News from Indian Country______^
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Ancient remains returned to Tlingit tribes
A N C H O R A G E , Alaska
(AP)— H um an remains esti
mated to be more than 10,000
years old will be returned to
southeast Alaska Tlingit tribes
11 years after they were found
in a cave in the Tongass N a
tional Forest.
.It’s the first time a federal
agency has conveyed custody
o f such ancient remains to in
digenous groups under the
1990 Native American Graves
P rotection and Repatriation
Act, tJ.S. Forest Service offi
cials said Friday.
“It’s a pretty substantial find,”
said Tongass spokesman Phil
Sammon.
Vertebrae, ribs, teeth, a man
dible and a pelvic bone were
among the remains discovered
in 1996 during a Forest Service
archaeological survey for a pro
posed timber sale on northern
Prince o f Wales Island.
The area is the aboriginal
homeland for Tlingit tribes.
Stone tools also were found
inside O n Your Knees Cave,
an extensive lim estone n et
work.
" The Forest Service imme
diately consulted w ith área
tribes as required by the repa
triation law, which mandates
that federal agencies, and in
stitutions receiving federal
money, return American. In
dian rem ains an d cu ltu ral
items to tribes*
There was never any dis
pute that the remains should
go to Tlingit tribes in C-raig and
Klawock, communities on the
island.
T he trib es and Sealaska
Corp. .(the southeast-Alaska
Smoking ban unclear for
city-owned bar on
White Earth reservation
ST. PAUL (AP)— T he
force o f Minnesota’s state?
wide smoking ban is un
clear in the only bar in
Callaway, a city o f 200 on
the White Earth Indian Res
ervation.
City officials say they’re
getting conflicting informa
tion from tribal and state
authorities about the status
o f th eir on-and-off-sale
m u n icipal liq u o r sto re,
w hiclfr^iyes as tne:,t bwtf^'
bar and offers tribally regu
lated gaming.
For now, lighting up is
still allowed in the establish
ment frequented by smok
ers.
“We ju st d o n ’t know
what we should do,”. City
Clerk Shelly Dillon said on
Friday.
The situation is appar
ently unique.
, /“It is almost a law school
examination question, that
the competing jurisdiction
o f the tribe and the state is
highly unusual in this par
ticular situation,” said Mark
Jarboe, who heads Indian
law at the Minneapolis law
firm o f Dorsey & Whitney.
The city is a subdivision
o f the state, which allows
small cities to operate mu
nicipal liquor stores. But
the presence o f bingo ma
chines and other gambling
gives the tribe some pull..
Days before the state
wide smoking ban took ef
fect in Minnesota bars, res
taurants and other indoor
w ork place? o,n O ct. 1^
Callaway officials got a let
ter from a tribal attorney
saying that the liquor store
shouldn’t have to follow the
smoking ban. The store-—-
indeed, the whole t o w n -
sits within the reservation.
But now state’ health of
ficials say the ban should
apply. T hat’s .because the
store belongs to the city* not
to th e trib e o r a tribal,
member, said Tom Hogan,
.a manager in the Minne
sota Health Departm ent’s
environm ental division.
Hogan said he’s waiting for
Affoirtiai bpMlon frortitbe
attorney general’s office
before taking, steps to en
force the ban.
White Earth: tribal attor
ney Joseph Plummer didn’t
immediately return a phone
message;
State civil laws such as
the smoking ban generally
don’t apply*,to Indians on
Indian reservatiofis, where
. the federal government rec
ognizes tribal rights - over
tribal lands., '
Since th e M innesota
smoking ban started, In
dian casinoS have become
the last indoor refuges for
smokers.
O f M in n e so ta ’s 255
m unicipal liquor stores,
Callaway’s may be the only
to both sit on a reservation
and still allow smoking.
Two o th e r m unicipal
sto res in W hite E a rth -
Mahnomen and Qgema—
don’t allow smotog,* Dillon
said.
Just outside the Leech
Lake reservation, a city-
ow ned sp irits .store in
W alker;is, follow ing the
smoking b^n. A review of
the state’s municipal liquor
stores turned up no others
on reservations.
Coeur d'Alene Tribe
signs fuel tax agreement
BQISE, Idaho (AP) L Idaho
and Coeur d'Alene tribal officials
have signed a pact requiring that
gasoline sold on reservations be
taxed at the same rate as else
where in the state and limiting
use o f the money to transpor
tation-related needs.
The agreement, signed by
Gov. C.L. “Butch” O tter and
tribal Chairman Chief Allen, re
solves a long dispute over who
should get tax money from gaso
line spld at reservation stores.
The Nez Perce tribe in north-
central Idaho and the Shoshone-
Bannock tribes near Pocatello
are still negotiating with the state
over separate but similar agree
m ents. Lawyers fo r the
Shoshone-Bannock tribes said
an agreement was imminent.
Idaho has spent hundreds of
thousands o f dollars in legal
costs in its bid to collect the tax,
including a previous law that was
overturned by the 9th U.S. Cir
cuit Court pf Appeals. ,
Native regional corporation) in
February petitioned the agency
for custody o f the remains.
This came after a lengthy
process including scientific
analysis that determined the re
mains were 10,300 years old.
Through DNA and other test
ing, researchers identified the
remains as belonging to an in
digenous man in his early 20s
who subsisted primarily on sea
food.
Some tribal members initially
balked at allowing the studies to
be" done, instead o f immediate
interment. But in the end they
backed a study after determin
ing the remains were scattered
in the cave _ possibly by scav
engers _ and not taken from a
burial site.
In the remains, the tribes saw
an ancestor offering himself for
knowledge and learning, said
anthropologist Rosita Worl,
president of Sealaska Heritage
Institute, the nonprofit cultural
and educational arm o f the
Native Corporation..
“The elders also saw it as a
way, o f validating our ancient
presence here in southeast
Alaska,” said Worl, a Tlingit “A
number o f elders have said it
proves we’ve .been here since
time immemorial.”
The tribes will file a sepa
rate claim for the stone tools,
w hich arc from a different
period, Wori said.'
The artifacts, are made o f
obsidian, or volanic glass, not
naturally found in the area, sug
gesting early residents used
boats to get around the coastal,
region.
. The find also Could support
a theory that people migrated
fro m A sia as w ell as o ral
Tlingit histories about coastal
migrations, according to Worl.
“We’re very, very excited
and very proud o f our people,”
she said. ;
Finding remains that old is
uncom mon but n o t unheard
of, said Sherry Hutt, repatria
tion program manager for the
National Park Service. W hat
stood out about the Tlingit
case, she said, is the level of
cooperation involved.
“The Forest Service w ent
through the process carefully
and methodically. I t consulted
with the locals and came to a
decision based on analysis of the
facts,” she said. “The process of
consultation enhances the body
.of knçwledge. This is a good
example o f i t ”
Worl said she was happy the
outcome was sharply different
from the Kennewick Man, a
9,000-year-old skeleton found
near the Columbia River in
Washington state the same year
as the Tlingit remains. Disputes
over the, Kennewick Man have
pitted archeologists against In
dian tribes in the Northwest.
“I think ours is a really good
example o f w hat can be ac
complished when scientists and
federal agencies recognize the
legal rights o f Native people,”
Worl said. “They’re p ro fe s
sional with them, they’re sen
sitive with. them. They’re equal
with them.” I-,
The remains arè being held
by the Forest Service while the
tribes plan a ceremonial burial
at the discovery site.
Bill to give Navajo Council
delegates immunity from arrest fails
W INDOW / ROCK, Ariz.
(AP) — Navajp Nation Council
delegates have rejected a mea
sure that would have given them
immunity from arrests for cer
tain civil infractions.
The lawmakers, meeting in,
their fall session, voted 48-29
Wednesday against the measure.
The bill would have barred
the arrests of delegates during
council sessions for ciyU o f
fenses such as jaywalking, run
ning a stop sign or hauling live-
stock without a permit.
Immunity from arrest would
protect delegates from spending
time in jail or attending court
hearings while the council is in
session, said Council Speaker
Lawrence Morgan of Iyanbito,
who sponsored the bill.
The measure might increase
participation in council sessions
by removing some-legal ob
stacles, he said. -
Delegates could still face le
gal action after the end of a ses
sion, Morgan said.
“I'm not trying to put anyone
above the law. You still have to
deal with it,” said Morgan, who
was arrested on an outstanding
warrant following the close b f
the council's January session, j
5 He-was accused of running
a stop sign and then was arrested
by Navajo Nation police on a
warrant for failure .to appear in
court after hauling livestock
without a permit.
Officers later discovered the
w arrant had been dismissed
eight years earlier.
O p p o n en ts o f M organ's
measure contended it would
give special treatment to del
egates, which might open the
way to abusing the privilege.
“The sponsor said that he's
not trying to put the council
above the law,” said Delegate
Amos Johnson of, Forest Lake.
“My two communities opposed
this legislation. I oppose this. It's
appropriate that we all vote red.'”
Tribes, police
share date
on crime
I M IN N E A PO L IS (AP)—
The Minneapolis Police Depart
ment and nine tribal police d e
partments across Minnesota and
Wisconsin are creating a com
mon computer network that will
give officers access to usually
private crime data.
All state, federal and tribal law
enforcement agencies will share
information and statistics to help
develop a targeted response to
specific crim inal activity. A
$600,000 federal grant will fund
the initiative.
“Communication between
tribes and partnering law en
forcement agencies is key in
curbing crime not only in Indian
country, but in all o f Minne
sota,” said Red Lake Tribal
Chairman Floyd Jourdain. Jr.
Michigan man
gets probation
for selling
eagle feathers
M ILW AUKEE (AP) _ A
Michigan man has been sen
tenced to two years o f proba
tion for pleading guilty to sell
ing an antique lance with 30 eagle
feathers attached.
Thomas J. Hampton, 56, of
Tekonsha, Mich., violated the
federal Eagle Protection Act,
authorities said, when he sold
the lance for $25,000 and a pre-
Revolutionary War Mohican
buckskin shirt for $150,000 in
April 2002!
, Hampton pleaded guilty in
July and was sentenced on
Thursday by U.S. District Judge
J.P. Stadtmueller; He also was
ordered to pay a $2,500 fine.
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