Duncan Vezain's Horseplay in Montana. Photo from Facebook
Members of the Crow Tribe are blaming their own officials for a "hostage situation" that unfolded on the reservation in Montana last month. Wagon train organizer Duncan Vezain paid $400 to the tribe to use a historic stage and railroad route on the reservation, The Billings Gazette reported. But the Crow citizens who own the land along the route said they weren't consulted about the permit. As a result, Vezain and his 45 passengers were delayed for about five hours on July 24 as he tried to sort out the situation with the landowners, the paper reported. He eventually paid a $500 trespass fee to the Plain Bull family. “It was straight-up a hostage situation,” Vezain told the paper. “They offered to let one guy go through to get to a cash machine if we didn’t have enough money. One family wanted to leave, and they wouldn’t let them.” The family as closed the land to public use since 2002, a situation known to the tribe. Terry Jean Plain Bull said the tribe's game and fish office was to blame for the situation. "They put those people in a spot because they already knew" about the road, she told the paper, referring to tribal officials. Get the Story:
Wagon train riders got wild West experience when tribal members blocked route (The Billings Gazette 8/7)
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