{"id":10346,"date":"2020-07-29T19:49:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-30T00:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/lawlessness-and-violence-at-northern-cheyenne\/"},"modified":"2020-07-29T19:49:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T00:49:12","slug":"lawlessness-and-violence-at-northern-cheyenne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/lawlessness-and-violence-at-northern-cheyenne\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawlessness and violence at Northern Cheyenne"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>LAME DEER, Mont. \u2013 Within the past few months, four unsolved murders, several home invasions, the rise of bold drug operations in broad daylight on Cheyenne Avenue (Main Street in Lame Deer) ; the increased presence of intoxicated persons also hanging out in that area and finally the rise of various groups or gangs of young people who often have public altercations, underscore the point that the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, especially the major community, Lame Deer is dealing with a major increase in crime and lawlessness.<\/p>\n

Jason Small, Northern Cheyenne Tribal members, state Senator and vice-chair of the Montana Legislative Tribal Relations Committee represents both the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations. He has been researching the problem of inadequate law enforcement, affecting both reservations, and contacted this reporter to share some of his findings.<\/p>\n

In tandem, on July 22, 2020 President Rynalea Pena with the concurrence of the Tribal Council wrote to the three members of the Montana Congressional delegation (Tester, Daines and Gianforte) requesting a formal inquiry with federal law enforcement regarding deaths of tribal members, including three in 2020 and one in 2018.\u00a0 The tribal members who died under suspicious circumstances include: 1) Lonnie Flatness, an elder and retired Marine, violently murdered in his own home; 2) Christy Woodenthigh, a mother of three children who was run over and killed by a vehicle; 3) Kamani Littlebird, allegedly found hanging under suspicious circumstances and 4) in 2018, Henny Scott, age 18 found frozen to death under suspicious circumstances.\u00a0 To date, there have been no investigative results, charges or prosecutions.\u00a0 The suspects remain at-large and these deaths have had a unsettling effect upon the small close-knit reservation community.<\/p>\n

In its letter the Tribe complains about the lack of information provided to them or to the victim\u2019s families.\u00a0 Small also expressed frustration about getting information from the B.I.A.\u00a0 \u201cThey won\u2019t answer me,\u201d he said, \u201cwanting everything in a Freedom of Information Act request forwarded to the Central Office.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently, this applies to the Tribal Government as well.<\/p>\n

Small was, however, able to ferret out some startling information.\u00a0 Normally with a B.I.A. force of about 12 officers, the Northern Cheyenne Agency is now down to a handful (five or less, including the Area Office which has two officers who can be dispatched daily to areas that are short-handed). The Northern Cheyenne Agency has not been fully staffed since 2013 and Small wants to know where that savings went and if there is a contingency plan. Until recently Crow was in the same boat, until Chairman AJ Notafraid managed to find funding to hire additional officers.\u00a0 The details of that are not available.<\/p>\n

When fully staffed, the B.I.A, officers averaged about 300 arrests per month, misdeamenors under the Tribal Law and Order Code.\u00a0 Yet, in recent months, that average has dwindled to about 12 per month.\u00a0 \u201cThey just don\u2019t seem to be arresting people,\u201d Small said \u201cand often call upon the Military Societies that are still active, willing to assist and provide shelter for intoxicated persons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other problem is the availability of detention facilities for those who are arrested.\u00a0 The Lame Deer Jail, a B.I.A. owned and operated center has been closed for some three years awaiting repair.\u00a0 Thus, the Lame Deer B.I.A. is now dependent upon the Two Rivers Detention Facility in Hardin, which serves several Tribes, located some 60 miles from Northern Cheyenne.\u00a0 Plus, that transportation exacerbates the officer shortage problem, sometimes leaving one office on duty, responsible for the entire reservation.\u00a0 As a result of CoVid, the capacity at Two Rivers is 100 and often they do not have room for additional inmates.\u00a0 Finally, neither does the B.I.A. or Tribe have Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) in place to utilize other area detention facilities such as the Hardin or Rosebud County sites.<\/p>\n

According to several local sources who have videotaped conversations with B.I.A. officers, the B.I.A. has decided that because Lame Deer is (on paper, but never implemented) an incorporated town, they are leaving jurisdiction of that area, especially Cheyenne Avenue or County Road 39, ( the hotbed of the trouble spots) to the Rosebud County Law Enforcement.\u00a0 Once, again there is no MOU in place to allow that, given the long-standing tension between the Tribal and County Governments, especially as it comes to Law Enforcement.\u00a0 And such a thing is unprecedented.<\/p>\n

Small\u2019s personal theory is that the B.I.A. wants to get out of the Law Enforcement business on reservations.\u00a0 \u201cThat agency could address these life-threatening problems very quickly, but their action or lack of action indicates they doesn\u2019t care or have other plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Clara Caufield can be reached at acheyennevoice@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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Visit Original Source<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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LAME DEER, Mont. \u2013 Within the past few months, four unsolved murders, several home invasions, the rise of bold drug operations in broad daylight on Cheyenne Avenue (Main Street in Lame Deer) ; the increased presence of intoxicated persons also hanging out in that area and finally the rise of <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> July 29, 2020<\/p>\n

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