Tradish_freak

http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/ar...ews/news02.txt
Sauk-Suiattle council expels members
By LEVI PULKKINEN Staff Writer


The Sauk-Suiattle Tribal Council Wednesday reaffirmed its decision to expel several members of the Darrington-based tribe.

After meeting with its attorneys for several hours, the Tribal Council voted to re-enact a March resolution that in effect removed at least seven members from the tribal rolls.

If the council's decision survives an expected appeal to tribal court, the disenrolled members will be evicted from their homes on the tribe's reservation. They also would be barred from collecting federal benefits or exercising fishing rights reserved to American Indians through the treaties.

Members of the Bill family, who claim to be descendants of Sauk-Suiattle ancestor Doctor Jo, were disenrolled by the council. Following a tribal court hearing in April, the members were returned to the rolls until further hearings could be held.

Family members who attended Wednesday's meeting said they will again appeal the council's decision in tribal court.

At issue again was the identity of Emily Jo Bill, an ancestor of the Bill family who they claim was married to Doctor Jo. If she was, her descendants would be eligible for enrollment in the tribe under its constitution.

The majority of the council held that Emily Jo Bill was the daughter of another man named Doctor Jo who was not of Sauk-Suiattle heritage, councilman James Roberts said.

Roberts said the Bill family failed to prove that their ancestor was Sauk-Suiattle.

"We just asked for them to bring the facts forward, and they didn't bring any facts forward," Roberts said.

As a sovereign nation, the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe sets its own enrollment standards. According to the tribe's constitution, members must show that they are racially at least one-fourth American Indian. They must also have ancestors listed on a census taken in 1942.

Roberts said that he believes the council's decision was correct under the law.

"We have to do the legal thing and we have to have the factual stuff," he said. "I wish it was different, but we'd have to change the constitution."

But members of the Bill family and their supporters have held that politics, not parentage, is behind the disenrollment effort.

A change in power on the Tribal Council late last year brought a current chairwoman Gloria Green. Since then, her critics say about 16 tribal employees have left their jobs or been fired for political reasons.

Under Green's leadership, the tribal council moved during an emergency meeting to rescind the 1988 resolution that allowed the Bill family to join the tribal rolls. The Bills have historically been aligned with the Joseph family, which has most often held power in the tribal government.

"It's politics. This has been going on for several years," said Willard Bill, one of the disenrolled members. "It's like a politics war that we're not supposed to be in."

Green declined requests to be interviewed, asserting that media coverage of the controversy has been biased against her.

Bill said he and his relatives will appeal the council's decision to tribal court.

If that appeal is unsuccessful, he said they will likely seek enrollment at the Lummi or Swinomish tribes, or other tribes where they can show ancestry.

Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 360-416-2138 or by e-mail at levip@skagitvalleyherald.com.