Law

County sheriff denies being 'anti-Indian' in Ute Tribe dispute

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Leaders of the Ute Tribe of Utah met with local officials last Friday to discuss law enforcement issues on the reservation although one county sheriff declined to attend.

The tribal business committee wrote a letter to Duchesne County, Uintah County and the state of Utah that called on non-tribal law enforcement agencies “cease and desist any and all further patrolling and arrest and detention of members of the Ute Indian Tribe … on tribal lands or roads, and over rights-of-way for United States, state and county roads running through and across the Uintah and Ouray Reservation.”

"The harassment of our tribal members there has to stop," committee member Ron Wopsock told The Vernal Express, referring to Roosevelt City, in Duchesne County.

Duchesne County Sheriff Travis Mitchell, however, didn't show up to the meeting because he said he was told he wasn't needed. He denied being “some rabid, radical anti-Indian guy.”

"I’m not and I’ll be happy to meet with [the tribe] anytime," Mitchell told the paper

The meeting was heated and lasted more than three hours, the paper reported. But tribal and local officials agreed to work on two law enforcement agreements.

“We come to the table with good will and that’s the main objective," Chairwoman Frances Poowegup told the paper.

Get the Story:
Counties, tribe talk jurisdiction (The Vernal Express 2/23)