Police haven't filed charges against ' tribe'

[blackcrowheart]

Police haven't filed charges against ' tribe'
Investigation continues into group claiming to be an Indian tribe
By chris conrad
Mail Tribune
CENTRAL POINT — As the case against a group claiming to be an Indian tribe carries into its second month, members of the "Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe" are wondering what the hold up is.

Central Point police are considering bringing felony charges of forgery, simulating legal process and impersonating a police officer against members of the group. The case stems from the group issuing its own drivers licenses, license plates and insurance cards to its 300 members.

The organization, which is not recognized as one of Oregon's nine Indian tribes, claims to exercise police powers including prosecuting members in its own court and hauling them to jail in a retired police Crown Victoria vehicle.

Latgawa member Dan Bryant criticizes the Central Point Police Department for holding computers seized using a search warrant at President John Newkirk's home in the 700 block of Manzanita Street.

"It's been 60 days and no charges have been filed against the tribe," Bryant said. "We haven't received our property."

Bryant said group members have asked police about the status of their case, but the inquiries were met with "absolute silence."

"We have sent notice to them to return our computers, which were taken illegally in the first place," he added.

The group argues that it doesn't need federal recognition because its forefathers never surrendered to the U.S. government.

Central Point Lt. Chuck Newell said the group filed for federal status, but did not receive it. He added that no charges will be filed until the investigation is completed, which could take another month.

"We seized five or six computers from Newkirk's home," Newell said. "It can take a few weeks to analyze the information found on a single computer."

He also said the Latgawa case has been trumped by other crimes, such as a child pornography bust last week.

"If something comes along that has to do with children or someone getting hurt we're going to move that to the front burner," he added.

One of Bryant's harshest complaints is that police in the past have accepted the "tribe's" documents. For instance, when Bryant's car was impounded after a traffic stop, it was released to him after he produced a Latgawa license.

Newell chalked that up to a mistake made by a clerk, who apparently thought the license was authentic.

In fact, the department thought the group was recognized until investigators began making phone calls to the Bureau of Indian Affairs after Bryant's car with the "tribal" license plates was stopped by authorities.

Bryant, however, is accepting none of the city's excuses.

"The bottom line is there is prejudice in this town against the Latgawa tribe," he said.

Reach reporter Chris Conrad at 776-4471, or e-mail [e-mail].

[Two Feathers]

There have still not been any charges filed. There will not ever be. The Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe continues to exert its rights and has met again with the U.S. Attorney General. The Tribal actions have been reviewed and deemed well within the Tribes rights as a Sovereign Nation. The U.S. Attorney General's office has also forwarded the documentation to the FBI, IRS and the DEA for continuing investigations into the Central Point Police Department's actions and Violations against the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its members. The entire Central Point City Government remains silent as the damages also continue to escalate. The ACLU has now become involved and this matter has been place high on the list of civil rights violations against Native American Indians.
latgawa.mind.net
www.amc1902.com
confederatedtribes.mind.net
www.u-s-history.com/pages/h2046.html
www.oregonpioneers.com/tribe.htm

[Chief Red Hawk]

There have been no charges filed. We haven't done anything wrong. Our computers were returned in various stages of damage, not one is working and are all a total loss. The loss of data has been extremely damaging. The police website continues to run an article against us. The ACLU has found that the police have not been telling the truth. This persecution continues.

I will relate to you a recent incident upholding our status and to show the extent of damage that those not unlike yourself have caused. These truths are self evident. More than year and a half ago, the Rocky Mountain News published two articles relating to conservation easements located in Jackson County, Colorado received and administered by the Confederated Tribes, a publicly supported not for profit corporation owned by the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe. The articles questioned the valuation process associated with such easements, and division associated therewith, and the status of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt organization and its role in administering the conservation easements. The articles made pejorative references to the identity of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe, questioned its jurisdiction, questioned the authenticity of its exempt organization, and associated it with allegations of improprieties in connection with valuation of conservation easements and land division associated with the grant of conservation easements. The articles focused on the role of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt organization in facilitating tax credits from Colorado that were allegedly inappropriate. The articles made further reference to the convening of a grand jury investigation of conservation easements and their valuation and the role of the Colorado Board of Appraisers in regulating the valuation of conservation easements. Despite advice from the Colorado Department of Revenue to the Rocky Mountain News to maintain confidentiality of taxpayer information, the articles contain disclosures of confidential taxpayer information in violation of federal and state civil and criminal statutes.
The articles had the intent to disparage all persons associated with the subject conservation easements, including the original land owner, the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe, and its exempt organization. They were false as to the division of property. They were misleading as to the appraisals of conservation easements associated with such properties because they failed to take into consideration the expensive habitat restoration program associated with the grant and acceptance of such conservation easements. References to the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe in the articles can only be understood in the context of "race bating". The role of the Central Point Police Department in Central Point, Oregon further understates the extent of Judicial Misconduct, local politics and of local law enforcements efforts to discredit the Latgawa. (originally stemming from our status and of a Civil Action in Josephine County Circuit Court against local lawyers and Judges in a quiet title action to steal Indian land from the Latgawa) The ACLU is also now investigating civil rights violations against Native American Indians and the Latgawa Tribal Members. The information contained in the articles was false, misleading, intentionally damaging, and resulted in damage to the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe in its relations with local government in its home state, Oregon, and in damage to its carefully articulated conservation program that emphasizes not only the grant of conservation easements, their oversight, but also the restoration of degraded sites so that they provide habitat for native wildlife. Damage from the articles continues because they were and continue to be published on the internet and continue adversely to affect the relations between the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and local government in Oregon and continue to discourage conservation minded persons owning property in Colorado from using the facilities of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe's exempt organization to execute conservation easements.
The articles were initially and have since been demonstrated to be false. The Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe has been recognized by various local, state and federal agencies. Inter alia, it has also been recognized as an Indian Nation by the Internal Revenue Service. It had a pending application for recognition by the United States Department of the Interior by the name of “Confederated Tribes, Rogue, Table Rock and Associated Tribes” a name that encompassed all the tribes in the Bear Creek and Rogue Valleys. The Latgawa removed the application after an extensive investigation upheld that the Latgawa were never terminated and therefore still federally recognized by Congress and whereas the BIA has no legal standing regarding the Latgawa. The Latgawa Indian Tribe retained the Confederated Tribes, Rogue, Table Rock and Associated Tribes as a nonprofit organization.
The Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe's exempt organization is current with the Internal Revenue Service as a publicly supported exempt organization qualified to receive and administer conservation easements. Statements by the articles questioning the status of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt organization are either false or highly misleading.
The Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe has contractual jurisdiction over the conservation easements it administers. It understands the sensitivity of confidential taxpayer information associated with conservation easements and undertakes to protect same. While it does not commission appraisals in connection with conservation easements it receives, it considers the appraisal information to be confidential taxpayer information.
In connection with and as a probable result of the articles published in the Rocky Mountain News, the Colorado Board of Appraisers initiated various investigations of appraisers that submitted appraisals in connection with the grant of conservation easements. The appraiser that performed certain of the appraisals on conservation easements received and accepted by the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe's exempt organization received a request for information followed by an administrative subpoena from the Colorado Board of Appraisers. The information was in the possession of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe. In response to the subpoena, the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt filed and perfected an action for injunctive relief and for a temporary restraining order against the Colorado Board of Appraisers and the appraiser prohibiting the latter from disclosing confidential taxpayer information and the former from soliciting, subpoenaing, and using same. The request for relief was filed in Latgawa Tribal Court. Orders issued pursuant thereto. Thereafter, the Attorney General for the State of Colorado agreed to cause the Colorado Board of Appraisers to withdraw the request for information and the subpoena. The Attorney General entered a stipulated partial dismissal of the action as it affected the Colorado Board of Appraisers recognizing the continuing jurisdiction over the matter by the Latgawa Tribal Court. The subpoena and request for information were withdrawn in connection with the foregoing proceeding. Not only is it not the case that the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe has not been recognized but it is the case that the Attorney General for Colorado has ALSO recognized the Latgawa Tribal Court.
The articles falsely imply that there is a nexus between the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt, the original landowner, or the appraiser and any legitimate ongoing investigation by the Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers or any grand jury. The conservation easements received by the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe's exempt organization have been duly recognized and accepted in whole without issue or adjustment by the Colorado Department of Revenue. The Colorado Board of Real Estate Appraisers has withdrawn from any investigation of any appraiser or appraisal commissioned in connection with any conservation easements accepted by the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe's exempt organization. The Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe has never been directly or indirectly approached by any governmental agency, Colorado or federal, in connection with its conservation easement program. To the knowledge of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt organization, no person who has granted a conservation easement or has purchased a credit or claimed a deduction in connection therewith has had the credit or deduction denied. There is no legitimate basis for the scurrilous attack in the articles upon the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe or its exempt organization or upon anyone associated with it.
The Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe takes seriously their obligations to administer remediation and maintenance and protection of conservation easements entrusted to them. Acting through their governance and through persons retained thereby, it has overseen continuing activities on the conservation easements it has accepted to remediate prior environmental damage, restore wildlife, and encourage the purposes for which the United States and Colorado conservation easement programs were initiated. It takes with great seriousness false allegations by the Rocky Mountain News that call to question its role in such conservation easements.
While the Rocky Mountain News is published in Denver, Colorado, its articles are published on the Internet. They have found their way into Oregon where the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt organization have their headquarters. They have been used and recited by local governmental officials to undermine the reputation of the Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe before local and state government in Oregon. The Latgawa Native American Indian Tribe and its exempt have been damaged from the publication of the articles. Because the publication of the articles continues electronically, the damage is continuing.

The Latgawa Indian Tribe does not have a casino. What we do have is a proud and rich heritage that is still here today. Most folks, agencies, entities and governments are still ignorant of what the term federally recognized actually means. We are federally recognized non-BIA. We were never terminated. We continue to move ahead as such. We are also proud of our Camp Christian and Living Waters Ministries, our helicopter restoration program, and of our land stewardship responsibilities. We are still here...