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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Surprise. NOT. Disappointment, much. What part of
First Nations is still being missed here?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We all stand on stolen tribal land, and just little
respect is the least of the expectation. County Commisioner my Great Aunt
Fanny...JackAss is more the label.....Un-elect this bozo before he gives
Idahoans another embarrassment.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Debi R-S</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=london@moscow.com href="mailto:london@moscow.com">Bill London</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@mail-gw.fsr.net
href="mailto:vision2020@mail-gw.fsr.net">vision2020@mail-gw.fsr.net</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 24, 2008 1:54
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Life in Benewah
County</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
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<TD align=right><FONT face="tahoma, sans-serif" size=2>Thursday,
July 24, 2008</FONT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR>
<DIV class=label>Spokesman-Review, Spokane</DIV>
<H2>Tribal police want commissioner's wife charged</H2>
<H4 class=deck></H4>
<P class=byline><SPAN class=name>Kevin Graman</SPAN><BR>Staff writer<BR>July
24, 2008</P>
<P>Coeur d'Alene Tribal Police are asking federal authorities to charge the
wife of a Benewah County commissioner with felony assault on a police officer
after she allegedly struck a tribal marine officer during a routine stop at
the mouth of the St. Joe River on Lake Coeur d'Alene.</P>
<P>Comments made to tribal officers by Eleanor Buell and her husband, County
Commissioner Jack Buell, on Sunday suggested a racial dimension to an ongoing
disagreement between the tribe and Benewah County over control of the southern
end of the lake.</P>
<P>According to police reports, Jack Buell said, "Indians have no jurisdiction
and can't pull white people over on the St. Joe River in Benewah County," when
tribal police stopped the Buells' boat at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday for leaving
a wake in a posted no-wake zone.</P>
<P>Repeated efforts to contact the Buells at their home, the Benewah County
Courthouse and Jack Buell's trucking company in St. Maries were
unsuccessful.</P>
<P>The Coeur d'Alene Tribe won control over the southern third of the lake in
a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Since then, waterfront property owners,
including the Buells, have resisted efforts by the tribe to impose annual
permits for docks or other encroachments. Jurisdictional questions between the
tribe and Benewah County remain murky.</P>
<P>In October 2007, the Benewah County Sheriff's Department ended its
cross-deputization agreement with tribal police. Kootenai County continues to
cross-deputize tribal officers, meaning tribal officers can make arrests on
the tribal waters that fall within the county. But in the Benewah County
portion of the lake, tribal officers can only detain violators until sheriff's
deputies or Idaho State Police arrive to make an arrest. </P>
<P>On Sunday, tribal officers John Dressler, a Coeur d'Alene tribal member,
and Kaleb Madison, a non-Indian, were on patrol near the mouth of the St. Joe
River when they noticed a blue vessel violating the no-wake ordinance,
according to individual police reports by both officers.</P>
<P>As they approached the boat, a woman on board, later identified as Eleanor
Buell, yelled, "You Indians have no jurisdiction on these waters," according
to the police reports. </P>
<P>Then a man on board, later identified as Jack Buell, asked the officers,
"Do you Indians know where you are?" the reports stated.</P>
<P>The officers informed the occupants of the boat that they knew they were in
Benewah County but that tribal police had authority on tribal waters, the
report said, and told the Buells to pull the boat over.</P>
<P>"I am the Benewah County Commissioner and Indians have no jurisdiction on
us," the officers reported Buell as saying. Then Eleanor Buell reportedly told
her husband that "Indians have no authority on white people, so just
leave."</P>
<P>After the officers persuaded Buell to stop his boat, Dressler put his hand
on the boat to keep it from banging against the patrol boat, both officers
said. </P>
<P>"At this time, I felt a strike on my top side of my left hand," Dressler
reported. </P>
<P>He said he turned to look and Eleanor Buell's right hand was raised and in
fist as if to strike again, the officer wrote in his report.</P>
<P>"I told Mrs. Buell, 'Ma'am, don't hit me again or I'll take you to jail,' "
Dressler wrote. He said she also tried to pry his fingers off the boat.</P>
<P>Confirming Dressler's account of events, Madison wrote that Eleanor Buell
told Dressler, "Then get your damn hands off my boat."</P>
<P>Both officers reported that she then raised a plastic coffee mug as if to
strike Dressler's hand with it, but stopped herself inches away from the
officer's hand.</P>
<P>After this, the officers stated that Jack Buell became compliant and
allowed them to conduct a boat safety inspection. Because the horn on the
Buells' boat did not work, Madison gave Jack Buell a whistle so that he would
be in compliance with boating regulations. After the inspection, the Buells
and a female passenger left.</P>
<P>According to Madison's report, the Buells considered calling the Benewah
County Sheriff's Office during the confrontation, but couldn't get cell phone
reception.</P>
<P>In his report, Dressler concluded that he believed "Mr. and Mrs. Buell's
attitude was due to our race."</P>
<P>On Wednesday, Coeur d'Alene Tribal Police Chief Keith Hutcheson met with
the FBI and officials in the U.S. attorney's office in Coeur d'Alene seeking a
felony assault charge against Eleanor Buell. Tribal police are federal
officers.</P>
<P>"We can't have our officers getting struck while they are on patrol on the
reservation," Hutcheson said. "If they decide not to take it, we will go to
the state." </P></FONT></DIV>
<P>
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