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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2001

"'A Legislature has to represent people, not acres,' state Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, said about North Dakota's legislative reapportionment debate. But what I see missing from the statement is the key word, 'all.'

The reapportionment is a result of the regularly scheduled 10-year census. When people have been counted, the Legislature tries to divide the state so that there is fair representation -- as fair as local politics will allow.

Included in those census numbers are the four tribes -- Standing Rock (Lakota), Three Affiliated, (Arikara, Hidatsa and Mandan), Spirit Lake (Dakota) and Turtle Mountain (Chippewa). These tribes represent about 56,000 enrolled tribal members. More than half of those members, however, do not live on the reservations, and the voting population is even less than that. . ."

Get the Story:
Dorreen Yellow Bird: A Legislature for all the people (The Grand Forks Herald 11/27)