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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Both Sides Upset Over Colville Deal Non-Indians Want Their Right To Hunt On Reservation Restored

Indians and non-Indians seemed equally displeased Thursday with proposed changes in a 15-year-old settlement in a legal dispute over hunting and fishing rights on the Colville Indian Reservation.

Non-Indian owners of private property on the reservation were angry that a deal worked out by the state and tribal fish and wildlife departments doesn’t restore what they insist is their right to hunt big game on their own land.

At Thursday’s meeting, tribal members complained that their leaders have given away too much, and were angry that non-Indians want even more.

Harold Hayden got applause from his neighbors when he asserted that the homestead deed to his property on the reservation gives him hunting rights that can’t be denied by the state or tribal governments.

When he added that white settlers who came to the reservation paid taxes “so the Indians could go to school and get an education,” there were guffaws from the Indian side of the room.

“They didn’t give us nothing to go to school,” tribal elder Alex Sam responded. “You took everything away from us. What else are you going to take?”

Meeting moderator Jeff Tayer, regional director of the state Fish and Wildlife Department, demanded that the crowd of 45 people direct their ire at him instead of each other - and several did.

One who took aim at Tayer was Kent, Wash., resident James Brummett. He has spent years on unsuccessful challenges of the settlement, in which the state conceded the tribal government can ban non-Indian property owners on the reservation from hunting big game even on their own land.

“I respect these Colville leaders for fighting for their people,” Brummett said. “I wish mine would fight for me. They’ve thrown us a few scraps.”

His voice rising and falling like a revival-meeting preacher, Brummett won a chorus of “amens” from several non-Indian residents of the reservation. He called for financial support to appeal his latest court defeat on Monday.

A Thurston County judge said the 1983 state regulation implementing the settlement wouldn’t pass muster by today’s standards, but doesn’t have to because the requirements were different then.

Brummett handed a copy of the decision to tribal Chairman Joe Pakootas, who deadpanned, “Sorry, I don’t have any money for you.”

It was the only time everyone laughed together.

Tayer said the state, like Brummett, has had nothing but defeats in federal court challenges of tribal jurisdiction. The disputed settlement and the proposed modifications secure fishing rights and limited hunting rights for all state residents, he said.

The proposed amendments would open most of the reservation to hunting for pheasants, doves and rabbits. Other upland birds and water fowl already may be hunted with tribal permits.

A compromise proposed by Dan Hoover fell on deaf ears. Hoover is a non-Indian resident of the reservation who is involved in a bitter land-use dispute with tribal leaders.

He suggested allowing private property owners like himself to hunt big game on their own land while continuing to ban big-game hunting by nonresidents.

Tribal attorney Alan Stay pointedly warned Ferry County Commissioners Jim Hall and Dennis Snook that they would risk the fishing, swimming and boating privileges of many of their constituents if they oppose the new agreement.

“If this agreement does not go forward, the Colville Tribes will move to shut the reservation down” to recreational use by non-Indians, said Joe Peone, tribal fish and wildlife director.

That brought applause and cheers from tribal members.

, DataTimes