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Show wmmmm I "- - UINTAH B ASIN STANDARD NWmto 16. 1999 Timpanogos tribe takes their sovereignty dispute to court An invisible people of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation want to give form to their plight. That's why the Timpanogos Tribe filed a lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City in a sovereignty dispute with the Northern Ute Tribe. It is an issue so culturally and legally tangled the Utes say theyVe unaware there is a Timpanogos Tnbe. Thats at least partly the perception that prompted the filing. The Utes have usurped the authority over the reservation, and it's not theirs , said Mary Meyer, Timpanogos chief executive officer. They're depriving us ofour rightful historical place on our land In my opinion the Utes are a rogue government, said Ken Hackfonl, Meyer's husband. "We have exclusive lawful occupancy which is not being recognised. The lawsuit, seeking declaratory and iqjunctive relief, named as defendants the state of Utah and the Northern Ute Tribe. Michael L. Humiston, plaintiffs' attorney, said the declaratory action advocates the Timpanogos Tnbe never "rescinded or ceded any of their nghts obtained from the federal government. He said the injunction asks the state and Utes to "stop entering into negotiations without the Timpanogos being a necessary and indispensable party. There's been a lot of dirty politics with two tribes inhabiting the reservation, Humiston said. "What's remarkable is the incredible legal basis the Timpanogos have in establishing their sovereignty. All this has been out there waiting for somebody to assert it. What was remarkable to the Utes Monday was a lawsuit being filed by a Timpanogos Tribe. "We hadn't heard of it. And we didn't know there was a Timpanogos Tribe," said Mary Navanik, secretary for the Ute Tribal Council, the reservation's prevailing governing body. "1 don't mean to be critical, but I don't believe they are among the 520 federally recognised tribes. Navanik said tribal council members coincidentally were in federal court in Salt Lake City Monday on an entirely different matter to hear the result of a long-debate- d Ute jurisdictional dispute with Utah. "Once the leaders see this other suit, 1 imagine theyll respond, Navanik said. The Timpanogos said theyVe gotten used to two kinds of responses from the Utes ignoring or confronting them. Hackford cited run-in- s with Ute game officers. TheyVe told us we can't fish or hunt here or there, Hackford said. "No physical confrontations. A lot of verbal ones. Hackford said a point was the Utes selling elk herds to ranchers a couple of years ago. "It was veiy disturbing to have them take our elk off our land, he said. Humiston said another part of the dispute is oil, believed to be plentiful under the reservation. It s been a pretty sweet deal for the petroleum companies, dealing exclusively with the Utes and keeping the two tribes at odds,Humiston said. The tribes are weaker that way. They'd be much stronger united. still-touc- Meyer also said two years ago when she went to license her car at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Roosevelt, she was told she no status. longer had "I was treated very rudely. They told me the Utes said I wasn't eligible anymore. Only Utes were, Meyer said. The Ute judicial system affords little satisfaction for Timpanogos Tribe members. Hackford said. TheyVe told us they don't even want us in their courts, Hackford said. Everything we do nobody will answer. Its like we don't exist. The Timpanogos assuredly do, Meyer said. The tribe is composed tax-exem- of the Cucumbrah, Pahvant, San pitch and Weber bands, she said. They were groups Abraham Linand Concoln referred to in 1661 when he 1864 in gress agreed declared "Indians of the territory should be undisturbed, Meyer said. The Utes weren't in Utah then, Hackford said. They were Colorado people w ho came later. "Our people were the Indians of the territory.' We are what early trappers called the Snake people, Hackford said, drawing a hand across his throat. They meant what they'd do to a snake. Meyer said the Timpanogos' aim is to "settle the confusion and coexist peacefully with the Utes. "But it's like the Serbs and Bosnians, if you want a term of reference," Meyer said. It's like telling them to sit in a room and work out their differences. Reprinted with permission of the Deseret Sews. horses slaughtered against rules, BLM says 5 and 6 grade elementary vtjdent PRAISE TO THE VETERANS-Alurv- mt last Thursday ascmbls through patriotic songs during a special sets Y2K standard Utah for rest of the nation With nearly 50 days until the new millennium, industry leaden met with state and local officials today to share ideas and formulate contingency plana for Utah's business sectors While individual com- panies hsve made contingency plans, there was still a need to coo- rdinate efforts among companies in each industry and for cross-secto- r collaboration. "We suspect that no other state has done anything quite like this," says Date Fletcher, Utah State Government's Y2Kconrd:nator. Be- cause of Utah's CGmpnhensivt-reparation efforts, we are very op- timistic about the future, w bother we face Y2K or any other disaster " Among those in attendance were representatives from commun.ty group, healthcare, enet gy. food telecommunications and power industries, as well as public safety and emergency preparedness agencies and city governments The .h.w their thanks u icterans meeting featured cross-secto- r a itb mticiil suppiien.such a energy, iuiamur.K alums and emergency - n ices, to take a Cixp-- i native i,.ik at the availability of resource- - ;r. the event of disaster These help assure that com; any and industry contingency plans function even when resources are l.rr.ited," Fletcher aaya Sen Rulert Bennett, chairman i t the Sr r: at s Y 2K committee, says Utah preparation eff.rta are some of the very best int eh nation and attributes much of the success to Guv. M.rhael Leavitt. Wild VU. Nearly 200 wild horses ended up 30. Knapp said. Under the program, the adopter in slaughterhouses during the past two yean in apparent violation of a pays a fee of as little as 1125 and federal rule that requires new ownagrees to care for the horse for one ers to swear they do not plan to have year, after which the BLM can hand over the title to the nnimal. It is the animate killed. The Bureau of Land Manageillegal to slaughter a wild hone, ment aaya that since March 1996, although the BLM says that once 166 wild honee were sent to slaughadopt en take title, horses are priterhouses within three months of vate property and not protected by their owners getting titles from the the federal law. Hie Fund for Animals and other government In July 1998, the BLM groups sued the BLM following the began requiring that all new own1997 AP reports. To settle that suit, er! igrf fpUuFmeht Sayfngthey did not intend to' sell their horse for the agency agreed to require adopt-e- n before they get titles to sign slaughter, although some ownen affidavits saying, "Under penalty of may have signed those statements earlier. prosecution .. I hereby state that I The quick trip from title to have no intent to sell this wild hone or burro for slaughter. slaughter was detailed in an interThe hone advocates hoped those nal BLM report last month that said 571 former wild hones were affidavits would atop wild hones from being sent to slaughterhouses, slaughtered at four . plants between March 1998 and Sept. 22. It when the animals ars processed was the first detailed accounting by into meat that ends up being eaten the BLM of wild horses going to by people in Europe and Asia. laughter since The Associated Hone advocates are pressing the Press exposed the practice in 1997. BLM to find someone to make an The report fueled renewed critiexample of for allegedly lying on cism ofthe adoption program, which their title application, said Allen began under a 197 1 law designed to Rutberg of the Humane Society. spare wild horses from being Critics question whether the rounded up and sent to slaughter. BLM is committed to enforcing the Cnun say the program has been requirement, especially since the and head of the wild horse program, plagued by poor record-keepinlax enforcement of rules designed to Tom Pogsctuk, told The Salt Lake protect horses. For example, the Tribune that "it'o not dear just how October report said five hones arlong that signed agreement is inrived at a Texas slaughterhouse the tended to last. day their new ownen got title, but A significant number of these the BLM now says that was a misanimals are going to slaughter take. within 90 days of title. That isn't Three of those hones wen eent right, said Rutberg. a member of to slaughter three months after their the BLMs Wild Horse and Burro ownen got title, but the other two Advisory Board. I can't believe that had been in private hands far five these people wouldn't have known yean or more, BLM spokeswoman they were going to be selling their Mary Knapp said Friday. hones. "We went back and took a harder BLM spokeswoman Knapp said look at the information. We were lawyers are looking into agency just as alarmed as anyone at five whether adopters can be proaecuted nones being slaughtered the day for making false statements and they were titled." she said. "We investigaton are inquiring into the learned that is not the case, which is laughter cases. good news. "We will do everything in our That news did little to assuage power as the law allows to ensure BLM critics. that wild hones and burros an "This is a program that historiplaced with adopten who intend to cally has haa a lot of accounting and quality a long-terErovide she said. problems," said Howard Crystal, a lawyer for the Fund for Animals, whose lawsuit prompted the affidaReprinted with permission of the vit requirement Deseret Sews. "I'm surprised they haven't been able to sort it out by now. You'd think they would be keeping closer track than they are. Knapp said the BLM revised its figures as part of an ongoing effort to determine how many wild hones FREE THINGS TO SEND fOR have been slaughtered since the tNAPSt For information on agency began requiring the affidaRandom Acta of Kindnesa Week, vits in July 199& She said BLM officials were not sun if any other call Ill Ttx : - V r Ol Mias U-S- g A Subscription to the STANDARD Makes an Excellent Holiday Gift! Rates Good Through December 31, 1999 For Delivery IN the Uintah Basin Area Prices Good With Coupon Only! I Give A Gift Subscription!! We will send a Card in your behalf figures about slaughtered wild honee were erroneous. All of the five hones in question Announcing Your Gift! arrived at the Bcltex slaughterhouse in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 20, Knapp said. Ont was a mare titled in 1994 and another stallion titled in was a ld June 1998. The other three, all mares, had been adopted by a boys' ranch and btled Jan. 21, Knapp said. The ranch sold the hones at an auction be- cause they were considered untrainable and one had kicked a boy in the head, ehe said. She refused to identify the ranch. The BLM says then are about 40.000 wild hones on federal land in the West. It rounded up 4.949 hones and sent out 5,745 for adoption during the year that ended Sept. 268 South 200 East Roosevelt. 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