Opinion

Clara Caufield: Northern Cheyenne Tribe overreacts to drug crisis

Monday, April 25, 2016

Hundreds gathered to march in Lame Deer, Montana, to protest drug and alcohol-related problems on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Photo courtesy A Cheyenne Voice

New reservation laws impact Northern Cheyenne
A Cheyenne Voice
By Clara Caufield
www.nsweekly.com

As readers now know, the Northern Cheyenne Reservation is under a “State of Emergency,” as declared by Tribal President, Llevando “Cowboy” Fisher, earlier in March responding to a drug-related shoot-out on Cheyenne Avenue, main street of Lame Deer, other alarming reports of drug-related violence, and known high rates of meth addiction.

That declaration was recently sanctioned by the Tribal Council which adopted a new Ordinance significantly amending the Tribal Law and Order Code, adopting a number of new tribal laws.

This and other events have been eagerly covered by the main Montana newspaper, the Billings Gazette, and mainstream TV stations, which in my opinion characterizes the Northern Cheyenne people as “wild” folks, in dire need of much law enforcement supervision. As one Cheyenne tribal member, I don’t like that.

On April 4, Governor Steve Bullock, good friend to Montana tribal governments authorized a National Guard “fly-by” of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation to check for meth labs on remote reservation lands. I wonder if they checked out my old log house, somewhat remote and perhaps suspicious looking. President Fisher is still awaiting a report about those results, hoping there will be more such checks by helicopter in the future as he is very worried about the possibility of meth labs on the reservation. Yikes! As I pen this opinion at 5:00 a.m., I just heard a helicopter overhead!

In my opinion, and that of many other tribal members, that is an over-reaction by our tribal leadership, as they seek to ‘do something’ about the horrible meth problem on our reservation, guided by BIA and Federal law enforcement.