 2006 KING5.com Related Content Sound off in our forum Survey: Residents would rather Soncis leave than pay more for arena Who is Clay Bennett? Video Howard Schultz explains his decision to sell Wally Walker: Sonics have 'bright future' Clay Bennett 'thrilled' to purchase Sonics, Storm Reporters grill Schultz, Bennett and Walker NWCN interview with Oklahoma City mayor SEATTLE - The city's oldest major league franchise has been sold to a group from Oklahoma City whose main investor says he won't move the team as long as he can...

Mon July 24, 2006 Mr. Monday: To stay in Seattle, Sonics must win Mr. Monday once parked his caboose in the Pacific Northwest. Just south of Canada, the state of Washington is now sitting on the front porch of Oklahoma's collective sports brain. Those coffee-drinking, dot-commers have the Sonics. For now. Mr. Monday figures the team in the green and gold is on its way east in the next year. Mr. Monday knows these people. Here's their M.O. -- The Left Coasters are the bandwagoniest bandwagoners who ever bandwagoned. They'll only pull their attention away from their plate of smoked...

SEATTLE — So this was the five-year plan Howard Schultz really had in mind when he purchased the Seattle Sonics in 2001. The chairman of Starbucks — along with some 60 locals — formed the Basketball Club of Seattle (LLC) to purchase the team from media mogul Barry Ackerley in 2001, promising an NBA title in five years. Tuesday afternoon, Schultz stood before that same assemblage and announced they had sold the Sonics and the WNBA's Storm to a group known as The Professional Basketball Club (LLC), which currently has five investors with more likely to come. The group, led...

Court battle resumes between tribes, scientists over ancient remainsWILLIAM MCCALL; The Associated Press PORTLAND - The definition of "Native American" is at stake in deciding whether the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man belongs to scientists or Indian tribes, lawyers for both sides told a federal appeals court Wednesday. The Interior Department has fought with scientists since the bones were discovered in 1996 along the banks of the Columbia River near Kennewick. A group of eight anthropologists who want to do research on the skeleton went to court to seek permission. But then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt ruled three years ago...