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Page 6 Tundra Times, Wednesday, April 4, 1973Barrow Children Taken by Trooper to Grand Jury Trial...Enrollment...(Continued from page 1)is rejected. A late application would fail to meet the requirement of time and would be rejected on that basis, probably marked: ‘Not timely filed’.A last-stand legal fight ensued at the regulations hearings just one day prior to the closure of the roll. Attorneys for the twelve native regional corporations claimed that many people had refrained from enrolling to certain villages until they were assured that those villages would he qualified under the Land Claims Act,The contusion apparently stemmed from the fact that the Department itself had two definitions for the term “residence. For purposes of enrollment, it was only necessary to claim that your permanent residence was “the place of domicile on April 1, 1970, which is the location of the permanent place of abode intended by the applicant to be his actual home.It is the center of the Native life of the applicant to which he has the intent to return when absent from that place.A region or village may be the permanent residence of an applicant on April 1, 1970, even though he was not actually living there on that date, if he has continued to intend that place to be his home.So goes one definition of “residence. Now' presumably if 25 or more people enroll to a specific place, village, or site, it should qualify as a village and be entitled to land under the Claims Act.But the criteria for village and the definition of “residence changes and it is not clear if each and every place to which 25 or more people have referred as their permanent place of residence as of April 1, 1970, will in fact receive an entitlement of land.A specific case in point is the village of Afognak in the Koniag region. 25 people haveenrolled to Afognak and consider that they will ultimatley move back to the now'-abandoned village.However, two days before the end of the enrollmentperiod, the people who had enrolled to Afognak did not know if it would he classified a village under the terms of the Act.By not knowing, they stand to lose their right to acquire land as a village corporation.One spokesman for the native groups requested that the Department go back to the concept of “residency as outlined in the enrollment section of the Act and “remove the cloud that hangs over this whole group.“People belong in certain villages, they want to enroll there, but they’re afraid if they enroll to a village, it may not be(liialified.*According to a representative from Koniag, one-half of their people enrolled to Kodiak through a “fluke in enrollment.“Most of those people are from the villages and should enroll back to those villages. Now there are going to be one-half to share in 40 townships.“All of this indecision is really affecting the people themselves. They’re afraid. They don’t know what to do.Legal counsel for the Department of the Interior admitted that there were many divergent opinions within the Department as to the enrollment.Attorney Weinberg, speaking for the Native groups said, “If the Department changed its concept of residency from enrollment, then it is going to have to start the enrollment process all over again.“The time to register expires in a couple of days. But we are told here today that the concept of residence has changed. Either the Department must come through with a definition or it must extend. It cannot have it two ways. It cannot leave the peoples’ rights dangling!There were, indeed, many who waited to the last hour to make their decision, and there were undoubtedly also, many who failed to make that decision prior to the deadline, midnight, March 30, 1973.The first period of the Implementation of the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act is ended. The Roll is closed.Ethnohistorical...(Continued from page 2)by current cutbacks under the present Administration.Perhaps the point to be made here is that we already have the laws, we all generally agree we need the protections and that the situation is critical in all aspects of historical, cultural, and archeological perservation and safeguarding throughout the state. We have the ways already established within the State Government, and the means are also available. Furthermore, this type of public service is not particularly costly, and so far it has been one of the most economic and efficiently managed services functioning for the benefit of all Alaskans,Perhaps some of the current problem spelled out in the editorial stems from the fact that what work that is being done (and other things planned) have been approached quietly and with exceptionally knowledgeable and concerned Native People and professionaly trained and experienced researchers committed to getting an important task done before it is too late.A great deal of Public understanding has been gained through the information and coverage in the Tundra Times. It is a pity that the other newspapers of the state do not follow your example, reporting the facts of what is going on and eliminating ttie the sensationalism attached particularly to ethnohistorical research that is in effect an open invitation to exploitation for personel adventure or financial gain. Please continue the campaign for sensible and sound research and documentation under the leadership and general guidance of the Native People for those elements of that past that concern them.Regards,Laurel L. Bland, AMU FacultyHistory of Alaskan Native PeopleMethods of Ethnohistorical Field Research, Director, Imuruk Basin Project (Seward Pen.)(Continued from page 1)plaint against her husband.In the meantime, the father voluntarily entered into an alcoholism and counseling program. t In'November, one of the children underwent an operation on both ear drums.lie was told that he should not travel by airplane for at least six weeks, as high altitude pressure could cause a rupture of the new car drums.On November 13, the State Trooper, Alpines Rowe, was directed to bring both children to appear before the grand jury m Fairbanks the following day.Trooper Rowe deputized two persons to pick up the children at the BIA elementary school. They were taken out of school to their home where they were told to get enough clothing for a two-day stay in Fairbanks.The father, who was home, inquired what was going on, but the children were allegedly told not to speak to their father.According to the complaint, “At no time were the children, their parents, or anyone else in Barrow shown a subpoena or any other court order stating that the children were required to travel to Fairbanks.”Neither the father nor the mother were asked for permission for the children to go. By the time the mother contacted the airport, the children were already enroute to Fairbanks.During their stay in Fairbanks Alaska Legal Services tried unsuccessfully to free the children and have them returned to the legal custody of their parents. There was a small perforation in the newly-mended eardrum of the one child as a result of the flight, but it appears at this date, to have mended with no permanent damage.The children were accompanied on the trip by Trooper Rowe and his wife and were lodged in the Golden North Motel. There was no consultation with the parents as to these arrangements.The legal question revolves around the rules governing the summoning of witnesses to appear at criminal proceedings and more specifically, whether the District Attorney can ordera child to testify without the parents' knowledge.Both Alaska Legal Services and the District Attorney's office confirm that a subpoena is merely a summons directing a witness to appear at a forthcoming trial.A subpoena does not give the state the right to seize a person and escort him to the trial. Only if he fails to appear, can he be held m contempt and he may then be “escorted to the court proceedings.There are no rules for servinga subpoena on a minor child that differentiate from serving a subpoena on an adult.However, an official form used by the Alaska State Troopers entitled “Service of Summons on Infant (Any Juvenile)’’ requires that two copies of a summons in a civil case be served, one on the child and one on the parent, guardian, or person having custody of the defendant.The case in point is not a civil case and the form above does not apply. Vet it raises the question, should the parents be notified when children are ordered to take part in any legal proceedings? To what extent does a child understand the nature of a legal summons?The complaint filed by the parents and the children state that the children were seized by the state.without lawful authority and that, in so doing, the State of Alaska falsely imprisoned them and deprived them of their civil rights, causingemotional distress and mental anguish to both parents andchildren.• -The position of the State, as stated by the District Attorney, is that the children “were not seized, and that they willinglyaccompanied Trooper Rowe after explanation was made to them.The District Attorney’s of fice alleged that they “were not in an alien environment, that thev knew the people they were with (the Trooper’s house in Barrowis only a few doors from thefamily in question), that they were not frightened, although they are “shy and bashful asmost people from their environment are.(It is interesting to note that at the same time the DA's office states they were NOT in an alien environment, it proceeds to use the term “people from I IIFIR environment.)The fault mav lie neither with the District Attorney's office nor the State Troopers, but in inadequate provisions tor this type of incident in the bush.The question aiises whetherthe incident might have had a happier ending if whoever initiated the ordei had contacted the local ofticial, in this case the(Continued on page 10)AFN, Inc. Fights, Wins..(ContinuedLimitations- Definition of Navigable Waters- Interim Conveyance- Deficiency WithdrawalsRaul Gregory of Bethel madea strong speech in, the Yupik language protesting the “modern and urban interpretation. “95 per cent of the Natives in Bethel do not have running water, said Gregory.“The only people who have such luxuries are BIA employees and other government workers. The town’s one dentist serves not only Bethel, he pointed out, “but 52 other villages. Although Bethel has a fire and police department, the fire department is only a volunteer one and ineffective as proven by the number of deaths in Bethel each year due to fire.Gregory claimed that it is unfair to discriminate against Bethel by labeling it “modern and urban under the existing conditions.John Schaeffer of Kotzebue drew a similar parallel. “The central water and sewer system m Kotzebue was put in by the PUS (Public Health Service). It is a very expensive one. They have spent 5 million dollars and it is not one-fourth done. It breaks down every day.* j iHe admitted that Kotzebue had more than five businesses, one of the critera suggested for determining “modern and urban.“The majority of businesses are financed by the SB A (Small Business Administration). The police department is funded through PEP, federal money. The fire department has one vehicle. Ihe resident dentist does the majority of his work through contract with PUS. Theschools, both elementary and secondary are BIA schools.Schaeffer concluded, “The BIA and PUS are knocking Kotzebue out of the eligibility list!Several hours Kissed while lawyers for both sic es attempted to define a village. At last, Jimmy Huntington of Galena stood up.“In 1968 and 1969, said Huntington, “every damn town m Alaska was a village! Now you’re trying to make nonvillages out of them.Huntington protested the needless wrangling over definitions that should be perfectly clear and which create unncc-sary delays in implementing theAct.It’s just like all the broken treaties in the past, he said. “Get them all screwed up, get all kinds of things put in there till nobody knows what they got. This is going to cost the native corporations thousands and thousands of dollars to try to settle things that didn’t need settling at all.The comm on-sense arguments won out. While the hearingsfrom page 1)were in session, native interests won an important concession from the government.A plume call to Washington, !).(’. to the Associate Solicitor of Public Lands for an intei-pretation on the modern and urban criteria produced a legal ruling that listed villages(those named m the Act) must be found to be IK)111 modem and urban AND to have a majority of non-native residents to be disqualified as a village under the Land Claims Actflic surprise ruling removed any shadow of doubt hanging- c ^'over the eligibility of large n; communities such as Kotzebue, Barrow, Bethel, I t. Yukon, and Nome.Legal counsel prior to the ruling had allowed that these communities might he technically disqualified uiidei the proposed regulations.The new ruling requires only that a listed village show av cmajority of native residents, and then the modern and urban do not apply. The village will qualify under the Act.Another major gain m the three day meeting came whenJ t.Berklund announced that he would instruct Bl M to make immediate w ithdrawals of land for unlisted villages, those not named in the ActIn spite of protests fnun many regions in the past, no lands had yet been withdrawn tor unnamed villages which might qualify for land under the Act. leaving the lands unprotected.Berk hind’s directive now clears the wav for withdrawals•rfor all villages that have been submitted by the BIA.Still unresolved is the problem of deficiency withdrawalsrin some areas where public land is not available m the area immediately surrounding native villages. I he Chugach region again levied protests against the choice offered them of useless mountain lops and glacieis.()n the final day of the hearings, Department officials met m private work sessions with individual legions to discuss just such problems. Much headway had been made, but much still remained to be done m Washington. The target date for thenew version of regulations wasset for May 15.I lie bold action of AI N, Inc., supported by all twelve regions in unanimous consent, made it clear to the Hinted States government that the Alaska Native people will fight equally as hard to maintain the integrity of the Settlement as they fought towin it.They will journey once again to Washington, !).(’. to insure that the regulations for the implementation of the Act reflect the philosophy and life-style of native -people and “maximum participation by those people.
Newspaper Details
Fairbanks Tundra Times
Fairbanks, Alaska, US
Wed, Apr 04, 1973
Page 9
Full Page
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USA 16 Aug 2020
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