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Show -- t o- 7 T If you hear a voice within you spying 'Tou are not a painter," then by all means paint . . . and that voice will he silenced. Vincent Van Gogh RESERVATION BOUNDARY CASE Supreme Court: No decision yet ByXezlefijL Whiting- - opinion on the counties request for the rehearinguntil the Yankton Sioux case is issued out of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Yankton Sioux decision was released today, but copies were not available prior to press time. TheYankton Sioux case deals wit h a reservation which was found to exist after being previously unrecognized. Gillespie said it is similar to the Uintah Valley Reservation boundary dispute in the Hagen case because it argues The U.S. Supreme Court last Friday reportedly discussed Duchesne and Uintah counties request for a rehear ing of their 1994 Ute Reservation boundary decision in Hagen v. Utah, but adjourned without issuing an order. According to Supreme Court Deputy Clerk, Frank Laraen, the court took up the matter but took no action, and is now adjourned until Feb. 23. He said the next about different categories of reservation land. conference date on the Ute Reservation boundary case is The high court initially docketed a conference on the pending. appeal submitted by Duchesne and Uintah counties for Duchesne County Attorney Herb Gillespie said hes Nov. 26. But they postponed any decision until they had been told the Supreme Court is holding up issuing their SEE SUPREME COURT on 3 page BASIN PROJECTS TO BE DISCUSSED Water Conference set Feb. EyAldonJkchek. - ;v BUILDING BRI DGES Three new bridges spanning the Strawberry River in the Pinnacles area west of Duchesne are nearing completion. The new bridges are being built next to existing bridges which will be tom down. The county and state are sharing the cost of the bridge replacement project. The county has six more bridges, five of them on the Strawberry River, which are scheduled to be replaced. The 10th annual Uintah Basin Water Conference is slated for Feb. 3 - 4 at the Western Park Convention Center in Vernal. It is open to the public and is sponsored by the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce, its Water & Power Committee and the Uintah Water Conservancy District. This years conference will address some of the challenges and concerns facing residents of the Uintah Basin such as: The Glen Canyon Challenge, safe drinking water, watershed management, Stewart Lake, Duchesne County Water Projects, and progress of the Duchesne County 3-- 4 Conservancy District. Each discussion will allow for input by the public. The conference will start at 11 a.m. with registration and then a lunch will be held at 12 noon, February 3 with Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce Chamber president, Scott Rhees conducting. Guest speaker will be Steve Romney, who will be introduced by Gayle McKeachnie. Romney works with the Uintah County Mosquito Abatement and will discuss the Green River. A opening session will be held at 1:30 p.m. with the keynote address being presented by Larry Anderson, Di- - SEE WATER MEETING on page 3 Serving the residents of Duchesne and Western Uintah Counties Foster dad under investigation for inappropiate supervision Uintah Basin Union boys and girls "Sting" Wasatch seepage -- 12 see page 2 County gears up for major canal rehab project Tuesday January 27, 1998 Roosevelt, Utah 85th Year No. 4- 16 Pages 50 see page 8 UDC WANTS JOINT WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT WITH TRIBE Utes go to federal Terminated mixed-bloo- d court to attempt to halt tribes sale of elk sejitatmfsay) . tribe's. sale oflive elk rounded upon the reservation wit hout input from the terminated mixed bloods. By Lexica E. Whiting Until about two yean ago representatives of Ute Distribution Corp. worked with Ute Tribe officials every d year to draft the tribes annual fishingproclamation. But now, the group which represents mixed-bloo- d Ute Indians who were terminated from tribal rolls 44 years ago, maintain they've been excluded from having a say in wildlife matters on the hunt-ingan- reservation and has asked the federal government to intervene. On Jan. 16 UDC filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court to stop the Ute Tribe Business Committee from selling fish and game on the reservation. Ute Distribution Director Chris Denver says his group specifically objects to the tribe's sale of live elk rounded up on the reservation without input from UDC. According to Ute Tribe officials. the tribe netted $261,600 from the sale of 144 elk which were captured on the reservation last December and sold to a Colorado elk rancher. The tribe has also, approved the sale nr y trade of 400 more cow elk over the next two years. BIA UintahOuray Superintendent Dave Allison issued a written (minion last May which stated UDC had no joint management role to plqy in the disposition of elk, and in the decision to sell commercial permits fqr big game. The following month UDC appealed Allison's ruling to the BIA Area Office in Phoenix. According to Denver, despite promises to issue a ruling soon on the opinion which ex- - NATIVE AMERICAN KIDS WILL GO TO INDIAN FOSTER HOMES Tribe reclaims children after six years, foster parents grieve Mrrenily there art m state custody and of those 76 are Native American. By Cheryl Mecham I knew it could happen, I just never thought it would, foster mother, Sheila Bird says dabbing at eyes that run with tears. They are tears caused by the incomprehensible heartache she now lives with night and day since Dec. 9, the day when the three little boys she has loved and cared for more than six years were ordered from her home in Myton by the Ute Tribe. The boys were placed in state jurisdiction by the tribe when they were ages 1 1 months, 2 and 4, now at age7, 8 and 10 they have been placed with their biological mother - living near the Bird home. Sheila says she and her husband, Kent, live in agony because they believe the children were placed in an unsafe environment. f The childrens mother has had drag and alcohol problems, the boyfriend she lives with has spent time in federal prison for the rape of an elderly woman. I have more animosity toward the tribal judges than anything else, because they can see it and they still let them go back, Sheila stated. Secondly, the fact that the children were abruptly moved in one day without a transition period, is also upsetting to Sheila who said the boy's contact with the mother was sporadic at best - three or four visits a year. The Birds grief is shared by their old son Aaron, who misses his brothers, "and the entire extended family, says Honie Bird, a sister-in-laand foster parent herself, explaining, It doesn't just effect the foster children, it wears on the extended farnifr, especially after such a long 13-ye- w timer Sheilas anguish over the incident has found one outlet, that is in her ire and disbelief in a letter writing campaign. She has written to Gov. Mike Leavitt, to Rep. Sen. Beverly Evans, Alarik Myrin, Attorney General Jan Graham, and even President Clinton, she says, hoping that someone can do something. Normally foster parents can pursue adoption ofchildren who are pfoced after 18 months, however, do not have this option when it comes to Indian children Sheila said, and according to the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 any Indian non-India- childs placement or adoption must be to this purview of the tribe. We understand that she is hurt, but they are their mother's children, said Venita Taveapont, Ute Tribe Social Services. Sheila firmly believes that the children will not remain in their mothers home, but will again be placed in foster care - however , she said ahe has been told by tribal officials that she will never be able to parent them again - because the biological mother made allegations about Sheila and because she is Taveapont confirmed this information. There were allegations made non-India- n. SEE FOSTER CARE on page 3 AUDITORS LIST JUST ONE FINDING gets clean bill of health in audit UBAOG BvLezIee E. Whiting Alter struggling for the past few years to clear up financial chaos, the Uintah Basin Association of Governments eryoyed its second clean and timejy audit for the second year in a row. RodAycock, CPA with the accounting firm of Seeley , Aycock and Hales, recently told the UBAOG Board of Directors that the audit ofthe government ageruys books from July 1, 1996 through June 30, 1997 shows that the problems of the past have been corrected. The AOG had suffered from a lack of financial records and allegations of misuse of public funds and was en- It tirely reorganized in took close to two years to complete the audit fin: that year, and at one point state agencies threatened to pull fund mid-199- 4. ing for some programs administered by the UBAOG. Auditor Mike Miles said the fiscal year 1997 auditreoeived adeanopin-w- e didnt find any problems with the statements and books kept by the UBAOG." There was one finding in the audit which has already been corrected, according to Aycock. The finding involved the lack of checks and balances created by having the UBAOG accountant oversee the Revolving Loan Fund as well aa bank reconciliation statements for that fund. In addition, the bank reconciliation statements were also not being done in a timely manner. It is kind ofan independent problem, the accountant is totally over that program, but I understand they SEE UBAOG on page 3 eluded UDC from having a say in the management of wildlife on the reservation, there has been no response from BIA headquarters. ; . "The BIA has taken too long to make a decision regarding the joint management on fishing and hunting on the UintahOuray Reservation, Denver stated. Were tired of waiting. We want to atop them so we can have joint management over hunting and fishing then well decide if we want them to sell elk. Denver said that UDC does not like the idea of trading elk for other wildlife, such as Big Horn sheep or buffalo, because it does not benefit the mixed-bloo- d group which is supposed toshare in 27 percent of such non-- visible assets held by the tribe. In 1954 490 mixed-bloo- d Utes were terminated from membership in the tribe as part of the Ute Termination Act. Through the subsequent Partition Act they were provided with their share of divisible assets, such as money and land, and also with 27 percent ofthe net proceeds generated through non-d- i visible" assets such as wildlife and minerals taken from the reservation. Contrary to federal laws, the tribe has undertaken a pattern of excluding UDC as the authorized representative of the mixed-bloogroup to managejointly fish and game assets, the lawsuit states. The suit also accounting of money received by the tribe for the sale and trade of wild game and the sale of commercial hunting permits. m, .$& di d (X)NTROVERSY-T- he Ute Indian Tribe uses helicopters to help roundupelk they have contracted for sale or trade. A group of mixed blood Ute Indians has asked a federal court judge to stop the tribe from removing elk from the reservation until they are consulted. NEW TRANSP0RATI0N REGULATIONS PROPOSED Forest Service announces new policies aimed at forest roads pected outcomes for the final road management policy. First, fewer forest roads will be built and those that die most lasting Forests, mad buiMing leaves are built will minimize environmental impacts. Second, roads that are no the on landscape. imprint longer needed or that cause significant environmental damage will be removed. Third, roads that are most The U.S. Department of Agricul- needed road reconstruction and maintures Chiefofthe Forest Service, Mike tenance. Only about 40 of forest heavily used by the public will be Dombeck, last week proposed a nuyor roads are maintained to the safety and made safer and promote more effioverhaul of the finest road system environmental standards to which cient use. To ensure that forests and future including a proposal to halt all road they were designed. "Forest roads help fulfill many management options are not comproconstruction in roadless areas on Naroad policy tional Forest social, economic, and environmental mised while the long-teris under public review and developDombeck said, We intend to work olyectiveB, said Dombeck. However, with the American people, Congress, ofall the things that we do on National ment, the Forest Service issued a proand the scientific community to de- Forests, road building leaves the most posed interim regulation (interim forest transporlasting imprint on the landscape. policy) to temporarily halt road convelop a science-base- d financial comstruction in most areas of the Natation system that meets the needs of Roads are a long-terlocal people while minimizing, and mitment, once built they must be tional Forest System thatare not presently roaded. reversing, environmental impacts such maintained year after year. Dombeck noted, We have ample The proposal to develop new forest as erosion, landslides, and degradation of wildlife habitat and water qualtransportation regulations will be new scientific evidence ofthe immense announced in an Advanced Notice of social and environmental values proity. vided by roadless areas. As evidence, The Forest Service road system ia Proposed Rulemaking (AN PR) pubextensive. An estimated 373,000 lished in the Federal Register. The he pointed to new scientific informaANPR invites public comment and tion that proves over 60 percentof the miles ofauthorized roads and an additional estimated 60,000 miles of un- involvement in helping to shape the healthiest aquatic habitats occur in planned and unmanaged ghost roads scope and content of new forest road roadless or very low road density areas on federal land in the Columbia River traverse the National Forests a road management policies and regulations. network far larger than the Interstate The public comment period will last Basin, which includes all or parts of Highway System. The Forest Service for 60 days. SEE FOREST ROADS on page 3 The agency identified three ex estimates a $10 billion backlog in m m |