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Utah custody fight complicated by tribal law
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -
Heather and Clint Larson hoped
they’d be spending Christmas'
with a newly adopted 6-month-.
old boy.
Instead, after a monthslong
court battle, the couple had to
hand him over to representatives
o f the birth mother’s American
Indian tribe, Minnesota's Leech
Lake Band o f Ojibwe, and
watch him being driven away.
“It was horrific. We lost our
child,” said Heather Larson, 29,
o f South Jordan.
T he wrenching, personal
struggle for both sides has been
complicated by a jurisdictional
fight over who has the author
ity to decide what should hap
pen to the boy, named Talon.
Arguments have hinged on
whether the boy should be sub
ject to the Indian Child Welfare
Act, a 1978 law designed to give
tribes more control over deci
sions involving Indian children.
While legal details of most
custody disputes are not readily
available to the public, lawyers
for both sides described the dis
pute for The Associated Press.
The boy, now in tribal cus
tody, is in a suburban Minneapo
lis foster home with his two
brothers, according to Frank
Bibeau, an attorney with the
tribe.
The Larsons, who had been
taking care of the boy since he
was born last summer, aren't
giving up. “We're not done fight
ing,” Heather Larson said.
But Talon’s birth mother, a
m em ber o f the Leech Lake
Band o f the Ojibwe Indian
tribe, also is intent on regaining
custody.
“H e’s my son, he’s mine and
my husband's son, he's the
brother o f my other children,
he’s the grandchild o f my mom.
He’s ours,” Natasha Roybal told
KSTP-TV in Minneapolis.
. The AP was unable to reach
Roybal for comment.
The Larsons, their attorney
and the adoption agency say the
Indian Child W elfare A ct
shouldn't apply to the boy be
cause he doesn’t meet member
ship requirements.
The birth mother’s attorney,
Shannon Smith, said the woman
is a member of the tribe and her
two other children are treated as
members. Smith said it’s clear
that Talon should be considered
a member, too.
David Simmons, director of
government affairs at the Na
tional Indian Child Welfare As
sociation in Portland, said it
looks like the Utah adoption
agency didn’t do enough inves
tigating about whether the 1978
law would apply to Talon.
Denise Garza, director o f
Heart and Soul Adoptions in
Farmington, Utah, which facili
tated the adoption, said the
agency acted properly and did
its homework, b ut the birth
m other wasn’t u p fro n t with
them. Garza said she couldn’t
provide additional details.
“I f the birth mom would
have told us the truth from the
very beginning, this whole thing
would have played out very dif-
ferendy,” Garza said.
She said the adoption agency
has dealt with the Indian Child
Welfare Act and Indian tribes in
the past without major prob
lems.
“We’ve never dealt with a
case like this before,” Garza said.
“It’s something you hope no one
ever has to go through.”
State officials, who haven’t
been involved in the case be
cause it’s a private adoption, said
Heart and Soul’s license is up to
date and there have been no
sanctions against it.
The Larsons, who have a 7-
year-old son, were excited about
the prospect of adding to their
family. Earlier this year, Heart
and Soul connected them with
the pregnant Minnesota woman.
O ver the following m onths,
H eather Larson and Roybal
talked regularly, met in person
in Utah and became friends.
Just before Talon was born,
the Larsons learned he would
likely struggle with drug-related
problems after birth. It didn’t
deter them.
The birth mother came to
Utah and Talon was born June
9, dealing with effects o f pre
scribed methadone, according
to Smith. He spent the next nine
days in the hospital, m ost of
them with the Larsons by his
side.
A day after Talon was born,
the birth mother relinquished
her rights, Larson and Smith
said. In Utah, unlike many other
states, there’s no grace period for
backing out after the document
is signed.
“When those papers were
signed, it was a sigh of relief, a
sigh of Wow, this is really hap
pening,”’ Larson said. ‘W e were
able to let ourselves go and fall
in love with him.”
But a few days later, Roybal
was full of regret. She wanted
her baby back. “She didn't feel
right about any o f it,” Smith
said.
While she was in Utah giving
birth, tribal officials in Minne
sota began looking into reports
that her two other sons weren't
in a safe environment, Smith
said. The tribe took custody of
the two sons, according to
Smith, and began looking into
the boy born in Utah.
Bibeau, the tribe’s attorney,
said no one is questioning the
Larsons’ ability to care for the
boy. “We’re n o t saying the
Larsons are bad people but vic
tims of Heart and Soul,” he said.
A tribal court in Minnesota
decided in October that the boy
belongs with the tribe.
A state judge in Utah said
she didn't have the authority to
supersede the tribe, attorneys
said.
T he decision was finally
made that the boy would leave
Utah on Dec. 14. “We held him
every minute of every day that
we could,” Larson said.
By then, Larson said Talon
had gotten over his withdrawals
and other health problems. He
was sleeping through the night,
happy and easygoing.
One of their hardest jobs was
preparing their 7-year-old son
Kade, who sometimes changed
Talon's diapers, helped with
baths and proudly showed him
off to everyone at church.
He relished having a little
brother.
“H e’s waited his whole life
for this,” Larson said.
Cremation pit found on Georgia island
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -
Exposed by erosion at the edge
of a crumbling bluff, the pit dis
covered beneath 2 feet o f sandy
dirt at first appeared to be a
grave just long and deep enough
to bury a human body.
Excavation by archaeologists
on Ossabaw Island revealed
something more puzzling — just
a few small bones, apparently
from fingers or toes, mixed with
charcoal, bits o f burned logs
and pottery shards predating the
arrival o f the first European
explorers by at least a century.
The find has led researchers
to suspect American Indians
used the ancient pit to burn bod
ies o f the dead, making it a rare
example o f cremation among
the early native inhabitants of
the southeastern U.S.
“It's a special sort of burial,”
said Tom Gresham, an Athens
archaeologist who worked on
the excavation and serves on
Georgia's Council on American
Indian Concerns. “The way In
dian tribes over time buried their
dead varied tremendously. But
tery shards they found. Though
cremations are fairly rare.”
Located six miles off the Sa carbon dating revealed it to be
vannah coast, Ossabaw Island more recent, the find is still con
remains one o f Georgia's wild sidered prehistoric because it
est barrier islands. Hogs, deer, predates the arrival of the first
armadillos and Sicilian donkeys European explorers in Georgia
roam the state-owned island's in 1520.
Crass said other prehistoric
11,800 acres o f w ish b o n e
shaped uplands. Live oaks tower graves on Ossabaw tend to be
above the remains of slave plan bodies buried intact, in a near
tations and ancient Indian burial fetal position, in shallow bowl
shaped pits.
mounds.
“What makes this particular
Researchers have found evi
dence that humans came to site unusual is that the individual
Ossabaw more than 4,000 years was apparently cremated and
ago. It's believed Indians at first then the remains were presum
may have used the island as a ably taken from this pit and in
winter camp to feed on shellfish terred somewhere else,” Crass
before moving inland to hunt said.
David Hurst Thomas, a cu
deer in the spring.
Burial mounds on Ossabaw rator o f anthropology at the
typically hold intact human re American Museum of Natural
m ains, said D ave Crass, JHistory in New York, said the
Georgia's state archaeologist. cremation pit sounds significant.
Thomas was not involved in
Archaeologists said Friday that
carbon dating on charcoal from the Ossabaw excavation but has
the pit place it between 1290 and been studying Indian burials on
neighboring St. Catherines Is
1420 A.D.
A rchaeologists initially land for 30 years. Out o f about
thought the pit could be 1,000 900 graves he's studied there
to 3,000 years old based on pot- that predate the arrival of Eu-
ropeans, only nine held cre
mated remains, he said.
“Based on our St. Catherines
experience, this is about a one-
in-100 shot,” Thomas said. “As
a mortuary feature o f that an
tiquity, I would say that's a big
deal.”
The Ossabaw cremation pit,
roughly 6 feet long and 3 feet
deep, had other unique charac
teristics.
Crass and fellow archaeolo
gists, at first, suspected it might
be a more modern grave be
cause o f its flat bottom and
straight sides.
Early Indian graves tend to
have round bottom s because
people lacked shovels or other
digging tools, said Dan Elliott,
a Savannah archaeologist who
helped excavate the Ossabaw pit
last month.
‘We're thinking it was a fairly
formal structure that was used
to deflesh people -- it looks al
most like a little oven,” Elliott
said. “That's so far back in his
tory that we don't know what
was on their minds, but it shows
there was a special reverence for
the dead.”
The state Council,on Ameri
can Indian Concerns gave the
archaeologists permission to
excavate the, Ossabaw pit be
cause erosion was destroying it.
The few human bones found
in the pit will be studied further
in hopes of determining if they
belonged to more than one per
son. Once that's done, Crass
said, they'll be reinterred with
the C ouncil overseeing the
burial.
Thomas said such a find is a
step in helping researchers un
derstand America's early inhab
itants, though why they would
choose to cremate some of their
dead and bury others intact re
mains a mystery.
“We d o n 't know w hether
that's high status or low status.
Is that the way you treat elders
or battle captains?” T hom as
said. ‘We're buried according to
who we are when we die. It tells
us a lot about a society by the
way they treat the dead.”
AG urges prosecution over Seminole gaming in Fla.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)
— Florida Attorney General Bill
McCollum said last week he has
asked the federal government to
prosecute the Seminole Indian
tribe over its blackjack opera
tions.
Meanwhile, a state H ouse
com m ittee began discussing
how to approach a gambling
agreement with the tribe.
M cC ollum sent th e U.S.
Attorney's office in Tampa a let
ter urging action. Since the sum
mer, the tribe has been offering
Las Vegas-style slot machines
and card games at its casino in
Hollywood under an agreement
struck with Gov. Charlie Crist a
year ago.
The state Supreme Court has
since struck down that compact,
which gave the tribe exclusive
rights to operate blackjack and
other card games as wells as a
guarantee that the state won't
expand Las Vegas-style slots
beyond M iam i-D ade and
Broward counties. The justices
said Crist didn't have authority
to enter into the agreement on
his own, but the games con
tinue.
The fact that the tribe ex
panded blackjack to its Tampa
and Immokalee casinos after the
court ruling shows it doesn't
respect the law, McCollum said.
However, McCollum doesn't
have the authority to stop the
games because they are on In
dian land.
A spokesman for the U.S.
Attorney's office confirmed that
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McCollum's letter had been re
ceived, but declined to comment
further.
An attorney for the tribe said
McCollum's request makes no
sense.
“There is no basis for crimi
nal prosecution here. This is a
regulatory issue,” said Barry Ri
chard, adding that the tribe has
been in regular contact with the
National Indian Gaming Com
mission about the issue.
The tribe has already given
the state more than $71 million
under the compact, which guar
antees Florida at least $375 mil
lion over the first three years and
at least $100 million a year after
that. Richard said the tribe had
to act quickly to set up its card
tables to ensure it could meet its
obligation. The money the state
has already received has been set
aside until the issue is resolved.
McCollum's request to pros
ecute the tribe was praised by
Rep. Bill Galvano, who co-chairs
the recently formed Select Com-
m ittee on Sem inole Indian
Compact Review. Galvano, R-
Bradenton, said the state's con
gressional delegation should
also push federal authorities to
stop the games.
Galvano's committee met for
the first time Thursday. After
ward he said its mission wasn't
to approve or reject the compact
that Crist signed, but to proceed
as if there is no compact.
Federal officials pressed
Florida for years to enter a com
pact w ith the Seminóles. I f
Florida didn't negotiate with the
tribe in good faith, federal offi
cials said they could approve
Indian gaming without giving
the state a share of the proceeds.
Galvano acknowledged that
the state won't get any revenue
from the tribe if it doesn't ne
gotiate a compact, but said the
exclusive gambling rights the
tribe would receive don't have
to mean allowing blackjack,
which is otherwise illegal in
Florida. He said there is a pos
sibility of negotiating exclusive
geographic rights to Las Vegas-
style slot m achines beyond
where they are currently al
lowed. For now, only Miami-
Dade and Broward horse and
dog tracks and jai-alai frontons
can install Vegas slots.
Tribes may
gain more
river input
MITCHELL, S.D. (AP)
— American Indian tribes
could have more influence
in m anagem ent o f the
Missouri River after a by
law change by the Missouri
River A ssociation o f
States and Tribes.
The change increased
the number of tribal rep
resentatives on MoRAST’s
board o f directors from
six to 13.
That puts the 28 tribes
in the Missouri River Ba
sin on a more equal foot
ing with MoRAST’s seven
member states, who also
have 13 representatives on
the board. Six states have
two each, but Wyoming,
which is not a “mainstem”
river state, has only one.
Eleven tribes were rep
resented at M oRAST’s
m ost recent meeting in
Rapid City. That contrasts
with a MoRAST meeting
one year ago in Pierre
. when no tribal representa
tives attended.
“That's a big step for
ward, because our group
has really wanted to live up
to its name of represent
ing both states and tribes
in the basin,” said David
Pope, MoRAST’s execu
tive director in Topeka,
Kan. “And we think we're
off and running in that re
gard now.”
Pope said the earlier
lack o f tribal involvement
was indicative of a long
standing problem afflict
ing Missouri River organi
zations.
“Historically, th ere’s
probably tittle doubt that
the trib es have been
underrepresented or not
involved to the depth, at
least, that probably would
be appropriate for their
status in the basin and the
significant role that they
play,” he said.
“I think our group is
the primary one that's re
ally fully embraced their
involvement.”
A n o th e r change by
MoRAST allows tribal
representatives to be re
imbursed up to $500 for
trav e l to M oR A ST 's
meetings, which are held
throughout the river ba
sin.
Casinos
suffer in bad
economy
FR E SN O , Calif. (AP) -
While Indian casinos don't have
to report their revenue, gam
blers say they are visiting less
frequently _ and wagering less.
Some gamblers who would
have traveled to Nevada are wa
gering closer to home, casino
operators say, but not enough to
offset the smaller amounts of
m oney they are spending,
Fresnans D onna and Chuck
Henderson, who used to gamble
every other day, say they now
visit twice a month and stick to
penny slots.
Gaming analysts say Califor
nia tribal casino revenues are
likely either flat or suffering
single-digit declines.
Gambling revenues in N e
vada are down 22 percent from
last year.
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