Author: Adrea Korthase

Los Coyotes Tribe Evicts Military Training Center

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The first part of the article from Sign On San Diego:

The Los Coyotes Indian tribe can evict the military training center that has been operating on its remote North County reservation since last year, according to a ruling a federal judge issued Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge William Q. Hayes refused to grant a temporary restraining order against the tribe, which would have barred it from evicting ERTC LLC, formerly known as the Eagle Rock Training Center. The business, which caters to the military and law enforcement, insists it has a valid 25-year lease to conduct business on virtually the entire 25,000-acre North County reservation.

NNBA Supports DOJ Investigation into Killing of Ditidaht Carver

Adrea Korthase

The statement from the National Native American Bar Association can be found here. An excerpt:

The National Native American Bar Association (NNABA) condemns the killing of John T. Williams by a Seattle Police officer in August of 2010. Williams was a talented Ditidaht First Nations carver who for many years endured the significant challenges facing homeless Native people in Seattle. His killing has outraged the Tribal community and raised serious concerns about equal justice and Seattle Police Department accountability.

The following is a story about the investigation from earlier this month in the Seattle Times:

Two Seattle police officers have agreed to cooperate in the FBI’s investigation into the fatal shooting of woodcarver John T. Williams by a former officer, but only after they were subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury, according to police officials.

and

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI are investigating whether Birk violated Williams’ civil rights.

The federal review into the shooting is separate from the Justice Department’s broad civil-rights investigation of the Police Department announced in March. That federal investigation is focused on allegations related to use-of-force and biased policing.

Removal Begins on Washington’s Condit Dam

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A portion of the article from the Seattle Times:

Yakama Nation tribal elders have called the area a “paradise,” recalling stories about tribal members fishing, hunting and gathering berries and other native plants before the dam was built. Tribal houses and drying sheds sat at the confluence with the Columbia for processing abundant salmon, steelhead and lamprey.

Removal of the dam opens up at least 33 miles of habitat for steelhead. Habitat for tule fall chinook will double.

Yakama Nation chairman Harry Smiskin likened the return of fish to the river’s upper stretches to “welcoming back a relative that has been missing for many years.”

“It is sad that the dam is coming out, but again, it is a return to something our Creator, our Mother Nature, created for us and to put it back to as close to its natural state as it can be,” he said.

Job Post: Indian Land Tenure Foundation Seeks Attorney and Paralegal

Adrea Korthase

Job postings can be found here.

The Indian Land Tenure Foundation is seeking qualified individuals to fill two three-year contract positions. The positions, a Minnesota-licensed attorney and a paralegal, will provide estate planning services to Indian landowners in Minnesota as part of the Minnesota Indian Estate Planning Project.

Maine Governor’s Administration and State Police Apologize After Violating Penobscot Nation’s Sovereignty

Adrea Korthase

From Last Week’s MPBN Story:

For members of the Penobscot Indian Nation, few provisions of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 are as sacred as the sections of the document that acknowledge the tribe’s inherent sovereignty as a nation within a nation. So when members of the Maine State Police crossed the bridge from Old Town onto the Indian Island reservation last Saturday, tribal chief Kirk Francis expected that the visit involved something more important than a traffic check.

And Today’s MPBN Story:

There was some significant communicating going on this week among senior members of the LePage administration and the Penobscot tribe in the aftermath of an incident earlier this month that reopened some old wounds on Indian Island. That’s when 15 buses traveled to the island carrying more than 1,000 people who had signed up to play in the tribe’s High-Stakes Beano Game. State troopers from the department’s traffic safety unit crossed onto the island to check the buses and their drivers to determine if they were operating legally. But the troopers did not consult with tribal officials before crossing the bridge from Old Town onto the island and refused to leave when first requested to do so by tribal police. Francis said tribal members couldn’t understand why the safety checks couldn’t have been done before the buses crossed onto Indian Island and were upset that their sovereign rights were not respected. In addition the tribe was forced to explain to the anxious beano players on the buses that nothing involvling the tribe was involved in the traffic stop. Ultimately, Francis said the entire incident was the result of a mid-level state police supervisor who was not familiar with tribal protocols and who was making decisions that had not been approved by his superiors.

Link to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 is here.

NPR Coverage of Cherokee Freedmen Controversy

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The story (and audio) can be found here. An excerpt:

The Cherokee Nation has expelled about 2,800 African Americans who are descendants of slaves once owned by wealthy Cherokee. They are known as Freedmen, and for long periods in the past, these Freedmen enjoyed equal rights in the Cherokee tribe. But in more recent history, their citizenship rights have been challenged repeatedly.

The Cherokee’s most recent decision strips about 2,800 African Americans of benefits afforded to tribal citizens, including medical care, food stipends and assistance for low-income homeowners. It also prompted dozens of descendants who are known as “Freedmen” to protest.

Long Term Plan to Build and Enhance Tribal Justice Systems

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Earlier this month the DOI and DOJ released the Long Term Plan to Build and Enhance Tribal Justice Systems. An excerpt:

Central Themes of the Tribal Justice Plan
The following major themes emerged from consultation and public comment:

  • Establishing alternatives to incarceration should be the major focus.
  •  The Tribal Justice Plan should be implemented in consultation and collaboration with Tribal Leaders and should be flexible enough to allow tribes to develop strategies tailored to their specific public safety needs and tribal history and culture.
  • The Tribal Justice Plan should coordinate federal, tribal, state and local government resources to support operations, programming in tribal justice systems, and critical infrastructure issues with tribal correctional facilities, fully mindful of the sovereign status of tribes in these coordination efforts.
  • There should be greater coordination between DOJ and DOI with respect to awards for grants that may be used to construct tribal correctional facilities and multi-purpose justice centers (which may be provided by DOJ) and P.L. 93-638 contracts and self-governance compacts for funding operations (provided only by DOI). The Departments are committed to addressing the issue of coordination to address this and other issues related to detention in Indian country.

Additional links can be found at NCAI.

Drug Cartels on Washington Reservations

Adrea Korthase

An excerpt from The Seattle Times:

In the backcountry of the Yakama Indian Reservation, a handful of law-enforcement officers spent part of last summer searching for two things: marijuana and the people growing it.

Tribal police and officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were acting on a tip about a vast marijuana plantation in the forested highlands of the sprawling reservation. Such tips often yielded abandoned fields of cannabis, but none of the culprits.

But the team hit pay dirt last August by uncovering a grow operation with 8,850 marijuana plants, as well as the suspected grower, an armed Mexican national in camouflage clothing who federal prosecutors say had been tending the plot for almost four months.

Tribal reservations, some with hundreds of square miles of rugged backcountry, have become the front line for law-enforcement eradication of marijuana grow operations in Washington, says Rich Wiley, who heads the State Patrol’s Narcotics Division. Growers are targeting the outskirts of Indian country for their marijuana farms, knowing tribal lands are sparsely populated and less policed, he said. Continue reading →

Recent Focus on the American Indian Probate Reform Act

Adrea Korthase

The following article focuses on a hearing that took place earlier this month. The webcast for that hearing can be found here.

A copy of the 38 page American Indian Probate Reform Act can be found here.

From Indian Country Today:

WASHINGTON – Indians are once again telling Congress that a 2004 federal law aimed at solving tribal land fractionation problems caused by the federal government has created problems of its own.

Tribal officials explained to members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at an oversight hearing in early August that the American Indian Probate Reform Act (AIPRA) and the Department of the Interior’s administration of it need better oversight for many reasons, including cultural concerns, tax consequences, and property control issues. These problems have arisen in spite of the law having good intentions, namely to create a uniform federal Indian-focused probate code to help address one of the major problems created by the General Allotment Act of 1887, land fractionation. Continue reading →

Cross-Commissioning and the Navajo Nation

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The following is an excerpt of the side bar to an article by The Daily Times:

FARMINGTON — Nine counties in three states encompassing Navajo land are considering agreements with the tribe to allow police officers on both sides to enforce laws. The agreements are expected to eliminate sanctuaries from the law and increase arrests and convictions.

San Juan County, N.M., is the only county that will not cross-commission deputies with the tribe, though Sheriff Ken Christesen has signaled a willingness to certify his deputies with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to enforce federal laws.

One county already has a cross-commissioning agreement in place, two have signed mutual aid agreements and the five remaining counties are considering their options.