1974-01-15 Char-Koosta News

              Delegates Sworn In January 4
Constitutional Committee Begins Difficult Task
Dixon: The ten-member Constitutional Committee has begun the difficult task of reviewing and proposing changes in the Tribe's 39 year old constitution.
The five men and five women of the special committee were sworn in during the first quarterly Tribal Council Meeting Jan.4 at the Dixon agency gym. The ten were elected from a slate of 31 during the Dec. 15 Tribal Council Elections.
The committee's first order of business was to select officers. Doug Allard, an Indian Craft Store proprietor from St. Ignatius, was elected Chairman ...Rose Cline, who works with the Indian Public Health Service and is a Poison resident, was selected as Vice-Chairwoman...and Jane Fouty,a Commodity Clerk in St. Ignatius, was elected Secretary.
During a meeting Jan. 8, the committee began to clear some of the ground work for their task. Conferences with a Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Constitution expert and the Tribal Attorney were scheduled. The Committee will meet with Tom Whitford, Billings Area BIA Operations Officer, Jan. 18, to review BIA and Indian Reorganization Act requirements for Tribal Constitutions. On Jan. 23, the con-con delegates will discuss legal problems f and strategy with Richard Beanan, of the Washington D. C. legal firm of Wilkenson, Cra-gun and Barker.
The committee also decided to establish a procedure of reviewing the old constitution article-by-article rather than in order of importance. They felt that this would save time and would permit them to provide more positive progress reports to the Council and the people of the tribe.
As soon as the committe has its legal footing, it will take the old constituion and any proposals it has for change to the people in a series of district meetings. The meetings will begin after the committee has heard from Whitford and Beanen. There will be at least one meeting in each of the 8 reservation districts and the committee has decided to hold
them on Saturdays to give more people an opportunity to attend. Tentatively, the district meetings will start at e ither 10 :00 a.m. or 7 :00 p.m. depending on when district representatives feel most people will be free.
Missoula: A U.S. Federal District Court Judge has found that Tribal Members who do not reside on the reservation are not entitled to vote in constitutional change referendums.
Last month, Missoula District Federal Judge William J. Jameson, in a case between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs overturned a Department of Interior order which would have permitted off-reservation voting in constitutional elections. The ruling was the last development in the November 17,1973, election to determine whether or not 18 year olds should be allowed to vote in tribal elections. In that election, both off reservation members and 18 year olds....as well as adult residents...were allowed to vote. The ballots of all three groups were counted separately and all three groups overwhelmingly approved the lowered voting age. Consequently, the 18 year
The people of the tribe will also have an opportunity to voice their views in a questionnaire mailed with the last Char-Koosta. These questionnaires, which should be returned to the committee before March 1, give members an opportunity
olds were allowed to vote in the Dec. 15 Tribal Council-Constitutional Committee election.
In reversing the Department of the Interior ruling, Judge Jameson found that "...the Tribes Constitution and By-Laws were adopted at the October 4, 1935, election by a majority vote of the adult Ind-
Dixon: Pledging to "listen to anybody but represent the needs of the working Indians on the reservation", newly elected Tribal Councilman Joe McDonald took his seat during the first Quarterly Council Meeting January 4.
McDonald defeated incumbent Councilm Jim Ely and six other candidates in the Ronan District in the Tribal Council
to draft new constitutional articles or defend old ones. Members are also being urged to attend all committee meetings.
The committee has about two and one half months left to complete its work. The Tri-(cont. on page 3)
ians residing on the Flathead Reservation and that permanent non-residents of the Reservation were not entitled to vote at that election, the court concludes that any future elections for the amendment of the Tribe's constitution and by laws must, pursuant to part 1 6 of the Indian Reorganizations Act (cont. on page 2 )
elections held Dec. 15 . McDonald gathered 25 4 votes to outpace Ely by 123 ballots.
The Ronan educator said in his inauguration speech that in the past most councilmen have been either ranchers, loggers or otherwise self employed. He noted this has often led the working Indians on the reservation . . . those who draw a wage ...to feel that they are not being
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Volume 3 - Number 18 FULL MOON OF THE WANDERING    January 15,1974
No Constitutional Vote For Off-Reservation Members
Councilman Joe McDonald Will Listen and Learn