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THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2003

"Earlier this month, the governor of Minnesota tried to make up for thoughtless comments from his natural resources commissioner about tribal hunting and fishing traditions.

Instead, the governor, who is also a lawyer, made a bad situation so much worse that Joe Day pretty much blew his top. Day is executive director of the state Indian Affairs Council.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty said this: 'The special hunting and fishing privileges enjoyed by Native Americans in Minnesota are the result of legal rights granted to them.'

Day said that the person who prepared that remark rewrote history. That's because no 'legal right' was 'granted.' The hunting and fishing traditions of Minnesota tribes are not 'privileges.' Nor are they 'special.'"

Get the Story:
Deborah Locke: Pawlenty could use a class in Indian law and rights (The St. Paul Pioneer Press 5/22)

Related Stories:
Minn. official called treaty rights 'apartheid' (05/13)
Minn. governor won't remove DNR commissioner (05/13)