1976-02-01 Char-Koosta News

              Tribal representatives to the Montana Inter-Tribal Policy Board, Coun-cilmen Tom Pablo and Sonny Morigeau voted at a meeting in Billings to support the Governors Task Force on Indian Affairs. They were joined in support by representatives from the Crow Reservation.
Three Tribal nations have withdrawn their support. The Blackfeet Council voted in November to withdraw support charging the task force with discussing why states rights should supercede Indian authority on reser-
TRIBE SUPPORTS TASK FORCE
vations, which are federal enclaves within the state. Fort Belknap and Rocky Boy Reservations have also withdrawn support.
The Task Force was formed early in 1975, with 4 Indian representatives from Reservations and 4 non-Indian representatives from throughout the state.
Of the seven reservations in Montana only four had representatives on the task force. Because of the significant affect of the task force's topics of discussion on all the Indian population, the three Indian Nations who have no representation on the task force feel that they should have had from it's beginning.
Blackfeet Councilman, Roland Kennerly, stated that his Tribe might reconsider its opposition if the Task Force were expanded to include representatives from each of the seven Reservations. _
NEWSPAPER OF THE SALISH, PEND D'ORIELLES AND KOOTENAI TRIBES
OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
9 I
fji   Volume 5    Numbar 19jjflg   New Moon Of Bands Spread AHOveT
WHITWORTH PLEADS GUILTY
Lloyd Whitworth pleaded guilty in Tribal Court on a citation for carrying a bull elk out of the hills for Dean Brockway, 29, of Arlee, after Brockway shot it.     The five-point bull was killed January 4 in the Finley  Lake area on the south end of the reservation. Whitworth pleaded guilty to the charge of protecting a non-member from state game laws, which carries a maximum of six months and/or $300.00.
Judge Don Dupuis heard testimony from Lloyd Jackson recommending leniency because Whitworth evidently realized the seriousness of his crime and had cooperated fully with Tribal police in seeking prosecution of Brockway by the state. (In a pre-trial comment Jackson had indicated state prosecution was chosen due to the great amount of time and difficulty in seeking Federal prosecui
tion-) Continued on page 2
February 1, 1976
DELAGATION IN WASH. D.C.
A Tribal delegation sent to Washington   D.C. this   past week, has received some action from B.I.A. Commissioner Morris Thompson.
The delegation made the trip to speak with the Bureau's Commissioner and Solicitor General  regarding the  Flathead Irrigation Project construction at the Kerr    Dam Sub-station.  They requested that a 1968 Solicitors opinion be reviewed. The '68 opinion declared that all reservations sites regulated under the 1904
STUMPAGE REDUCTION UNFAIR
A reduction of stumpage rates for two tribal logging contractors, Kendall Dupuis and Robert Fouty, approved by the Tribal Council in December has created quite a controversy between the Indian loggers and the Council.
Dupuis and Fouty were awarded logging sales in the Welcome Springs and Hot Springs logging Units in 1975 after bidding a record high stumpage rate. They were both selling timber to the Pack River Company Mills in Plains and Poison, until the company shut down operations of the two mills. Forced to seek new buyers at lower stumpage rates, Dupuis and Fouty requested that the Council reduce their stumpage amounts paid to the tribe.
Fouty, who has the Welcome Springs Unit was paying the Tribe $119.63 per million board ft. for Pon-derosa Pine, and $81.54/MBM for other species.
Dupuis has the Hot Springs Unit and was paying $119.07/MBM for Pon-derosa Pine and $72.23 for other species.
The Council had the BIA Forestry department investigate the problem and recommend solutions. Forestry came up with three solutions-Re-bid
the two sales.....Give  Dupuis and
Fouty an- extension enabling them to wait until timber market r4-ses ....or grant them a stumpage reduction of 15.00/MBM off the present rate for Ponderosa Pine and $20.00/MBM for Continued on Page 4
act would fall under a 1948 permanent F.I.P. lease of Tribal lands. The Tribe contends that the Sub-station area now under construction was not in use when the 1948 lease went into effect, therefore a new lease agreement should have been negociated with the Tribe.
Commissioner Thompson has agreed to a review of the '68 Solicitors Opinion.
The delegation of Council-men, Harold Mitchell, Vic Stinger, E. W. Morigeau, Noel Pich-ette, John Malatare and Tribal Secretary Fred Houle was also slated to attend the "Cigarette Tax" hearing scheduled for Wednesday January 21st. Results of the hearing were not reported at the time we went to press.   A full report will be given in the next issue of the Char-Koosta.
OOP'S! We made a mistake in last week's issue.
In our article about the Tribal Complex the amount of land should have read less than 20 acres instead of 40 acs and the $550,000 is a
gant from the EDA, conomic Development Administration, only 100,-000 came from revenue sharing funds.