Non-Indian Launches Suit Over Authority Of Tribe

(From For the Record, March 18, 1998): Lawsuit: A headline on B1 of the Region section Tuesday incorrectly stated that Dan Hoover had filed a lawsuit against the Colville Indian Reservation. His appearance in court Monday was in response to a lawsuit the tribe filed against him.

Dan Hoover once vowed he wouldn’t set foot in the tribal court he insists has no jurisdiction over him, but here he was Monday.

The 64-year-old non-Indian resident of the Colville Indian Reservation hasn’t changed his views, just his tactics.

“With all due respect to the court, I’m making a special appearance here today,” Hoover told Colville Tribal Court Judge Mary Wynne. “I don’t recognize the tribes’ authority to hear this case.”

Hoover said he does recognize handwriting on the wall, though. He found he can’t get his case to federal court without starting in tribal court.

So he reluctantly appeared Monday to answer a lawsuit the tribal government filed against him. The suit in tribal court seeks an order barring Hoover from going ahead with a four-unit subdivision that Ferry County officials approved for his 33-acre property.

Hoover said he expects Wynne to rule against him, but he hopes to do better in federal court.

In July 1994, U.S. District Judge Fred Van Sickle rejected Hoover’s bid to go straight to the federal court in Spokane. But Van Sickle didn’t rule on the merits of Hoover’s argument that he shouldn’t have to answer to a government in which he can’t vote.

Hoover sued the Ferry County government in that case, claiming the county sold him down the river by agreeing to cooperate with the tribal government in land-use decisions. Both governments claim jurisdiction over reservation land owned by non-Indians.

The county withdrew from the intergovernmental agreement last year, and two of the three commissioners now are inclined to sue the tribal government to resolve the century-old jurisdictional dispute. But Hoover was alone Monday, acting as his own attorney.

Ferry County Prosecutor Al Nielson, who just resigned, has twice refused to join the fray. Nielson said the county can ill afford a case that likely would have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tribal attorney Tim Brewer and Hoover found little to agree on Monday, except that they will likely meet again in federal court. Brewer said he expects the federal court to take a fresh look at the laws on jurisdiction, but to be limited to facts brought out in the current trial.

So Brewer set about establishing a detailed record of the tribes’ reasons for wanting the kind of land-use regulations that Ferry County leaders shun.

Witnesses said zoning protection is particularly important in the 200-square-mile Hells Gate Game Preserve in the southeast corner of the reservation, where Hoover has one of only about two dozen homes.

Testimony indicated Hoover built his log home in 1988 without consulting tribal officials, even though title insurance documents warned him about tribal jurisdiction. The game preserve and an interim zoning ordinance to protect it and other reservation land were established 10 years earlier.

Hoover repeatedly objected to “irrelevant” testimony, and insisted that the only issue is whether the ethnic-based tribal government has authority over non-Indians.

Federal law is unclear on that point, but a Supreme Court decision suggests that tribal interests and the amount of private ownership are important factors in determining jurisdiction. Testimony indicated only 11 percent of the Hells Gate Game Preserve is privately owned, but much of the private ownership is concentrated along Lake Roosevelt.

Several tribal officials testified that their government has compelling economic and cultural reasons to protect what remains of the large territory they traditionally roamed.

With only one-fourth to one-third of tribal members in the work force and 52 percent of those unemployed, subsistence hunting is still a matter of survival, tribal Councilman Mike Marchand testified.

If Hoover prevails and opens the door to substantial development in the game preserve, the effect on the deer population would be “fairly disastrous,” according to Steven Judd, senior tribal wildlife biologist.

The nonjury trial is expected to last through Wednesday.

, DataTimes