Ravalli County planning commissioner warns of “drunk Indians”

Welcome to Hamilton! We hate you.

Welcome to Hamilton! We hate you.

The last time we checked in with the government of Ravalli County, commissioners had rejected federal Title X funding and closed the county’s only family planning clinic. That was dumb, but at least it pertained to things the commission actually governed. Two weeks ago, county officials met with representatives from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to discuss their objection to the CSKT placing tribal land at Medicine Tree under trust of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Ravalli County gets $808 in property taxes from Medicine Tree every year, and they had appealed the CSKT’s disposition of its sacred land. Commissioners also warned tribal officials not to build a casino on it. Jan Wisniewski, head of the county planning board, took the floor at the end of the meeting to observe that jails in Havre are full of “drunk Indians” and that historically, Indians use trust lands to “get drunk and try and run back into the reservation so they don’t get caught.” You can read about it in my latest column in the Missoula Independent. In case you’re wondering if Wisniewski is in fact a great guy, the Tea Party stalwart also filed for election as a Democratic precinct captain in 2012. We’ll be back tomorrow with Friday links.

 

 

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