NEWS RELEASE
Western Shoshone National Council
P.O. Box 140115
Duckwater, NV 89314-0115
Phone: (702) 863-0227
FAX: (702) 863-0501
Contact: Ian D. Zabarte
July, 5, 1991
As the United States celebrated the freedom of independence on
July 4, 1991 and prepares for the 500 years since discovery
(1492-1992), a crisis is brewing in central Nevada involving
justice and property rights. The Dann Band (an extended family
group) supported by the Western Shoshone Nation is preparing to
defend Western Shoshone land, rights and the Dann Band cattle
and horse herd by any means possible.
The Western Shoshone Indians were a nation for thousands of
years prior to Christopher Columbus' lost ship and crew being
saved by the eastern tribes and the subsequent creation of
the United States. Christopher Columbus did not discover the
Western Shoshone Nation. Though he may have discovered that
they lived in peace and harmony with their environment. The
Treaty of Ruby Valley formally recognized the Western Shoshone
Nation as a sovereign independent nation with its signing in
1863 by the United States.
The Dann band are Western Shoshone Indians whose livelihood is
being attacked by the United States Bureau of Land Management
(BLM). The present controversy stems from a 1974 trespass
action by the BLM against the Dann Band. The Danns' and the
Western Shoshone Nation refute the United States claim that
Western Shoshone title to the tribes aboriginal land has been
transferred to the United States government legally, or
extinguished by the United States Government, which includes the
land that the Dann Band is being trespassed on by the BLM.
The Dann Band has been denied "due process of the law"; to be
heard in the United States Courts and have the right of
controverting, by proof, every material fact which bears on the
question of ownership and title to the land the United States BLM
is trespassing the Dann Band on, or using that title as a
defense to the United States BLM trespass action. The Supreme
Court of the United States would not examine the Western
Shoshone title rights because of a complex parallel proceeding
which prevented the court from ruling on the question of tribal
title.
Allowed under an act of Congress in 1946, a claim against the United
States for damages and lost land was filed in the, then newly
created Indian Claims Commission, by constituent bands of the Western
Shoshone Nation. The United States appointed attorneys for the Western
Shoshone and in order for the attorneys to receive and maximize
payment for services (which was 10% of an award), they included
lands used and occupied by the Western Shoshone that had not been
taken or occupied by the United States and treated those lands as
if they had been taken. The attorneys misled the Western Shoshone
and asserted to the Claims Commission that the Western Shoshone
title was to those lands extinguished even though the title was not
ever raised or litigated. This fictitious taking [of the land] set
the basis for a finding to make an award. The award was then
certified in 1979 which enacted another provision of the Indian
Claims Commission Act which would forever bar the Indians raising
claims against the United States.
Subsequently, last week the Federal District Court in Reno, Nevada,
ordered the BLM to enforce its regulations that apply to the Dann
Band.
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Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
(milo@scicom.alphacdc.com) * our Mother Earth
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