Jul. 19, 2003 - 20:25 MDT

THE WONDERING JEW

Plays On

"In 1996 a lawsuit was filed on behalf of 350,000 Indian account holders alleging that the Interior Department failed to properly manage the royalties from natural resources on land the government assigned to Indians in 1887. Royalties are supposed to be paid to Indians who have trust accounts."

The foregoing quoted from an editorial by the Denver Post in Saturday July 19th Rocky Mountain News. To quote further, "Nobody really disagrees that the feds have screwed up for decades, but nobody agrees on much else."

A news article in the same paper - same date - by Associated Press -quote,"Court: Norton not in contempt."A federal appeals court Friday threw out a contempt ruling against Interior Secretary Gale Norton for her agency's mismanagement of a trust fund for billions of dollars in royalties from American Indian lands. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Norton could not be held responsible for acts that occurred before she took office."

Maybe I can't read too well but I think that Norton allegedly drastically drug her feet to avoid doing anything to help the Indian case, including not lighting a fire under the hinder parts of people who should be untangling the grody mess that has been cheating Indians since 1887.

As has been written here and there through the years there have been sweetheart deals struck by BIA folk and those above them with companies wanting to go in on Indian Lands and mine or whatever use they desired. Thus cutting down on royalties to the Indians. Even so it seems to me that sloppy record keeping and accounting has dealt them a low blow.

The Denver Post editorial had this to say. "On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said Norton couldn't be held responsible for acts that occurred before she took office, and that her own conduct didn't justify a contempt-of-court slap." It goes on to say "That makes sense, but sadly, the ruling probably is just another footnote in the longest-running story of malfeasance in the history of the federal government. Bureaucrats and Indians disagree on how much money is at stake, . . . . A 44 day trial on the issue ended recently, but U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth isn't expected to rule for months. Frankly, this newspaper doesn't trust Interior or Congress to do the right thing. A solution has to come from the courts, and we just hope the appeals don't consume more decades of time and millions of dollars THAT BELONG TO THE INDIANS."

Well the bolds and caps are mine of course, but the words are what is in the paper. Seems to me that the high muckety mucks in different administrations made deals with business that gave the Indian's farms away to begin with and who ever expected an honest accounting on a thing like that ?

The Indian tribes according to what I have read and heard were put on reservations on land that was not considered suitable for the palfaces purposes, and then oil was discovered in Oklahoma, gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota, etc., etc, ad infinitum. From what was recounted to me once is Washington way back when was bound on an Indian "Final Solution" a la Hitler and the Quakers managed to sell to the government the idea of schools where the Indian kids could be taught to be like the settlers of this country (including language and dress).

One way or another the Indians have been shortchanged from the get go, it seems to me.

Looks like to me that Joe Average Guy is now beginning to get some shaft that business and government are so good at wielding against the somewhat powerless - Enronitis - Patriot Act, etc. And the band Plays On . . . . . . . .

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