Trespass Notices May Be Issued People Living On 20 Acres That Belongs To Nez Perce

Trespass notices could be issued by the week’s end to people laying claim to land near Kamiah that federal officials say belongs to Nez Perce tribal members.

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth said they met with Deputy Secretary of Interior John Garamendi, who confirmed his agency’s decision.

Craig said the notices will most likely be delivered by registered mail to Lorna L. Boykin, Reynold L. Allgood, Warren Staats, Robert Hammer and Velma Tompkins.

They claim they purchased their land, which totals less than 20 acres, in good faith and have legal title. But heirs to the original tribal owners say they own the land.

The Interior Department’s Board of Land Appeals sided with the heirs in August 1994.

News about trespass notices brought a cautious response from attorney Robert McCarthy of Idaho Legal Aid Services, who represents the Indian descendants.

“We need to see what they (Interior officials) actually do,” said McCarthy. “Then we’ll be in a better position.”

The attorney for Boykin and Allgood, meanwhile, said the federal decision makes no sense.

“Our clients and their neighbors have been on the land and understood that their property line was marked by a fence that had been there for 100 years,” said Joseph Cosby of the Defenders of Property Rights law firm in Washington, D.C.