1985-06-13 Char-Koosta News

              CHAR-KOOSTA
Newspaper of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 3
MONTH OF THE CAMAS
JUNE 13, 1985 I
U.S. Supreme Court rules twice in favor of Indian authority
The U.S. Supreme Court made two decisions last week in favor of Indian sovereignty.
In a 9-0 decision June 3, the court said the Lodge Grass School District must fight a civil liability case in the Crow Tribal Court before a federal court can intervene.
The name Char-Koosta is derived from Chief Charlo's and Chief Koostatah's names. They were the Tribes' last traditional chiefs.
The case involves a Crow Indian student who was injured on the school grounds on the reservatioa The boy's guardian sued the school district in Tribal Court, but district officials didn't respond, according to a BIA news release. The court ordered the district to pay a $153,000 default judgment to the injured student
The district then sued in federal court to have the Tribal Court judgment voided, contending that the Indian court had no authority to preside over a suit against a non-Indian. Nine other states with large Indian populations joined Montana in the suit
While the June 3 decision is said to have "sidestepped the ultimate ques-
tion of jurisdiction in the case" (according to the Associated Press), it does give added weight to Indian courts' authority.
In a second decision that day, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that states may not tax oil, gas and other minerals taken from Indian lands under leases issued after 1938.
"The (1938) statute contains no explicit consent to state taxation," Justice Lewis F. Powell wrote for the court
This case involved the state of Montana's attempt to collect taxes from non-Indian oil and gas producers who leased land from the Blackfeet Tribe in northwestern Montana.
(Concludes on page two)
FAD's new number is 676-2500
Although its offices didn't move by the May 28 predicted date, the Family Assistance Division is now settling into its new space across the highway from Tribal Health in Ronan in the building that once housed the Marvin Camel Recreation Center.
FAD's new phone number is 676-2500.
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1985's third quarterly will be on July 5
In cnitp nf th*» fart that InK/    i« an      rhamhprc that ria\r i
In spite of the fact that July 5 is an official day off for Tribal employees, 1985's third quarterly Council meeting will still be convened that day in Pablo, beginning at 9 am.
We'd like to encourage all the Tribal members in town for the week-long Arlee pow wow to stop by the Council
chambers that day and watch your government in action.
While regular Council meetings attract very few Tribal spectators, the quarterly meetings sometimes have 50 or more in attendance adding their varied opinions to the discussions. Lunch will be served.
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