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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Earlier this week the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs released this draft bill for comment.
Here are more details from NCAI:
This draft bill recognizes and strengthens concurrent tribal criminal jurisdiction to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence both Indians and non-Indians who assault Indian spouses, intimate partners, or dating partners, or who violate protection orders, in Indian country. The bill improves the ability of tribes to respond to sex trafficking and strengthens accountability, coordination and consultation with federal agencies.
The Committee is asking tribal leaders, advocates, and representatives to submit any comments or suggestions on the draft in writing by September 6, 2011, via email to comments@indian.senate.gov. Please contact Erik Stegman or Wendy Helgemo at 202-224-2251 with any questions.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Four jurors who heard months of testimony in a self-help author’s criminal trial were convinced he was guilty on three counts of manslaughter, but couldn’t sway the other eight who didn’t believe prosecutors had proven the charges.
The jury spent about 10 hours deliberating before settling on the lesser charge of negligent homicide, placing the blame on James Arthur Ray for the deaths of three people following Ray’s sweat lodge ceremony near Sedona, Ariz.
***
Prosecutors staked their case on the heat inside the sweat lodge and on Ray’s conduct, using his own words recorded during the weeklong event in October 2009 against him. The defense accused authorities of botching the investigation and failing to consider that chemicals typically found in pesticides factored into the deaths.
***
Dr. Matthew Dickson, who reviewed autopsy records and medical reports of the participants for the prosecution, gained major points with the jury because of his experience with heat-related illness and exposure to pesticides, Lepacek said.
Dickson testified he was 99-percent sure that heat caused the deaths, and that the signs and symptoms of the victims were inconsistent with exposure to organophosphates, a pesticide compound.
The bill “To clarify the rights of Indians and Indian tribes on Indian lands under the National Labor Relations Act” was introduced last week and the text of the bill became available today.
H.R. 2335 (text)
Here’s a link to other information about the bill.
Finally, a story on the bill from The Daily Republic:
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., introduced legislation Thursday to clarify that the National Labor Relations Board does not have jurisdiction over tribally owned businesses on reservation land as a matter tribal sovereignty.
In 2004 the National Labor Relations Board, which is the federal agency of the U.S. government charged with conducting elections for labor union representation and other labor-related duties, determined that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) applies to activities on reservation lands. This bill would reverse that decision. The legislation stands to defend tribal sovereignty and promote economic opportunities on reservations lands by eliminating ambiguity in existing federal law. Continue reading
Turtle Talk 
You must be logged in to post a comment.