Harwood: Tribe Has Changed Not Us

Benewah County has had the same county commissioners for more than 30 years. The prosecuting attorney has been in office for 16 years and the same sheriff who successfully started cross-deputizing with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe in the 1980s is still in office. What has changed over that time is the tribal leadership. The cooperative agreement on cross-deputizing, which worked well for much of the last 30 years, has broken down in recent years. n amid a lot of finger-pointing and name-calling. Despite what you might see in news stories and commentaries on this issue, the county officials are not all to blame. They have negotiated and operated in good faith with tribal authorities on cross-deputizing and a variety of other issues for more than three decades/ Rep. Dick Harwood , St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here .

Question: What do you make of Rep. Harwood’s defense of Benewah County officials in their spat with the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe?