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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2002

Jodi Rave of The Lincoln Journal Star, a Lee Enterprises newspaper, has written a series on the Indian trust fund debacle.

The first installment includes a story on fractionation, a problem that has resulted as Indian landowners pass their allotments onto their descendants. Rave points out one example of an 80-acre parcel on the Lac Courtre Oreilles Reservation in Wisconsin with 2,400 owners.

Rave also writes on a particularly bloody part of Indian trust history. Members of the oil-rich Osage Nation of Oklahoma, after being removed from Kansas, were killed for their allotments, a tragic story documented in the book "Bloodland: A Family Story of Oil, Greed and Murder on the Osage Reservation" by Osage author Dennis McAuliffe.

Another article talks about Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb and the problems he inherited since joining the Department of Interior. "A disappointment clearly has been the litigation of the Cobell lawsuit, which has drawn so much resources of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to that one particular issue," he says. "I find myself entangled in the litigation."

Today's installment features Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit McCaleb mentions. Cobell is a banker by profession who sued the Departments of Interior and Treasury in 1996 to force an accounting of funds owed to 500,000 American Indians.

Cobell has won every major decision over the years, including a September 17 contempt finding against McCaleb and his boss, Secretary Gale Norton. Lead attorney Dennis Gingold, a recognized banking expert, said of Cobell: "[S]he was unwilling to give up. It was a remarkable impression, because I'd never met anyone in that position before."

Rave speaks with other Indian beneficiaries like Gary Loudner, a Crow Creek Sioux from South Dakota. It took him two weeks to confirm shares in a 31-acre allotment.

"I was so upset about the way I had to do this," he tells Rave. "I should have known about this years ago. As far as I'm concerned, I still don't have control over this thing as far as leases."

Efforts to fix the system have been many. The last major one was the 1994 law that created the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. It has been plagued with management disputes, fighting among its officials and top Interior politicians and a restricted oversight right.

Its only two leaders, Tom Slonaker and Paul Homan, resigned under pressure.

Get the Story:
BROKEN TRUST: Who's going to Pay? (Lee Newspapers 9/30)
`We have to do a better job than our competition' (Lee Newspapers 9/30)
`They act like it's their money' (Lee Newspapers 9/30)
Tribes participate in consolidation (Lee Newspapers 9/30)
`A long line of broken promises' (Lee Newspapers 9/30)
Land management hindered by bite-sized ownership pattern (Lee Newspapers 9/29)
Osage oil land allotments were worth killing for (Lee Newspapers 9/29)
BIA chief tries to serve 2 masters (Lee Newspapers 9/29)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://www.ncai.org/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp

Related Stories:
Sparks fly at trust reform meeting (9/27)
Here comes BITAM all over again (9/27)
100 years of incompetence you can trust (9/27)
GOPs don't like Cobell legal fees (9/27)
NCAI: 'Alarming' land grab proposal (9/27)
McCain: DOI lacks 'credibility' on trust (9/27)
Norton drafts Indian land grab (9/26)
Report: DOI computer system 'crashed' (9/26)
Editorial: Norton should be rid of trust (9/26)
Editorial: Joining 'pantheon of the unfit' (9/26)
Editorial: Norton deserved court slap (9/26)
Editorial: Sanction Norton's deceit (9/26)
Indian trust 'a national disgrace' (9/25)
Editorial: Norton's failure is 'disgrace' (9/24)
Norton chided on Cobell 'accounting' (9/23)
TAAMS witness not 'credible' (9/23)
Tiny praise for Norton on trust (9/23)
Editorial: Norton's 'shameful' behavior (9/23)
Editorial: Don't appeal trust fund ruling (9/23)
Editorial: Lamberth throws 'temper tantrum' (9/23)
Editorial: Probe Norton subordinates too (9/23)
Editorial: Norton needs to settle trust (9/23)
Slonaker to testify at Senate hearing (9/23)
Norton's denials ring hollow (9/20)
McCaleb blames trust fund on Babbitt (9/20)
Editorial: Norton's trust boondoggle (9/20)
Editorial: Norton 'toss in the towel' (9/20)
Norton's contempt worries not over (9/19)
Editorial: Norton has made no reforms (9/19)
Column: Norton, aides like 'kids' on trust (9/19)
Norton cited for Indian trust 'fraud' (9/19)
Norton 'unfit' to manage Indian trust (9/18)
Griles nearly perjured himself (9/18)
Congress responds to contempt (9/18)
Lamberth makes ruling on trust (9/18)
Editorial: Send Norton the liar to jail (9/18)
Editorial: Norton deserves rebuke (9/18)
Editorial: Norton is 'disgrace' (9/18)
Slonaker feels vindicated by ruling (9/18)
Norton found in contempt for trust fund (9/17)
Judge holds Norton in contempt (9/17)
Rahall: End the trust fund charade (9/17)